GENDER, FEMINISM AND ELECTORAL-BEHAVIOR IN BRITAIN

Over the last 20 years, public attitudes towards the question of women 's rights and feminist issues has emerged as an important and controve rsial political issue within British society. Despite this increase in controversy, however, the impact of feminist attitudes in predicting electoral outcomes has not been assessed. Although research analysts h ave devoted considerable attention to gender diffierences in political attitudes and outcomes, the role of feminist orientations in either m ediating or explaining these gender differences has been almost totall y ignored. In an effort to remedy this situation, this paper focuses o n the relationship between gender, feminist attitudes and electoral be haviour in Britain. The results suggest that whereas individuals who a dopt a pro-feminist orientation are distinctive in terms of their elec toral choices, gender per se has no notable impact on vote. In other w ords, at least as far as the question of British electoral patterns ar e concerned, it is feminism and not gender which emerges as the key va riable in distinguishing party choice in this society. In contrast to women who are neither more or less likely to vote for the Conservative Party, support for feminist issues remains a distinctively non-Conser vative phenomenon; individuals who adopted a pro-feminist orientation are significantly less likely to vote for the Conservative Party than any other major political party within Britain. Furthermore, there is no interaction effect between gender and feminist attitudes in relatio n to this issue. As a group, feminist women are neither more or less l ikely to cast their vote for any one particular party than feminist me n. The implications of these findings for future electoral outcomes in Britain are discussed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.