Elisabeth Gidengal's Theoretical Analysis

Elisabeth Gidengal challenges this argument and suggests that it is not women’s socialized reserve that causes the gender gap, but men’s willingness to offer opinions even if they do not necessarily know the answer. Gidengal offers an alternative explanation. She suggests that men’s higher levels of opinion expression are really masking a lack of political opinions. She implies that men and women fall prey to the social desirability theory, which states that individuals will answer according to how society thinks they should answer. This is particularly relevant when discussing the gender gap. Men may think they have to answer political questions because traditionally the political arena is reserved for men. Women may be more hesitant to answer