CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2025
| Author | Offenberg, Miriam Alisa |
|---|---|
| Title | Voting By Gender: Explaining The Modern Gender Gap Among Young Germans |
| Summary | While male and female voting behavior in Germany remained relatively balanced for decades, a significant modern gender gap emerged in 2017, with the youngest age group demonstrating the largest recorded political gender gap in the years that followed. The prominent explanations fall short of fully accounting for the rapid and pronounced emergence of this gap. This thesis contends that differing attitudes of young men and women toward gender equality, reflected by the attitude theory, may help explain the modern gender gap. Through a qualitative content analysis of electoral programmes (2013-2025), it examines how party positions on gender equality align with gendered attitudes and gendered voting behavior. The thesis finds that parties with stronger commitments to gender equality tend to attract more young female voters, while those with stronger opposition to gender equality tend to attract more young male voters. These findings suggest that differing attitudes of young men and women toward gender equality, paired with increased salience of gender issues, are a key factor in shaping different male and female voting preferences and contribute to the modern gender gap. This dynamic may influence party strategies and policy outcomes, as parties may target gendered attitudes to gain votes. |
| Supervisor | Butzlaff, Felix |
| Department | Undergraduate Studies BA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2025/offenberg_alisa.pdf |
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