Women 'significantly less active' in politics, says report

The Electoral Commission have published a study which shows that women are significantly less active in men in politics.

The report, entitled ‘Gender and Political Participation’, found that women were less likely to participate in formal politics such as party membership, party donations and contacting politicians.

However, the study also discovered that the presence of female MPs significantly increases political activism in among women – in seats where a female MP was elected in 2001, turnout among women was 4% higher than men.

Despite the persistence of an overall ‘activism gap’ in the UK by gender, the report found that women are equally as likely as men to participate in demonstrations or protest illegally and are also more likely to be active in ‘cause-orientated’ politics, such as signing petitions and boycotting products.

The research, which was carried out by academics at Birkbeck College, University of London and Harvard University, also found that women now vote as regularly or even more often than men. New methods of voting trialled in the recent electoral pilot schemes appear to be reinforcing this trend; in all-postal voting areas in the 2003 local elections, women’s turnout was 13% higher than men’s.

The report suggested a number of reasons for the persistence of the ‘activism gap’ in relation to formal politics, including; practical barriers for women with young children; barriers through lack of educational and economic resources and the perceived male-dominated nature of politics.

The research also found that women continue to have a weaker sense of their own ability to make a political difference than men and are less interested in politics.

(KmcA)