Objectives · Data
Gender has become a defining axis of political competition across contemporary democracies. Debates around feminism, sexual violence, reproductive rights, and gender identity have gained unprecedented visibility, with tangible electoral consequences documented across Western Europe and the United States. Yet despite this growing salience, the dynamics of gender-related polarization remain poorly understood. Most research analyzes individual gender issues in isolation, while studies of polarization continue to focus primarily on partisan divisions. GPOL addresses this gap by developing a comprehensive, longitudinal framework that treats gender polarization as a multidimensional political process.
Word Packages and Objectives
WP1
Characterize and explain gender gaps in political attitudes, vote choice and ideological orientations, with an intersectional perspective that accounts for age and socioeconomic status.
WP2
Map the structure of public opinion across a broad range of gender-related issues — from quotas and parental leave to abortion, gender-based violence, and gender self-determination — and to analyze how these attitudes are formed, structured, and linked to political behavior.
WP3
Examine how citizens perceive feminism, measuring both positive identification and negative affect toward the feminist movement.
Data
GPOL relies primarily on a longitudinal approach. Its backbone is the POLAT panel, an ongoing Spanish political attitudes survey spanning more than 16 waves (2010–2027). GPOL will add two new panel waves and a cross-sectional survey (GPOL Survey 2026, N≈2,000), enabling the study of within-individual attitude change over time. The team will utilize hybrid panel models to disentangle changes within individuals over time, as well as decomposition models and factor analysis to explain the structure of gender gaps and attitudes.