To wonder why so many women answered "don't know"

[rAvan]

I am studying politics, and I am particularly interested in different systems operating globally. I was surprised to learn that First past the post, the system we use in General elections is favoured by only one other country in Europe- Belarus.

Yougov conduct research on our electoral system and have been for some time. I was surprised by the gap between men and women's preferance on FPTP and PR, and I wanted to get individual opinions on your views about FPTP vs PR.

Usually cited pros of each:

FPTP- stops coalition governments, keeps extremists out
PR- seats more accuraccurately match votes, voters do not feel their vote is wasted due to safe seats.

I've added the men's one purely for comparison.

There are no wrong answers, I hope as many people as possible giving their opinion!

I was surprised to learn that First past the post, the system we use in General elections is favoured by only one other country in Europe

Really? Because it's a shit system. (this should also answer your question about preferences)

I don't know why a large percentage of women said they don't know. YANBU to wonder about it, though.

Perhaps women haven't really thought about it, because they have never had to decide on it, while men tend to be more opinionated? Maybe because men tend to read and discuss more politics and women more fashion and reality tv?

FPTP- stops coalition governments, keeps extremists out
The second is a laugh if you think of the UK and USA. And how and why are coalition governments bad?

There are no wrong answers
That's reassuring.

Is this a survey in disguise?

What do you think?

Why do you care what my opinion is? How do you know what sex I am?

And also, stop with your misogynist nonsense about women not being well read and preferring fashion and reality TV.

It's impossible to say without knowing more context of how the survey-takers were selected, but in this case I would suggest that 'don't know' means 'neither of the options given' considering the unnecessarily binary way in which the question is posed.

Also, are you sure about Belarus? Because I don't think they do use FPTP.

@rAvan are you in the UK?

Maybe because men tend to read and discuss more politics and women more fashion and reality tv?

I hope this is an attempt at humour. I have zero interest in fashion & reality TV.

@DysmalRadius - you're right, Belarus doesn't use FPTP

You should refer to the work of Kristy Parathkis, or experimental work in decision making (lots from the same department). Women have a higher informational threshold to make choices: they are more willing to say they don’t know, whereas men will provide opinion as fact at a far lower threshold (often zero or one piece of information) and rate their confidence in the choice more highly. This is despite women being equally or more well informed on a matter.

This feeds into some of the behavioural Econ literature, as women make better long term investments thanks to their risk alert status pushing them to take informed risks. I’m a little astonished your department hasn’t covered these cognitive sex-based differences if they’re exposing you to polling data! It’s pretty fundamental.

OK - my view on why more women say "I don't know" is because they actually don't know. In fact, a lot (probably the majority) of people have given very little thought to the electoral system. However, men don't like admitting that they don't know something. Even on an anonymous survey.

@sergeilavrov said it a lot better!

@rAvan is right about more men than women in everyday life following and talking about politics in broad based parties in UK.
More women I think are active in single issue groups. Isn't this the group that the LibDems are always trying to capture. See Greens also.
Yes there are exceptions.
More women than men are interested in fashion but that does not exclude the interest in political affairs.

For the same reason women ask for directions and read instructions and men get lost and break appliances.

And men insist that the oven has a microwave function......

I have no idea why so many women answered don't know.

Like the two main parties of the UK, I prefer FPTP. We had a referendum in 2011 re AV, a form of PR which was rejected. There is unlikely to be another referendum on the subject any time soon,

I dislike PR because we are more likely to end up with a government made up of different parties and nothing is ever achieved. Far better fror one party to have a healthy majority to allow them to get on with the job, hopefully balanced by a strong and effective opposition, something we haven't had in the UK for a long time.

I don't think I indicated that women are too busy watching daytime tell to think about issues like this. If I gave that impression I am very sorry because I don't think that at all! I am generally curious, it's not something I have been asked to look at as part of my course either!

It's just something I've been thinking about because I wondered if it played a role in how increasingly polarised we seem to have become as a country since 2016. Because we have a two party system in essence and it feels like everything has been pitched of late as one side or another. Brexit or remain, Lab or Con, kneel or boo! I feel like FPTP lacks nuance, and I have come to believe that parties being forced to negotiate and communicate would be more beneficial as a whole.

I really appreciate all the (serious) answers, especially your very thought out one @sergeilavrov

And yes, I am in the UK.

And Belarus changed its voting system in 2013 to FPTP

@iklboo

Maybe because men tend to read and discuss more politics and women more fashion and reality tv?

I hope this is an attempt at humour. I have zero interest in fashion & reality TV.

jog right on with the fashion and shite t.v some of us have brains.

I think 'I don't know' is likely to mean 'I would like more information on the nature and implications of these two options before offering an opinion.'

Also, it's not as if there is only one form of PR. There are many, many electoral systems available.

@Lonel

OK - my view on why more women say "I don't know" is because they actually don't know. In fact, a lot (probably the majority) of people have given very little thought to the electoral system. However, men don't like admitting that they don't know something. Even on an anonymous survey.

Absolutely this. Women generally having no problem stating 'don't know' when they haven't got any knowledge on a given subject, but men are happy to express forthright opinions, even when utterly clueless about the matter in hand

@Crankley

I have no idea why so many women answered don't know.

Like the two main parties of the UK, I prefer FPTP. We had a referendum in 2011 re AV, a form of PR which was rejected. There is unlikely to be another referendum on the subject any time soon,

I dislike PR because we are more likely to end up with a government made up of different parties and nothing is ever achieved. Far better fror one party to have a healthy majority to allow them to get on with the job, hopefully balanced by a strong and effective opposition, something we haven't had in the UK for a long time.

But would you think that if it wasn't your preferred party which benefitted from FPTP?

Op didn't suggest that women are too busy watching reality tv and following fashion - that was Lewji!

Because you like fashion and reality tv doesn't mean you don't have brains. I like both of those things and I am super intelligent.

I have thought since CSE's in the 1970's that Proportional Representation was the fairest system. I think I was about 15 at the time, so it's not an education issue