Gender differences in left-right ideology: European men are more right-wing, women are more centrist?

Since the 1990s, women appear to have become more left-wing or liberal-oriented compared to men (Dassonneville, 2020). In this paper, we examine whether this observation holds in the more recent survey data from Europe. We show that the exclusive focus on differences in average scores provides an i...

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Main Authors: Aleksandra Trogrlić, Bojan Todosijević
Format: Article
Language:Bosnian
Published: Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad 2024-12-01
Series:Primenjena Psihologija
Subjects:
Online Access:https://primenjena.psihologija.ff.uns.ac.rs/index.php/pp/article/view/2545
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author Aleksandra Trogrlić
Bojan Todosijević
author_facet Aleksandra Trogrlić
Bojan Todosijević
author_sort Aleksandra Trogrlić
collection DOAJ
description Since the 1990s, women appear to have become more left-wing or liberal-oriented compared to men (Dassonneville, 2020). In this paper, we examine whether this observation holds in the more recent survey data from Europe. We show that the exclusive focus on differences in average scores provides an incomplete picture of gender differences in ideology. Since both men and women tend to be centrist, the observed gender differences in averages may be due to differences in the relative popularity of the middle point of the scale. The analysis uses the ninth wave of the European Social Survey data (ESS 9.3), which covers 29 European countries. The results show that European women are, indeed, on average, positioned to the left compared to men. However, additional analyses revealed that these differences are partly due to men's preference for rightist ideological positions and partly to women's relatively more frequent positioning on the scale midpoint.
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spelling doaj-art-2b6faef942be42a4a2790f144deed7b52025-08-20T02:39:25ZbosFaculty of Philosophy, University of Novi SadPrimenjena Psihologija1821-01472334-72872024-12-0117410.19090/pp.v17i4.2545Gender differences in left-right ideology: European men are more right-wing, women are more centrist?Aleksandra Trogrlić0Bojan Todosijević1Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, SerbiaInstitute of Social Sciences, Belgrade, Serbia Since the 1990s, women appear to have become more left-wing or liberal-oriented compared to men (Dassonneville, 2020). In this paper, we examine whether this observation holds in the more recent survey data from Europe. We show that the exclusive focus on differences in average scores provides an incomplete picture of gender differences in ideology. Since both men and women tend to be centrist, the observed gender differences in averages may be due to differences in the relative popularity of the middle point of the scale. The analysis uses the ninth wave of the European Social Survey data (ESS 9.3), which covers 29 European countries. The results show that European women are, indeed, on average, positioned to the left compared to men. However, additional analyses revealed that these differences are partly due to men's preference for rightist ideological positions and partly to women's relatively more frequent positioning on the scale midpoint. https://primenjena.psihologija.ff.uns.ac.rs/index.php/pp/article/view/2545left-right ideologygender differencespublic opinionEurope
spellingShingle Aleksandra Trogrlić
Bojan Todosijević
Gender differences in left-right ideology: European men are more right-wing, women are more centrist?
Primenjena Psihologija
left-right ideology
gender differences
public opinion
Europe
title Gender differences in left-right ideology: European men are more right-wing, women are more centrist?
title_full Gender differences in left-right ideology: European men are more right-wing, women are more centrist?
title_fullStr Gender differences in left-right ideology: European men are more right-wing, women are more centrist?
title_full_unstemmed Gender differences in left-right ideology: European men are more right-wing, women are more centrist?
title_short Gender differences in left-right ideology: European men are more right-wing, women are more centrist?
title_sort gender differences in left right ideology european men are more right wing women are more centrist
topic left-right ideology
gender differences
public opinion
Europe
url https://primenjena.psihologija.ff.uns.ac.rs/index.php/pp/article/view/2545
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