The Political Gender Gap: Australia, Britain and the United States

Abstract

This article explores gender differences in voting habits and explores the question of whether it is possible to speak of a distinctive women's perspective when it comes to elections. Drawing on a wide body of existing data, the discussion focuses on the “gender gap” in three settings: Britain, Australia and the United States. It canvasses competing explanations of political gender differences and seeks to account for the similarities between the British and Australian cases and their differences with the American. A key puzzle is this: Why was America's “traditional” (that is, conservative) gender gap superseded so readily by a “modern” (that is, liberal) gender gap while Australia and Britain's traditional gender gap retained its resilience? Future prospects for the gender gap in each case are also considered.