BACKGROUND COLOUR

How does our gender affect our politics?

There is a real gender divide in both the parties voted for and the reasons for voting. Men are more likely to vote for the Liberal Party while women have been moving to the Left over the last twenty years.

45 %

45% of men voted for the Liberal Party while 35% of women did so.

37 %

Women – 37% – voted for Labor marginally more than men – 34%

4.8

Women have moved to the left politically since the 1990s and are at 4.8 on a sliding scale where 0 is left and 10 is right.

32 %

More men – 32% – than women – 17% – said the biggest issue was economic management.

Gender Differences in the Liberal Party Vote
In the Federal election for the House of Representatives in the given year, which party did you vote for first in the House of Representatives?
Sources & Methodology
Variable description Grouped by gender
Variable time span 1987 to 2019
Published by Australian Election Study
Publisher Link https://australianelectionstudy.org
Data Source doi:10.26193/KMAMMW
CSV Data
PNG Image
CHART
SOURCES
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There is a widening gender gap with men becoming much more likely than women to vote for the Liberal Party.

There is a 10 per cent gap between men and women in voting for the Liberal Party. 45 per cent of men gave the Liberal Party their first preference vote while only 35 per cent of women did. This gap has been opening up since the 2013 election.

These results show a widening gender gap with men becoming much more likely than women to vote for the Liberal Party.

Gender Differences in the Labor Party Vote
In the Federal election for the House of Representatives in the given year, which party did you vote for first in the House of Representatives?
Sources & Methodology
Variable description Grouped by gender
Variable time span 1987 to 2019
Published by Australian Election Study
Publisher Link https://australianelectionstudy.org
Data Source doi:10.26193/KMAMMW
CSV Data
PNG Image
CHART
SOURCES
DOWNLOAD
While the gap for a Labor vote is narrower, women are marginally more likely to vote Labor.

While the gap for a Labor vote is narrower, women are marginally more likely to vote Labor. The gap is just 3 per cent with 37 per cent of women voting Labor and 34 per cent of men. Unlike the vote for the Liberal Party this gender gap closed since the 2016 election.

The gap for a Greens vote is considerable with 15% of women giving the minor party a first preference vote and only 9% of men.

Gender and Vote Choice
In the Federal election for the House of Representatives on 18 May 2019, which party did you vote for first in the House of Representatives?
Sources & Methodology
Variable description Grouped by gender
Variable time span 2019
Published by Australian Election Study
Publisher Link https://australianelectionstudy.org
Data Source doi:10.26193/KMAMMW
CSV Data
PNG Image
CHART
SOURCES
DOWNLOAD
Women have been moving to the left politically-speaking since the 1990s.

Women have been moving to the left politically-speaking since the 1990s. On a scale from left to right where left is 0 and right is 10, the average position for men is 5.2 while for women it is 4.8. A little over two decades ago there were minimal gender differences.

There were also considerable differences between men and women on what they identified as most important issue was in the 2019 election. For men it was management of the economy - 32 per cent of them said it was the most important while only 17 per cent of women agreed. For women, the biggest issue was health with 30 per cent agreeing while only 14 per cent of men did.