Voice, Avoidance and Cross-Pressures: Gender Attitudes on Democratic Backsliding

• In Event: Democratic Backsliding

Abstract

Democratic backsliding poses a meaningful risk to the rights and protections of women and other underrepresented groups. Nevertheless, we know little about gender differences in attitudes toward anti-democratic policies. The literature provides conflicting intuitions: women are more likely to oppose such government actions but also more averse to political confrontation and politically disengaged than men. Integrating both perspectives, I suggest that women are less supportive of anti-democratic actions, but their expressed attitudes reflect partisan cross-pressures. Using surveys from Israel, Poland, and the US, I find that women who voted for opposition parties explicitly object to such policies as their male co-partisans. By contrast, facing higher internal and external pressures, women who voted for the backsliding government are likelier to disengage and avoid taking a position. The findings deepen our understanding of gender views on democratic backsliding and underscore the intersection of gender and partisan pressures in divisive contexts.

Author

• Alon Yakter, Tel Aviv University