Finnish women and political knowledge: What do they know and how do they learn it?

Abstract

This study compares the knowledge level of women and men regarding national political issues in Finland, and sets out to determine the best predictors of political knowledge. The results of this study are compared to another study on gender and its association with political knowledge done in the United States. The results of the mail-in survey suggest that Finnish women are as knowledgeable about national politics as Finnish men. Compared to the United States, where men's median political knowledge score is 1.35 times that of women, Finnish women were more politically knowledgeable than American women. Education and income were the most powerful predictors of knowledge about national politics in Finland. Even though Finnish women and men felt that the mass media portray both genders correctly, attention and exposure to media did not contribute significantly to political knowledge levels. Although Finnish women had higher knowledge scores than men, they perceived themselves to know less than their male counterparts. Both genders also do not perceive themselves as politically active.