Social Media and Civic Participation: A Gendered Approach

Abstract

Empowering women to become active in civic participation has become a core focus of international policy in science, politics and economics. In the present study we examine the link between social media and civic participation. We employ data released from the PEW Internet and American Life Project including women (N = 2304) and men (N = 2290). Focusing on women’s empowerment and gendered perspectives of technology we show that 1) social media effect on civic participation differs by gender and 2) women’s positive attitudes regarding personal, but not social, benefits from using social media are a strong predictor of civic participation. The results indicate that women’s social media affordances play a moderating role in predicting civic participation and differ from those of men. We conclude that the gendered approach considering gender variations in technology and women’s selectivity of social media is a significant aspect in predicting women’s empowerment in society.