What's happened to the gender gap in political activity? : social structure, politics, and participation in the United States / Shauna L. Shames [and four others].

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shames, Shauna Lani, author.

Series:

Cambridge elements. Elements in gender and politics, 2753-8117.

Cambridge elements. Elements in gender and politics, 2753-8117

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women--Political activity--United States.

Women.

Political participation--United States.

Political participation.

Women political candidates--United States.

Women political candidates.

Women--United States--Attitudes.

Sex role--United States.

Sex role.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (93 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2025.

Summary:

This Element considers recent changes to the long-standing pattern in US politics that women are less politically active than men. On one hand, the gender gap in political activity beyond voting has disappeared. On the other, the disparity remains when it comes to political money. What is the explanation? The Element begins with politics - both the long-term increase in women occupying political positions and the way that trends/events like MeToo, the defeat of Hillary Clinton, and Donald Trump's performative masculinity made gender salient. It then turns to social structural changes, examining in particular women's relative gains in income and, especially, education. Paying consistent attention to intersectional differences among men and among women, whether based on political party, race, or ethnicity, the authors find the explanation of these trends to be rooted not in politics, but rather in social structure. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Contents:

1. The Changing Gender Gap in Political Participation

1.1 Participation, Democracy, and Equality

1.2 Studying the Participation Gap Intersectionally

1.3 Changing Gender and Intersectional Disparities in Political Participation

1.4 Explaining Changing Gender Disparities in Political Activity

1.5 Summary

2 The Puzzle and the Model

2.1 Using Data to Understand Men's and Women's Participation

2.2 Models of Political Participation

2.3 Two Approaches to Studying Changes in Participation: Levels and Effects

2.4 What Influences Participation?

2.5 Summary

3 What about Politics?

3.1 Proximate Political Circumstances and the Gender Gap in Participation

3.2 A Longer-Term Change: The Gender Composition of the Political Environment

3.3 Does the Gender Composition of the Immediate Political Environment Make a Difference?

3.4 Party, Race or Ethnicity, and Gender in the Political Environment: Does Closer Congruence Increase Participation?

3.5 A Matter of Interest

3.6 Party, Race or Ethnicity, and Gender in the Political Environment: Does Congruence Increase Electoral Interest?

3.7 Summary

4 Is It Social-Structural Resources?

4.1 Structural Resources and Political Participation

4.2 Changing Resource Levels

4.3 Structural Resources and the Gender Gap in Participation: Effects over Time

4.4 Structural Resources and the Gender Gap in Participation: The Consequences of Changing Levels of Education and Income

4.5 Summary

5 The Dollar Gap

5.1 Introductory Matters: Donating as a Special Form of Participation

5.2 The Gender Gap in Making Political Contributions

5.3 Donors with Very Deep Pockets

5.4 Summary

6 Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Gender and Politics

Footnotes

References.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 14 Mar 2025).

ISBN:

1-009-33065-9

1-009-33061-6

1-009-33062-4

Access Restriction:

Open Access. Unrestricted online access