Despite the gains women have made since the advent of second-wave feminism, women
remain less confident than men of their ability to understand politics. This
gender gap has remained unchanged for decades, yet it has attracted surprisingly
little scholarly attention in recent years. This article uses data from the 2000
American and 2004 Canadian election studies to assess whether differences in
women's and men's socioeconomic resources help to explain
the gender gap. We also examine whether there are differences in the ways that
socioeconomic resources affect women's and men's
self-perceived ability to understand politics. We focus particular attention on
the effects of parenthood on women's confidence in their
understanding of politics. Finally, we consider the role of feminism and gender
role conceptions.
Abstract.In the 1960s, the gender gap in subjective political competence was assumed to reflect women's lack of socioeconomic resources, their confinement to the domestic sphere and their gender role socialization. Since then, women have moved into the labour force in vast numbers and conceptions of gender roles have been radically altered under the influence of the feminist movement. Yet, the gender gap in subjective political competence persists. This paper uses the Canadian Election Studies (1965–2008) to analyze gender differences in subjective political competence across time. Not only is the association between affluence and subjective political competence weaker for women, but the effect of affluence has weakened over time for women but not for men. Few generational effects are found; this suggests that the politicizing role of feminist socialization is much weaker than had been anticipated.Résumé.Depuis les années 1960, la littérature en science politique assume que l'écart entre les hommes et les femmes en matière de compétence politique subjective était dû au manque de ressources financières des femmes, à leur confinement à la sphère domestique et au rôle traditionnel que la société leur accordait. Depuis, les femmes ont intégré le marché du travail en masse et le contexte social a changé sous l'influence du mouvement féministe. Pourtant, l'écart entre les hommes et les femmes en matière de compétence politique subjective persiste. À l'aide des Études Électorales Canadiennes (1965–2008), cet article analyse les différences entre hommes et femmes en matière de compétence politique subjective à travers le temps. Les résultats montrent que non seulement le lien entre l'affluence économique et la compétence politique subjective est plus faible chez les femmes que chez les hommes mais que ce lien s'est affaibli au cours des années chez les femmes. De plus, peu d'effets générationnels sont constatés. Cela suggère que l'effet sur les attitudes politiques de la socialisation féministe s'avère beaucoup plus faible qu'anticipé.
The majority of Canada's women premiers were selected to that office while their parties held government. This is uncommon, both in the comparative literature and among premiers who are men. What explains this gendered selection pattern to Canada's provincial premiers’ offices? This paper explores the most common explanation found in the comparative literature for women's emergence as leaders of electorally competitive parties and as chief political executives: women are more likely to be selected when that party is in crisis or decline. Using the population of women provincial premiers in Canada as case studies, evidence suggests three of eight women premiers were selected to lead parties in government that were in crisis or decline; a fourth was selected to lead a small, left-leaning party as predicted by the literature. However, for half of the women premiers, evidence of their party's decline is partial or inconclusive. As a result of this exploration, more research is required to draw generalizations about the gendered opportunity structures that shape how women enter (and exit) the premier's office in Canada.
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