Looking at the gender gap from an intersectional perspective - testing for intersectional effects on political interest among European youth

A gender gap in political interest, where women exhibit lesser interest than men, is still apparent across different countries, age cohorts, and societal contexts. However, research has so far paid little attention to analyzing intersectional effects on political interest, especially among youngsters. This paper seeks to empirically investigate intersectional effects influencing political interest among European youth, contributing to the broader discourse on gender inequalities in political engagement. While existing research acknowledges the gender differences in political engagement, a notable gap exists in understanding how these disparities intersect with other crucial factors such as education, social class, and migration status among the youth demographic. We utilize the CILS4EU data which represents a unique panel dataset of European youth from four countries (England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden). Through multivariate models we model intersectional effects on political interest and can assess the intersectional effects across two survey waves. Furthermore, we can test intersectional effects on the change of political interest between two waves. With this approach we aim to explore the multifaceted relationships between gender, education, social class, migration, and their collective impact on political interest among European youth.