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Girls in politics: can you picture it? A study on the impact of frames and imagined experiences on perceived political efficacy among Belgian youth.

Citizenship
Gender
Political Participation
Political Psychology
Qualitative
Education
Narratives
Youth
Sophie Smit
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Kenneth Hemmerechts
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Sophie Smit
Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Abstract

The field of politics is still considered a male-dominated environment and the participation of women in political activities continues to lag behind. That women participate, on average, less intensely to politics is frequently attributed to women’s lower levels of perceived political self-efficacy. The psychologist Bandura (1997) defines this type of efficacy in terms of individuals’ beliefs in their capacity to influence the political system. Self-efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think and act. One of the sources of information that shape self-efficacy are the so-called imagined experiences (imagining oneself as being effective in hypothetical situations). Lakoff’s (2008) work on neurolinguistic conceptualization suggests that cultural narratives and gender roles can influence people’s imagined experiences. When people talk about politics, cultural frames (a network of linguistic connotations) are automatically activated in the brain. In other words, these frames enable (or hamper) the presence of success in imagined experiences (in hypothetical situations). To the extent in which these frames and narratives (i.e. the public/professional roles and behaviour ascribed or set apart for ‘ideal’ men and women) affect women’s and men’s imagined experiences differently, it may help explain gender differences in perceived political self-efficacy. Research, furthermore, suggest that the period of adolescence is pivotal in creating a gender gap in perceived political efficacy: the degree of girls’ political self-efficacy tends on average to stagnate during adolescence, while that of boys tends to increase. This paper seeks to shed further light on (1) how frames and narratives shape boys’ and girls’ imagined experiences of (un)successfully influencing politics and (2) to which extent differences in these experiences may explain gender differences in levels of perceived political efficacy. The current paper draws on focus group data with boys and girls in the second year of secondary schools in Belgium (grade 8), 15 video observations of courses (of each 1 hour) of grade 8 pupils, and survey data that allow to measure levels of perceived political efficacy prior to the focus groups and observations. Thematic analysis of the frames/mental images activating through boys’ and girls’ conversations on politics reveal that different frames and narratives are activated when young people describe what they think politics is. The preliminary analysis of the qualitative data seems to indicate a different value attributed by boys and girls to different narratives. The most frequent narratives seem to revolve either around the position of power and influence in politics, or around politics as conflict. It seems that both boys and girls recognise these narratives but make an antithetical emotional association with them. Moreover, we noticed that these frames were endorsed by informal sanctioning mechanisms (ignoring, ridiculing, …). This seems to indicate that frames about politics are still too often embedded in gender-stereotypical narratives.