From the parish to the polling booth: Evolution and interpretation of the political gender gap in Italy, 1968–2006

Traditionally, in Western democracies women tended to be more conservative than men. More recently, this difference has significantly weakened, and in some countries men actually appear to be more conservative than women. We analyse the evolution of the political gender gap in Italy between 1968 and 2006, showing that it has disappeared over the course of the 2000s. We interpret this trend in the context of social role theory: the political gender gap is explained by different structural characteristics such as occupational status, education, and religiousness. The latter, in particular, plays a particularly significant role and affects the gender gap through individuals' social networks rather than through the pressure to conform to specific values.