Closing Gender Gaps in Political Knowledge and Efficacy: College-Level Civic Education and the Compensation Effect

An informed and efficacious electorate is foundational to a healthy democracy. But in the United States, gender gaps persist in political efficacy and confidence in one’s political knowledge. We employ a two-wave survey of students enrolled at an American university to examine whether women enter college-level civics less politically knowledgeable, confident, and efficacious than men, and if so, whether taking college-level civics closes these gaps as intended. We find that both males and females gain confidence and efficacy by completing a college civics course (i.e. Introduction to American Government), and importantly, this coursework significantly reduces gender gaps, exhibiting a compensation effect. We also see evidence that the significantly higher growth in political knowledge confidence among females is more pronounced for females who experienced low levels of parental political socialization and for those whose instructors employed active/interactive pedagogy. The results speak to the importance and power of civic education.