The Gender Gap, Then and Now
The Gender Gap, Then and Now
In 1984, Eleanor Smeal literally wrote the book on the gender gap: Why and How Women Will Elect the Next President (Harper & Row). As president of the National Organization for Women, Smeal together with a team at NOW had identified and named the gender gap. Ms. asked Smeal — now president of the Feminist Majority Foundation and publisher of Ms. — to bring us up to date on the gender gap and share her predictions on the 2016 elections.
cover of How and Why Women will Elect the Next President
Ms.: Your book predicted that the gender gap would become decisive in elections. If you were writing it today, what would you say differently?
Eleanor Smeal: The gender gap is even wider, and women are an even larger proportion of the electorate. Eight percent more women than men voted for Carter over Reagan in 1980, and if it had been a closer race, that could have made all the difference. By 2012, the gender gap had reached 10 percent and was decisive, with 55 percent of women, but only 45 percent of men, voting for Obama. There's no question that in 2016 the gender gap will be even bigger. Already, the exit polls from the primary contests show the growing strength of the gender gap.
What I think people haven't observed fully is that larger numbers of women are registered to vote than men. In 2012, women were 53 percent of the electorate. During this year's Democratic primaries, women comprised as much as 60 percent of the electorate in some states. What's more, early general election polls show massive gender gaps. Clearly the GOP leadership has seen these numbers, and they are now worried about losing the presidency and Congress.
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Ms.: What is currently driving the gender gap?
ES: One is whether women will still have access to legal abortion. The next president will appoint Supreme Court justices who will decide the future of legal abortion and a whole host of women's equality questions. The odds are the gender gap will also affect the outcome of 2016's races for the Senate—especially where feminist candidates are running—which will ultimately affect which Supreme Court nominees are confirmed.
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http://www.msmagazine.com/magazine/the-gender-gap-then-and-now.html
