Investigating the Origins of the Gender Gap in Support for War
| Date | 01 May 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1478929917699416 |
| Author | Mary-Kate Lizotte |
| Published date | 01 May 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1478929917699416
Political Studies Review
2019, Vol. 17(2) 124 –135
© The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/1478929917699416
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Investigating the Origins
of the Gender Gap in
Support for War
Mary-Kate Lizotte
Abstract
Gender is an important source of influence on foreign policy attitudes but has received less
research attention than it deserves. In the United States, gender differences on support for
military interventions average around 8 percent, with women less likely than men to support the
use of force. This gap has surfaced in many conflicts, including World War II, the Korean and
Vietnam wars, through to the Gulf War and the conflict in Iraq. The existence of a modest though
persistent gender difference in support of the use of military force thus arouses considerable
interest among political researchers. This piece critically discusses four explanations, the empirical
evidence to date, and future directions for studying and testing the origins of this gender gap. The
four explanations are economic/political marginalization, feminist identity, Social Role Theory, and
value differences.
Keywords
gender gap, support for war, public opinion
Accepted: 2 December 2016
Gender is an important source of influence on foreign policy attitudes, but has received
less research attention than it deserves. In the United States, gender differences on sup-
port for military interventions average around 8 percent, with women less likely than men
to support the use of force (Shapiro and Mahajan, 1986). This gap has surfaced in many
conflicts, including World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and the
conflict in Iraq (Bendyna et al., 1996; Burris, 2008; Conover and Sapiro, 1993; Eichenberg,
2016; Kam and Kinder, 2007; Sidman and Norpoth, 2012). The origins of this gap are
unclear. This piece critically discusses four explanations, the empirical evidence to date,
and future directions for studying the origins of this gender gap. The four explanations are
economic/political marginalization, feminist identity, Social Role Theory, and value
Department of Political Science, Augusta University, Augusta, GA, USA
Corresponding author:
Mary-Kate Lizotte, Department of Political Science, Augusta University, 1120 15th Street, Augusta, GA
30912, USA.
Email: mlizotte@augusta.edu
699416PSW0010.1177/1478929917699416Political Studies ReviewLizotte
research-article2017
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