Krista Jenkins

Gender and Citizen Engagement among Youth
By Krista Jenkins, assistant professor of political science at Fairleigh Dickinson University and coauthor of A New Engagement? Political Participation, Civic Life, and the Changing American Citizen (with Cliff Zukin, Scott Keeter, Molly Andolina, and Michael X. Delli-Carpini)

Young women living in the United States today are surrounded by images of historic “firsts” in women’s political leadership: Nancy Pelosi, first female speaker of the house; Condoleezza Rice, first woman national security advisor (and now the second female secretary of state); and of course, Hillary Clinton, first woman to launch a truly viable run for her party’s presidential nomination. Their accomplishments communicate that the political realm is not the exclusive domain of men and that women, too, can play an important role in politics. Yet despite these prominent successes, women remain disproportionately absent from elective office, leaving much work for the next generation of women leaders. But how likely are young women to step into the leadership gap? And how are young women faring more generally in their journey toward becoming active and informed citizens?

Surveys of today’s youth reveal insights into how young women are progressing on this journey. This article summarizes my previous findings about gender and citizen engagement (available at civicyouth.org/PopUps/WorkingPapers/WP41Jenkins.pdf). My findings are based largely on the National Citizen Engagement Survey (NCES), which includes oversamples of youth between the ages of 15 and 25.  The picture that emerges from the NCES and related surveys is somewhat mixed: Although young women are more likely than their male peers to participate in key civic activities (such as volunteering), they are less likely to demonstrate cognitive engagement and political knowledge.

Orientations toward Civic Behavior

Studies of civic behavior (defined as participation in community-centered activities that are not directed toward electoral politics) indicate important differences between young men’s and young women’s engagement. Young women are more likely to volunteer than young men, and a difference of almost ten percentage points separates the sexes on this indicator: forty-five percent of women (versus 36 percent of men) report volunteering for nonpolitical groups in the past twelve months. Women’s high levels of volunteerism are particularly encouraging, as data show that volunteers are more apt to engage in other civic and political activities. The correlation between volunteerism and political involvement is even stronger among young women than among men (.29 versus .19, respectively).

Nevertheless, young adults in general tend not to engage in the types of activities that influence electoral politics. Regardless of gender, and despite increased rates of voting and campaigning in the past few national elections, the bottom line remains the same: young people are generally disengaged from electoral politics, and young women are no exception. Across a variety of behaviors that include attempts to persuade others politically, voting or intending to vote in local and national elections, working for a party or candidate, and wearing a button or displaying some other sign of support for a candidate, youth are far more likely not to participate than to participate.

Thus although young women volunteer at relatively high rates, and although volunteerism correlates with increased political activism, young women (and young people in general) are relatively disengaged from electoral activities. Even though adults are certainly capable of changing their behaviors, this trend portends similarly low levels of political activism later in life.

Cognitive Engagement

Gender differences are not limited to measures of civic engagement: they appear in indicators of what political scientists refer to as cognitive engagement as well. Cognitive engagement relates to the broad array of behaviors that serve as precursors to citizen engagement, such as regular attention to politics and public affairs. Although young women are relatively more civically engaged than their male peers, they persistently show fewer signs of cognitive engagement than young men.

Take the example mentioned above: Only 25 percent of 15- to 25-year-olds report regular attentiveness to politics and public affairs—hardly cause for celebration. Even more disconcerting is the seven percentage point gap that separates young women from young men (21 percent of women and 28 percent of men report attentiveness to these subjects). Even when we expand the definition of attentiveness to include other behaviors (such as following politics and government most of the time, engaging in frequent discussions about politics and public affairs with family and friends, and regularly reading the newspaper or watching the nightly news on television), the story remains the same: young women are less engaged than their male peers. Four in ten young men regularly read the newspaper, compared to 34 percent of young women. Similarly, while 49 percent of young men watch the nightly news on television on a regular basis, only 42 percent of women report this behavior.

Indeed, when we consider a variety of relevant behaviors, more than a third of young women (35 percent) qualify as among the cognitively disengaged, compared to 25 percent of young men. Although these findings show that both genders have room for improvement, their implications for young women are particularly troubling.

Political Knowledge

Young women are not only more disengaged than young men—they also know less about politics, government, and the political process. Surveys that include questions designed to gauge political knowledge have shown that young are women are consistently less knowledgeable than their male peers.

Almost half of all young men (46 percent) know that Republicans are the more conservative party at the national level, compared to barely over a third of young women (34 percent). When faced with more difficult questions about the political process (e.g., How much of a majority does Congress need in order to override a presidential veto?), the gender gap remains: thirty-six percent of men know that the correct answer is two-thirds, compared to just 24 percent of young women.

The trend continues even for politics that are closer to home. A 2003 survey conducted by the National Conference of State Legislatures found that significantly more young men than young women can correctly name their state governor’s party affiliation (54 percent versus 43 percent). And an eleven percentage point difference separates the sexes when it comes to knowing which party has a majority in the lower house of the respondent’s state legislature (28 percent of men versus 17 percent of women).

Conclusion

What are the implications of these findings about gender and civic engagement among youth? Few young people of either gender are actively interested or involved in politics, and this is certainly reason for concern. But obvious disparities by gender indicate deeper problems. Although women’s relatively high levels of civic engagement are encouraging, their levels of cognitive engagement leave much to be desired.

Rising education levels among young women should help to lessen the differences between the sexes. Education has long been regarded as a great equalizer in regard to participatory inequalities. In formal educational settings, students develop important skills and learn to look beyond narrow self-interest when making political decisions. Moreover, campuses can be hotbeds of political activism that engage students who had not participated previously in public life.

Yet while formal education can do much to reverse students’ disengagement and inattentiveness, change will require deeper cultural shifts. Political socialization begins early in life and sets the stage for attitudes and behaviors that may persist into adulthood. Young women’s attitudes and behaviors show promise in terms of civic engagement but portend continued disparities in political activism. Indeed, women have come a long way, as Speaker Pelosi, Secretary Rice, and Senator Clinton demonstrate. But there is still some distance to travel before we reach the end of gender disparities in citizen engagement.    

References

Jenkins, K. 2005. Gender and citizen engagement: Secondary analysis of survey data. Center for Research and Learning on Civic Learning and Engagement. Available online at civicyouth.org/PopUps/WorkingPapers/WP41Jenkins.pdf.

National Citizen Engagement Survey. 2003. Funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

National Conference of State Legislators Survey. 2003. Data collected as part of the Representative Democracy in America Project.