Toward a Modern Gender Gap in Left-Right Self-Placement: A Study Case of the Population Aged Over 64 Years in Spain

The gender gap in political/ideological self-positioning literature usually considers that Spain is stagnant within traditional parameters, where women are more right-wing than men. However, an analysis of more than 87,000 opinion polls collected by the CIS over a period of almost 40 years shows that Spain is moving toward the modern gender gap, although following a particular path conditioned by its own history of the 20th century. These findings disagree with the conclusions reached by Inglehart and Norris about Spanish women in their study about the development of modern gender gap. Our research investigates the impact of cohort and period effects on the population aged over 64, whose political identity, in accordance with the theories of political socialization, was formed in a context alien to the modernization process, largely coinciding with the Franco dictatorship in Spain. During the final years of the twentieth century, Inglehart and Norris proposed a theory regarding the observed evolution of the gender gap in political/ideological self-placement in Western countries that let Spain out of this trend. They argued that when democracy, economic growth, and modernization are present, societies experience the emergence of new post-materialist values that lead to a realignment of women and men traditional positions on the ideological scale, with women tending to move towards the left and men towards the right. They also suggest that a generational replacement is necessary for the realignment process to be completed. This research examines over 87,000 opinion polls collected by CIS over nearly 40 years, demonstrating that Spain is not unaffected by this evolution but follows its unique trajectory. It shows that Spain has undergone a stage of realignment in ideological preferences along gender in accordance with Inglehart and Norris's developmental theory of the gender gap. Our study specifically investigates the impact of cohort and period effects on the population aged over 64, whose political identity was shaped before the advent of current democracy, aligning with theories of political socialization. Contrary to Inglehart and Norris's conclusions, our findings position Spain as a singular case. The analyses reveal that the realignment process began within a context of dictatorship and later experienced accelerated changes, surpassing the need for generational replacement by younger cohorts born in a democratic era. Overall, this research contributes to our understanding of the political system's dynamics and the role of women.