Gender Gap in Media Use and Informed Political Participation: A Test of the 'Communication Effects Gap Hypothesis' during the 2002 Presidential Election Campaign in Korea

Abstract

This article examines the relative size of gaps in political knowledge and participation between gender groups and intra female segments in the Korean election context. Based on the ‘communication effects gap’ hypothesis, we generally expected that the gap in political knowledge and participation between high and low education groups would be larger among heavy media users than light users. Analyzing data collected in Seoul during the 2002 Korean presidential campaign, we found a gender gap in media use and political knowledge gain. Females’ average levels of television, internet, interpersonal communication use and political knowledge were lower than those of males. Also, the segments of female voters with higher educational status tended to acquire political information from television at a faster rate than the lower status segments. Hence, the knowledge gap phenomena tended to occur in the case of women’s television use. By contrast, newspaper use tended to play an important role for Korean women in terms of enhancing their knowledge and participatory level regardless of educational background. We found the possibility that newspapers could reduce the intra-group participatory gap of female voters.