Adult roles and the gender gap in political knowledge: a comparative study

The unusual size and persistence of the gender gap in political knowledge is perplexing in comparison to other dimensions of politics. Building on situational explanations of political engagement, this article claims that women’s and men’s specific adult roles lead to an enlargement of the gender gap in knowledge. The present study analyses men and women’s levels of political knowledge at different life stages by means of two unique datasets specifically collected to measure what people know about politics. Findings show that adult roles provide more opportunities for men to gain political knowledge than for women. Furthermore, the comparison of levels of political knowledge in two such dissimilar countries as Finland and Spain suggests that while gender equality policies are successful in tearing down some of the obstacles that hinder women’s contact with the political world, they are still insufficient to completely bridge the gender gap in political knowledge during adulthood.     

Who's Afraid of… Ethical Dilemmas in Qualitative Research

In the light of her latest study the author investigates ethical challenges of qualitative research connected to the issue of privacy and publicity. The value of any research is that its findings are recognizable to the informants. This is the presupposition of a dialogue and of a possible change of practice. This is, however, also the dilemma of anonymity. To make the analysis recognizable it is important that the steps are transparent, so that it is possible to follow the reasoning of the researcher. Visiting various researchers the author maintains that any research takes colour, not only of the researcher and the subjects, but also by the power games played on the scene. She underlines the responsibility of all parts to participate in an on‐going discussion of the result.