Polar Opposites: Opinions on Gender Equality in the Dutch Political Landscape

Abstract

Despite political effort, gender inequalities decrease at a slow pace in the Netherlands. Scholars state that political polarization is the cause of this disappointing decline. Contrary to twoparty contexts, multiparty contexts like the Netherlands are underresearched in light of political polarization. It is important to understand how political polarization affects opinions on gender equality in multiparty context in order to reduce gender inequalities at a faster pace. Gender Ideology Theory and the Political Polarization Framework were used to understand how political polarization affects the opinions on gender equality on both the public- and institutional level, and to support the expectation that feedback dynamics strengthen these effects. The relationship between public- and institutional polarization and the opinions on gender equality was measured using the European Social Survey and the Chapel Hill Expert Survey Europe. Multiple regression techniques were utilized to understand the relationship between political polarization and opinions on gender equality on both levels, and how these relationships are strengthened by feedback dynamics. Political polarization affects opinions on gender equality in both the public- and institutional sphere. The extreme identification with right-wing ideology causes more negative opinions on gender equality, whereas the extreme identification with left-wing ideology causes more positive opinions on gender equality. Feedback dynamics did not moderate the relationship on the public- nor institutional level. Higher levels of political polarization might hinder progress towards gender equality in the Netherlands. The decline in gender inequalities in the Netherlands can be fastened by depolarization measures on both the public- and institutional levels of society. Public dialogue initiatives and civic education programs are recommended to depolarize the public sphere. Policy measures and diverse representation are recommended to depolarize the institutional sphere.