Gendered Political Contexts: The Gender Gap in Political Knowledge

What explains the gender gap in political knowledge found by surveys across different contexts? This article proposes that female political representation affects the levels of knowledge expressed by men and women and, ultimately, the gender gap. The underrepresentation of women makes gender stereotypes salient, and these in turn affect how much cognitive effort individuals put into thinking about politics. Moreover, I argue that surveys are often responsible for enhancing the effect of those considerations. I analyze cross-national survey data from 120 countries to test whether the gap in knowledge decreases as female representation increases across countries. Then, I manipulate the gender composition of feeling thermometer batteries in a survey experiment with American subjects to test whether priming considerations about female representation affects respondents' performance on knowledge questions. The findings suggest an explanation for why surveys often reveal gender differences in knowledge and a mechanism connecting women's representation and public opinion.