Gendered nationalism: the gender gap in support for the Scottish National Party
Gendered nationalism: the gender gap in support for the Scottish National Party
Recent major surveys of the Scottish electorate and of Scottish National Party (SNP) members have revealed a distinct gender gap in support for the party. Men are markedly more likely than women to vote for the SNP and they comprise more than two-thirds of its membership. In this article, we use data from those surveys to test various possible explanations for the disproportionately male support for the SNP. While popular accounts have focused on the gendered appeal of recent leaders and on the party's fluctuating efforts at achieving gender equality in its parliamentary representation, we find much stronger support for a different explanation. Women are less inclined to support and to join the SNP because they are markedly less supportive of its central objective of independence for Scotland. Since men and women barely differ in their reported national identities, the origins of this gender gap in support for independence presents a puzzle for further research.
gender, membership composition, nationalist parties, Scotland, voters
581-601
Johns, Robert
02861bc9-b704-49b1-bbc7-cf1c1e9b7a35
Bennie, Lynn
64fd5a12-457e-4239-b0e3-448d3f329a48
Mitchell, James
0c4ca906-da8c-4d12-b288-0b72a194fc2e
July 2012
Johns, Robert
02861bc9-b704-49b1-bbc7-cf1c1e9b7a35
Bennie, Lynn
64fd5a12-457e-4239-b0e3-448d3f329a48
Mitchell, James
0c4ca906-da8c-4d12-b288-0b72a194fc2e
Johns, Robert, Bennie, Lynn and Mitchell, James
(2012)
Gendered nationalism: the gender gap in support for the Scottish National Party.
Party Politics, 18 (4), .
(doi:10.1177/1354068810386839).
Abstract
Recent major surveys of the Scottish electorate and of Scottish National Party (SNP) members have revealed a distinct gender gap in support for the party. Men are markedly more likely than women to vote for the SNP and they comprise more than two-thirds of its membership. In this article, we use data from those surveys to test various possible explanations for the disproportionately male support for the SNP. While popular accounts have focused on the gendered appeal of recent leaders and on the party's fluctuating efforts at achieving gender equality in its parliamentary representation, we find much stronger support for a different explanation. Women are less inclined to support and to join the SNP because they are markedly less supportive of its central objective of independence for Scotland. Since men and women barely differ in their reported national identities, the origins of this gender gap in support for independence presents a puzzle for further research.
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Accepted/In Press date: 12 May 2010
e-pub ahead of print date: 9 February 2011
Published date: July 2012
Keywords:
gender, membership composition, nationalist parties, Scotland, voters
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 489932
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/489932
ISSN: 1354-0688
PURE UUID: 65188237-2a5a-41c3-a39f-5bd5fb7af0a3
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Date deposited: 07 May 2024 16:57
Last modified: 08 May 2024 02:08
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Author:
Robert Johns
Author:
Lynn Bennie
Author:
James Mitchell
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