Gender Gaps in Political Behavior Across Generations: Evidence from Croatia's Diverse Socialization Trajectories

Existing research on gender gap in political participation among Western European voters has shown that young women are less politically active than young men (Grasso & Smith, 2022). Also, a study of cohort change and gender gap in Western Europe and Canada has linked closing of the gap to modernization and changing gender roles in post-industrial societies (Shorrocks, 2018). Further, a longitudinal comparison of OECD countries has shown narrowing of ideological gender gaps (left-right self-placement) in newer generations (Dassonneville, 2021). What this growing body of literature has in common is that changes in the gender gap across generations are studied in contexts where democracy is a sine qua non of political socialization for most of the generations. Therefore, we still need to learn about cases in which generations were socialized under different political and historical contexts. To test if the main findings of the abovementioned literature hold in other scenarios, we use Croatia as a case study whose distinct political and historical development created a unique generational structure that represents a mix of cohorts socialized under early socialism (hardline communist rule), late socialism (reformist communist rule), early democratization (ethnonationalist transitional socialization), and EU-driven democratic consolidation (European democratic socialization). Using this as a backdrop, we aim to test whether there are gendered differences regarding electoral participation, interest in politics, party membership, and voting for the two main parties (Christian Democrats and Social Democrats, representing two main historical identities and patterns of socialization) among generations with vastly different political socializations. For this purpose, we rely on a series of APC (age-cohort-period) models using longitudinal (1990-2024) data from the Croatian National Electoral Study (CroNES). Using this approach, we can examine whether distinct socialization experiences—such as growing up under hardline communism, during ethnonationalism mobilization, or during democratic consolidation—affect political behavior and attitudes among genders differently. Consequently, this study servers as a novel test of whether gender determines political socialization imprinting for different generations.