The Gender Gap: Turnout

The Gender Gap in US Politics

In this course, Dr Tessa Ditonto (Durham University) explores the gender gap in US Politics and electoral behaviour. In the first module, we introduce the concept of the gender gap and discuss how this relates to turnout in US elections. Then, in the second module, we discuss the gender gap and electoral choice (ie. how women and men vote in US elections), covering key statistics on 2016 and 2020. In the third module, we explore the origins of the gender gap, before turning in the fourth module to explore the existence of a gender gap outside of elections, including the gender gap as it pertains to women candidates and the concept of baseline gender preference. In the fifth and final module, we explore some of the consequences of the gender gap, focusing in particular on how the gender gap affects how political candidates campaign. Throughout, we underline the heterogeneity of women as a group and the importance of other demographic factors, beyond gender, in affecting how people vote in US elections. This course is particularly relevant to the US Politics section of the AQA and Edexcel A Level Politics specifications.

The Gender Gap: Turnout

In this module we introduce the concept of the gender gap, focusing in particular on: (i) the role of gender in determining an individual’s political attitudes and behaviours; (ii) the limitations of gender in determining an individual’s political attitudes and behaviours, especially given the fact that women are a heterogeneous group; (iii) the claim that women are largely not a solid voting bloc, and the importance of other factors (e.g. ethnicity, region) for voting behaviour); (iv) the history of women’s electoral participation; (v) 1980 as an important shifting point marking the emergence of the gender gap, particularly with regard to turnout; (vi) possible reasons for increase in women’s turnout at elections.