TITLE:
Social Media and Civic Participation: A Gendered Approach
AUTHORS:
Rita Mano
KEYWORDS:
Gender, Social Media, Civic Participation, Empowerment, Affordances
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Applied Sociology,
Vol.13 No.8,
August
30,
2023
ABSTRACT: Empowering women to become active in
civic participation has become a core focus of international policy in science,
politics and economics. In the present study we examine the link between social
media and civic participation. We employ data released from the PEW Internet
and American Life Project including women (N = 2304) and men (N = 2290).
Focusing on women’s empowerment and gendered perspectives of technology we show
that 1) social media effect on civic participation differs by gender and 2) women’s positive attitudes regarding personal, but not social, benefits
from using social media are a strong predictor of civic participation. The
results indicate that women’s social media affordances play a moderating role
in predicting civic participation and differ from those of men. We conclude
that the gendered approach considering gender variations in technology and
women’s selectivity of social media is a significant aspect in predicting
women’s empowerment in society.