Voting the Gender Gap

back cover

ISBN 978-0-252-07525-4 Edited by Lois Duke Whitaker VOTING THE GENDER GAP VOTING THE GENDER GAP Illinois Political Science / Women’s Studies University of Illinois Press Urbana and Chicago www.press.uillinois.edu “Complete with insightful analysis and interesting conclusions, this book examines an important and much-speculated-on topic from a number of perspectives. The chapters report on original data analysis and examine factors and aspects of the gender gap that have not been examined elsewhere.” — Christina Wolbrecht, author of The Politics of Women’s Rights: Parties, Positions, and Change This book concentrates on the gender gap in voting—the difference in the proportion of women and men voting for the same candidate. Evident in every presidential election since 1980, this polling phenomenon reached a high of 11 percentage points in the 1996 election. The contributors discuss the history, complexity, and ways of analyzing the gender gap; the gender gap in relation to partisanship; motherhood, ethnicity, and the impact of parental status on the gender gap; and the gender gap in races involving female candidates. Voting the Gender Gap analyzes trends in voting while probing how women’s political empowerment and gender affect American politics and the electoral process. Contributors are Susan J. Carroll, Erin Cassese, Cal Clark, Janet M. Clark, M. Margaret Conway, Kathleen A. Dolan, Laurel Elder, Kathleen A. Frankovic, Steven Greene, Leonie Huddy, Mary-Kate Lizotte, Barbara Norrander, Margie Omero, and Lois Duke Whitaker. Lois Duke Whitaker is a professor of political science at Georgia Southern University. She is the editor of Women in Politics: Outsiders or Insiders? and the coeditor of siders or Insiders? and the coeditor of siders or Insiders? The Democrats Must Lead: The Case for a Progressive Democratic Party. Whitaker Cover photo © Richard Villalon / Fotolia.com. Cover design by Frank Gutbrod ...