The gender gap in political efficacy: the role of an open classroom climate in the development of inequalities

The gender gap in political efficacy is among the most persistent over time and extent across Western democracies. Nevertheless, little research has been performed to understand how gender differences in political self-efficacy are developed or learned. In this article we examine a key intervention that has shown to foster political efficacy at an early age: an open classroom climate. Using the Citizenship Education Longitudinal study data from England on young people between the ages of 11-16, this article shows that boys increase their levels of internal political efficacy significantly during this period while girls do not, resulting in an acceleration of the gender gap in perceived abilities to get engaged in politics. Our findings show that, despite having the same access to an open classroom climate in schools, this experience has a positive effect in the development of political efficacy for boys but, if anything, a negative effect for girls. Furthermore, even a small number of boys in the class appears to be detrimental to girls’ development of political efficacy. The results are explained using social cognitive learning theory (Bussey and Bandura 1999) and implications for classroom and teaching practice discussed.