Traditionally, politics has been a largely male pursuit, although in recent times much has changed. Women have come a long way from the universal suffrage and have become critical actors of the public scene: their educational levels and turnout rates are increasing at faster paces than those of men, making them an essential and active part of public life (Norris 2002; Coffé and Bolzendahl 2010). There is evidence for this – women today hold an average of about 24% of the seats in national legislatures, nearing or reaching 50% in places (IPU 2019; http://archive.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm). Hence one can assume that women have full access to political news and have broader opportunities to cover higher occupational positions, for which practical information in politics and public administration is an asset. Yet even now, men still appear to know a great deal more about politics than women all around the world (Verba, Burns and Schlozman 1997; Mondak and Anderson 2004). Research on the matter has produced systematic results: the gap is traceable in the United States (Delli Carpini and Keeter 1996; Dow 2009), Europe (Fraile 2014), Britain (Frazer and Macdonald 2003), and Latin America (Fraile and Gomez 2017), as well as in broader comparative studies that cover both established and new democracies (Dassonville and McAllister 2018; Fortin- Rittberger 2016; Gronlund and Milner 2006).

THE BIAS, THE GAP AND THE HIERARCHY. What women know about politics and how to measure it.

Keeling, Silvia
2021-01-01

Abstract

Traditionally, politics has been a largely male pursuit, although in recent times much has changed. Women have come a long way from the universal suffrage and have become critical actors of the public scene: their educational levels and turnout rates are increasing at faster paces than those of men, making them an essential and active part of public life (Norris 2002; Coffé and Bolzendahl 2010). There is evidence for this – women today hold an average of about 24% of the seats in national legislatures, nearing or reaching 50% in places (IPU 2019; http://archive.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm). Hence one can assume that women have full access to political news and have broader opportunities to cover higher occupational positions, for which practical information in politics and public administration is an asset. Yet even now, men still appear to know a great deal more about politics than women all around the world (Verba, Burns and Schlozman 1997; Mondak and Anderson 2004). Research on the matter has produced systematic results: the gap is traceable in the United States (Delli Carpini and Keeter 1996; Dow 2009), Europe (Fraile 2014), Britain (Frazer and Macdonald 2003), and Latin America (Fraile and Gomez 2017), as well as in broader comparative studies that cover both established and new democracies (Dassonville and McAllister 2018; Fortin- Rittberger 2016; Gronlund and Milner 2006).
2021
Keeling, Silvia
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1849667
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