Mummy’s girls, daddy’s boys: the gendered transmission of political engagement in families

AbstractDespite gains in women’s education, workforce participation, and leadership roles, a gender gap in political self-efficacy persists across European nations. Women consistently report lower confidence in their ability to participate in and understand politics compared to their male counterparts. This study posits that, although society inherently signals to boys their place in politics, a politically engaged mother can counteract this by providing her daughter with a positive role model and fostering her interest in politics, thereby bolstering the daughter’s political self-efficacy. Drawing from survey data of 15–16-year-old Finnish students (n = 5220) from 2021, the findings reveal two critical insights: fathers tend to boost political self-efficacy more in sons than in daughters. In contrast, the political engagement of mothers has a stronger positive association with their daughters’ confidence in politics. Moreover, parents’ political involvement fosters political interest in their children, which then enhances the latter’s sense of political self-efficacy.Keywords: Political self-efficacygenderpolitical engagementadolescents Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 Table A1 in the appendix addresses potential gender differences in assessing parents’ political engagement. For example, gender roles may influence how boys and girls evaluate their parents. However, the differences are generally small. First, daughters tended to have more positive evaluations of both their parents’ political engagement. For the first three items, both sons and daughters rated their fathers’ political engagement more positively than their mothers’, but the gaps were, at most, 0.03 points greater among sons. Sons also had more favourable evaluations of their fathers’ encouragement on discussing political and social issues. Daughters, on the other hand, reported that their mothers were more encouraging in making independent decisions, with a gap of 0.12 points. In terms of the indexes, sons had somewhat more positive evaluations of their fathers’ engagement, while daughters had more positive evaluations of their mothers’ engagement.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the project Education, Political Efficacy and Informed Citizenship (EPIC), funded by Academy of Finland (project number 323608).Notes on contributorsElina Kestilä-KekkonenElina Kestilä-Kekkonen is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Tampere University and one of three principal investigators of the 2023 Finnish National Election Study. Her main research interests are political socialisation and inequalities in political engagement. She has published in journals such as European Journal of Political Research, European Political Science Review and Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties. [elina.kestila-kekkonen@tuni.fi]Josefina SipinenJosefina Sipinen is a post-doctoral researcher affiliated with both the Faculty of Management and Business at Tampere University and the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Helsinki. Her research delves into political engagement, political representation, and the political socialisation of migrants, youth, and women. She has published in Party Politics, Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, and European Societies, among others. [josefina.sipinen@tuni.fi, josefina.sipinen@helsinki.fi]Peter SöderlundPeter Söderlund is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Åbo Akademi University. His research has focused on political attitudes, voting behaviour, and electoral systems. He has published articles in journals such as Political Behaviour, European Journal of Political Research, and West European Politics. [peter.soderlund@abo.fi]