How the Gender of U.S. Senators Influences People’s Understanding and Engagement in Politics

Electoral accountability depends on citizens making informed choices at the voting booth. We explore whether the gender of U.S. Senators influences what people know about their senators. We also examine whether people's level of information about men and women senators affects their participati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of politics 2014-10, Vol.76 (4), p.1017-1031
Main Authors: Fridkin, Kim L., Kenney, Patrick J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accountability
Choices
Citizens
Cooperation
Elections
Electoral College
Electorate
Engagement
Expectations
Females
Gender
Gender identity
Gender studies
Knowledge
Legislative Bodies
Legislators
Men
Participation
Political attitudes
Political behavior
Political elections
Political influences
Political Participation
Political parties
Political partisanship
Political theory
Politicians
Politics
Senators
Seniority
Sex
U.S.A
United States Senate
Voter behavior
Voting
Voting behaviour
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Summary:Electoral accountability depends on citizens making informed choices at the voting booth. We explore whether the gender of U.S. Senators influences what people know about their senators. We also examine whether people's level of information about men and women senators affects their participation in politics. We develop theoretical expectations to explain why a senator's gender may influence citizens' knowledge and behaviors. We rely on the 2006 Congressional Cooperative Election Survey and examine the population of U.S. Senators serving in the 109th Congress. We find that women know far less about their senators than men. Second, the gap in political knowledge closes sharply when women senators represent women citizens. Third, perhaps most importantly, women citizens are more active in politics when represented by women senators. These findings suggest the confluence of more women senators and additional women voters may produce important changes in the policy outcomes of the U.S. Congress
ISSN:0022-3816
1468-2508
DOI:10.1017/S0022381614000589