A Gender Gap in Opinionation in Times of Crises and Political Stability
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University of Ljubljana
Publication date: 2017-03-23
Polish Sociological Review 2017;197(1):35-50
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ABSTRACT
In the 70s and 80s, a number of analyses of nonresponses in questionnaires was conducted with the
assumption that nonresponses carry much important information. The share of expressed nonresponses can be
an indicator of apathy, ignorance and lack of information. Studies revealed a higher share of nonresponses being
expressed by women in comparison to men. Changing social conditions, such as the period of transition after the
change of political system, the emancipation of women and financial and economic crises, can have an impact on
the gender inequality expressed in nonresponses. This article will analyse the differences in nonresponse answers
between men and women to some socioeconomic questions for three periods: 1) 2000–2003, the period after the
transition and before accession to the European Union (EU); 2) 2004–2008, the period after accession to the EU
and the presidency of the Council of the EU, as well as a period of economic growth; and 3) 2009–2013, the
beginning of economic, financial and political crises in Slovenia. The number of nonresponses between men and
women is different in the three observed periods. In opposition to our assumption, the gap was higher in the first
two periods and lower in the period of economic, financial and political crises.