Abstract
How scholars conceptualize and measure the gender gap in mobilization can have profound consequences for substantive conclusions. Scholars typically refer to a difference between women and men's turnout (difference-in-proportions measure) or a fraction of women voters among all voters (proportion measure). Using the case of proportional representation (PR) reform in Norway, I demonstrate that, in the context of low men's turnout, the proportion measure indicates that PR narrows the gap, while the difference-in-proportion measure indicates that it widens the gap. This is because mobilizing fewer women than men widens the difference between women and men's turnout, but may constitute a greater proportional increase in women's mobilization compared to men when only a few men (and even fewer women) vote. These findings bring together seemingly opposing arguments in the PR-gap debate and have wide implications for the study of 'gaps' within and beyond gender scholarship.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1468-1476 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | British Journal of Political Science |
| Volume | 54 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Oct 2024 |
Keywords
- concepts
- electoral systems
- gender gap
- measurements
- turnout
