Women’s Political Empowerment Through Public Opinion Research: The Citizen Perspective

Abstract

Engaging in politics through various activities is an important way for citizens to empower themselves politically. Using public opinion data (World Values Survey 2010–2014), Alexander and Coffé measure gender gaps in mainstream and activist modes of engagement, as well as more general attitudes towards women’s role in politics, thereby focusing on differences between birth cohorts and between countries, depending on their level of gender equality. The chapter concludes with suggestions on how public opinion research could help us to further improve our knowledge on gender differences in political empowerment by including more specific measures which take into account women’s different focus and interests compared with men.