Gender, Ideology and Issue Preference: Is There such a Thing as a Political Women's Interest in Britain?

Abstract

This article is not intended as a comprehensive study of gender and attitude in Britain. Neither is it a thorough analysis of gender and vote in Britain. It is, however, designed to ascertain whether there is any evidence to suggest that men and women might think about politics in different ways. Mainstream measures of ideology are examined and it is asked whether they can be applied equally to both sexes and also whether issues that might be defined as being especially important to women, such as health and education, provide more powerful explanations of women's voting choices than men's.