Women and Politics

The survey focused on women´s interest in politics in general and in specific policy areas in particular, their expectations of political parties and politicians, and their willingness to become politically or socially involved. Of particular interest here was the question of the extent to which there are differences in attitudes, experiences and expectations within the group of women. Do women academics have other political interests than women with low formal education? Or do the expectations that women in West Germany have of politics differ from those of women in East Germany? It should also be ascertained whether women perceive female politicians differently from male politicians. Are there characteristics that they attribute more to a male politician or more to a female politician? After all, the issue of equal rights played a prominent role in the survey. The perceived realisation of equal rights for men and women in Germany in general and in selected areas of life was measured.

Topics: Political understanding and interest: interest in politics; particularly interesting political topics; attitude towards elites (politics and political parties); frequency of discussions on political and social topics with various groups (life partner or family, friends and acquaintances, in a public political event, colleagues, sports and hobby clubs, on Facebook or in other social networks); political information behaviour (informing people who lack knowledge about a political topic, intensive reflection on political issues, dealing with various party positions, interest in the person in office of important political offices, own suggestions for improvement with regard to living conditions in the place of residence); attitude towards political styles: opinion on how parties and politicians deal with each other (should be considerate, can be hard to deal with as long as it is content and not personal, or occasionally personal attacks on politicians of other parties are fine); political discussion behaviour.

Political and social engagement: volunteering; willingness to volunteer; area of volunteering; importance of selected criteria with regard to volunteering; barriers to volunteering.

Political participation: opportunities used for political influence or willingness to use these opportunities; electoral participation behaviour; personal reasons for not participating in elections.

Perception of women in politics: character traits of male and female politicians; representation of interests in politics (women, men, children and young people, seniors, parents); most important concerns with regard to one´s own future.

Perception of equal opportunities and equal rights: assessment of equal rights in various areas; particularly important areas of equal rights; importance of selected interests and goals on the subject of equal rights.

Demography: sex; age (grouped); education; occupation; occupational status; marital status; household size; party preference; number of persons in the household aged 18 and over; migration background; number of landline phone numbers in the household; denomination; practising member of one´s own religion; income; federal state; city size.

Additionally coded was: ID; weighting factor.