Gender Differences in Political Engagement and Participation among Italian Young People
A substantial literature has revealed gender gaps in political participation. However, littleis known about such gaps when using more comprehensive measures of conventionaland non-conventional civic and political participation including online participation. In thepresent study, we recruited a sample (n = 1792) of young people living in Italy. Controllingfor age, majority/minority status, socioeconomic status, respondents’ educationalattainment, and parents’ educational attainment, we found that female participantsreported higher scores on online and civic participation, while male participants weremore likely to report political and activist participation. The effect size for these genderdifferences was small. In addition, we did not find any gender differences in votingbehavior in last European parliamentary elections, national parliamentary elections, andlocal elections. These findings highlight the need to move toward a more comprehensiveand detailed picture of gender gaps in political engagement and participation includingdifferent types of participation.