Gender and Political Participation in Australia

A sizeable gender gap in political participation, such that men are more likely to be active than women, is a well‐established cross‐national finding. But evidence for Australia is scarce, particularly in recent times, and so is international evidence since the mid‐1970s. The 1984–85 Australian National Social Science Survey shows only a small gender gap to exist in a variety of political activities, in contrast to past findings. Furthermore, controlling for political interest largely explains the gap in rates of orthodox political participation. A significant gender gap remains in political protest activities, however, despite the introduction of a wide range of controls.