This project studies the differences in political ambition and voting intention between adolescent boys and girls. It studies to what extent gender roles and norms play a role in the political socialization between these groups and how we might improve a more equal socialization process and thereby improve equal political participation. The first part of the study uses panel-data to establish to what extent there are different levels of political ambition and voting intention between boys and girls and how much of that variance can be explained by the role of gender norms. The second part of the study wants to explain the influence of gender roles and norms on political ambition by conducting in-depth interviews with the target groups. Lastly, the third part of the project tries to test the role of external variation in political gender norms and available role models using a vignette experiment.

The PhD project is This study is part of the ADKS-project and is funded by an NWO SGW Open Competition M scholarship