Not a Dichotomous Variable: Rethinking Gender in Election Studies

Research in political behaviour has for some time pointed to the existence of a ‘gender gap,’ between the political attitudes of men and women. Men and women diverge in their attitudes on many political issues, including foreign policy, social welfare spending, and crime and punishment. With this focus on the differences between women and men in political survey research, it is important to better understand the underlying assumption: that women and men form two distinct groups which can be isolated and analyzed. Furthermore, this research assumes that the biological difference of sex is synonymous with the socially constructed concept of gender. Especially in quantitative analysis, the two concepts are used interchangeably, and scholars do not carefully consider the important distinctions between sex and gender. Understanding gender as distinct from sex, and assessing attitudes and values accordingly may provide new insight into the ‘gender gap.’ How can this understanding of gender be integrated into survey research, which currently focuses on the dichotomous variable of male/female? This paper explores the concepts of sex and gender, as well as their presence in political behaviour research, to understand the methodological implications. Infusing survey research with measures that reflect conceptions of gender as differentiated from sex is the best way to ensure that more robust gendered research in political behaviour can be achieved, and this paper proposes a method for moving forward. Paper Presented at the Canadian Political Science Association Annual Meetings Carleton University, May 2009