Gender differences in participation endure in many democracies even though socio-economic differences between men and women have narrowed and the number of female political figures has increased. We contribute to explaining this persistence by showing the highly gendered effects of family norms on the opportunity costs and social benefits of voting. To this end, we estimate the impact of changes in family composition–i.e., marital status and childrearing–on turnout among male and female voters using a unique administrative panel dataset from Italy. Our difference-in-difference impact estimates reveal that marriage equalizes turnout among spouses, increasing men’s participation, and leaving women’s unchanged. By the same token, young children reduce maternal turnout, leaving paternal turnout unchanged. Exploring potential mechanisms, we suggest that increased well-being among men and peer pressure within couples are the likely sources of the marriage effect, whereas gender imbalance in family chores allocation is the source of the effect of parenthood.

Contactez semra.sevi@umontreal.ca pour rejoindre la conférence sur Zoom.

Organisé par la Chaire de recherche en études électorales et la Chaire de recherche du Canada en démocratie électorale.

DATE : mardi 12 mai, 12h-13h