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Gender Differences in Political Knowledge: Bringing Situation Back In

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 November 2017

Toni Alexander Ihme  and
Markus Tausendpfund
Toni Alexander Ihme
Affiliation:
Department of Evaluation, University of Hagen, Universitätsstr. 47, Hagen 58097, Germany, e-mail: toni-alexander.ihme@fernuni-hagen.de
Markus Tausendpfund
Affiliation:
Faculty of Cultural and Social Sciences, University of Hagen, Universitätsstr. 33, Hagen 58097, Germany, e-mail: Markus.Tausendpfund@fernuni-hagen.de
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Abstract

One of the best-known empirical findings in the political sciences is the gender difference in political knowledge: women show less political knowledge than men. Conventional research argues that this difference is mainly a product of socialization, structural factors, and biology. Our paper brings a new perspective to the explanation of the gender gap in political knowledge. Based on an online survey and an experiment1, we emphasize the relevance of gender stereotypes as a situational pressure that reduces the performance of women in a political knowledge test. Two conclusions emerge from the analysis: First, our results indicate the existence of a negative stereotype related to the political knowledge of women. Second, the activation of gender stereotypes affects performance on a political knowledge test. Consistent with previous research on stereotype threat, our results indicate that the performance of men on a political knowledge test is affected by gender stereotypes.

Keywords

Political knowledgegender gapstereotype threat
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Experimental Political Science , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , Spring 2018 , pp. 39 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © The Experimental Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2017 

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