This study confirms the existence of a substantial gender gap in internal political efficacy in contemporary European democracies with survey evidence from the ESS08 and 09 waves. This gap is rooted in gendered patterns of socialisation according to which men are more likely than women to be socialised in ways that emphasise psychological traits such as assertiveness, predisposition to risk, competition, or self-promotion. Findings show that those who perceive themselves as ready to take risks are more likely to feel able to play an active role in politics. Using mediation analysis, this article shows that part of the gender gap in internal political efficacy is a result of the lower inclination of women to take risks in comparison to men. These findings confirm the masculine character of the political realm. A realm that is often perceived by citizens to be more in line with gender stereotypes about men.
IntroductionThe gender gap in populist radical right voting—with women being less likely to support populist radical right parties than men—is well-established. Much less is known about the interplay between gender, masculinity and populist radical right voting. This study investigates the extent to which masculinity affects women and men's likelihood of supporting populist radical right parties. Focusing on sexism as a link between masculinity and populist radical right support, we put forward two mechanisms that operate at once: a mediating effect of sexism (sexism explains the association between masculinity and populist radical right voting) and a moderating effect of sexism (the impact of masculinity is stronger among citizens scoring high on sexism compared with citizens with low levels of sexist attitudes).MethodsWe draw on an original dataset collected in Spain at the end of 2020 to investigate support for the Spanish populist radical right party VOX.ResultsWe find support for hypothesized mechanisms, mediation and moderation, chiefly among men. First, sexism explains about half of the link between masculinity and populist radical right support for this group, confirming the hypothesized mediation effect. Second, masculinity has a significantly stronger impact on the likelihood of supporting VOX among men scoring high on sexism, which in turn substantiates the presence of a moderation effect.DiscussionExisting research so far has examined the empirical connections between how individuals perceive their levels of masculinity, sexism, and PRR voting separately. Our study offers a first step in unpacking the relationship between masculinity and PRR support by focusing specifically on how sexism relates to both these variables.
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