Concurrent Media News Use and Gender-Based Political Participation Inequality in a Low-Income Democracy

• Published in: International journal of public opinion research 2020-12, Vol.32 (4), p.815-828
• Main Author: Ahmed, Saifuddin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Democracy; Gender inequality; Income inequality; Inequality; Low income groups; News; Political participation; Social media; Social networks
• ISSN: 0954-2892; 1471-6909
• DOI: 10.1093/ijpor/edaa001

Social media platforms have created new opportunities for political participation; however, their actual impact on exacerbating or reducing participation inequalities between different genders, age groups, and socioeconomic levels remains debatable. Mobilization scholars argue that social media reduces participation inequality by lowering the cost of participation and empowering the marginalized (Anduiza, Cristancho, & Sabucedo, 2014; Xenos, Vromen, & Loader, 2014). Alternatively, reinforcement scholars claim that social media replicates or even amplifies the existing offline participation inequalities where the advantaged further exploit online tools (Gustafson, 2014; Schlozman, Verba, & Brady, 2010). Although scholarship is on the rise, attention to gender as a stratification factor remains rare (cf. Valenzuela, Somma, Scherman, & Arriagada, 2016). It is essential to examine the mobilizing–reinforcing effect of social media on gender inequality since gender-based inequality poses a threat to the quality of deliberation, representation, and legitimacy, especially in low-income democracies (Inglehart, Norris, & Welzel, 2002). Moreover, beyond the political implications, gender inequality in its various forms also restricts the educational attainment for women (Drabowicz, 2014) and economic growth and development of a nation (Eastin & Prakash, 2013). Thus, there is both an academic and a socio-political need to pay attention to gender-stratification in political participation.