Socio-Political Sources of the Gender Gap in Voter Turnout: An Analysis of General Elections-2024 in Gujranwala Division, Pakistan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55737/trt/v-v.283Keywords:
Gender Gap, Voter Turnout, Social Sources, Political Sources, Gujranwala DivisionAbstract
A large body of literature has documented the gender gap in voter turnout both in developing and established democracies. However, there has been little consensus among scholars on the causes of the voter turnout gap between men and women. This study examines variability in voting among women and the impact of socio-political sources of the gender gap in Gujranwala Division, Pakistan. Building on survey evidence that employs purposive sampling (N =300), this study finds that more than one-third of women do not vote in general elections often. The one-way ANOVA test is performed to determine the inequality in voting among certain groups of women based on age, residence, profession, and education. The results indicate that women of different age groups (F = 1.904; P >.151) residing in urban or rural areas (F = .726; P >.395) do not exhibit statistically significant differences in opinion. However, the groups based on education (F = 24.344; P >.001) and profession (F = 5.729; P >.004) display statistically significant variation in responses. In addition, this study examines the impact of socio-political factors on the gender gap in voter turnout. Using Pearson correlation, it finds a significant positive relationship between “frequency of voting in elections” (FVE) and both political sources of the gender gap (PSGP; r = 0.551, p < .001) and socio-cultural sources (SSGP; r = 0.307, p < .001). The results imply that social and political obstacles significantly contribute to the gender gap in voter turnout. However, purposive sampling may limit the generalizability of these findings.
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