Different and Unequal?: Gendered Political Participation in European Democracies

Catherine Bolzendahl; Hilde Coffé

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Series: Elements in Gender and Politics

Different and Unequal?

Gendered Political Participation in European Democracies

Expected online publication date: 10 April 2026

Catherine Bolzendahl and

Hilde Coffé

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Catherine Bolzendahl: Affiliation:
Oregon State University
Hilde Coffé: Affiliation:
University of Bath

Summary

This Element examines how gender shapes political participation across Europe, analyzing eight forms of political activity over 10 waves of the European Social Survey (2002–2020) in 26 democracies. Challenging the assumption that women participate less than men, we find evidence for gender differentiation: women vote, sign petitions, and boycott as much or more than men. Men dominate activities such as contacting politicians and party work. When political interest is accounted for, women demonstrate and post online at rates similar to men. Gender gaps remain stable over time, but national context matters: women in more gender-equal societies participate significantly more than those in less equal nations. By integrating individual resources, temporal trends, and cross-national variation, this book offers the most comprehensive analysis to date of gendered political participation in European democracies and its implications for equality and democratic engagement. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Information

Type: Element
Information: Series: Elements in Gender and Politics

DOI: https://doi.org/ [Opens in a new window]

Online ISBN: 9781009400022

Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Creative Commons: This content is Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC-BY-NC 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/cclicenses/

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