Avrupa entegrasyonunda yönelik kamuoyu desteğinde kadın erkek farkı

Public opinion research shows that women are generally less supportive of European integration than men. Although this observation has been noted in numerous works on public opinion on the EU, the reasons for this "EU gender gap" remain widely unexplored. This is puzzling, considering the stable existence of the EU gender gap over time and its presence in all countries in Europe. This study sets out to identify the causes of the EU gender gap, both at the individual and at the country-level. By creating a bridge between the literature on the determinants of public EU support and the literature on gendered policy preferences, the study connects two research areas which have been detached from each other so far. The study test the two major explanations for gendered policy preferences which are applicable to the EU context, with material self-interest on the one side and the socialization of people into gendered roles at an early age on the other side. Furthermore, the study evaluates the influences of country-specific conditions on the EU gender gap. Multilevel models are constructed which use Eurobarometer surveys from 1995 to 2012 and information on political, cultural and economic qualities of the EU member states and the (former) candidate countries Croatia, Iceland, Macedonia, Montenegro and Turkey. In addition, case studies analyze the EU gender gaps of Sweden, Germany and Turkey in the context of their welfare traditions and their EU policies. The results suggest that utilitarian considerations are the major cause of the EU gender gap. Among all country-specific conditions which have been tested, only socialdemocratic and conservative welfare traditions are found to affect the EU gender gap. The case studies demonstrate that welfare traditions, especially the support of welfare states to gender equality at the labor market, partially account for the size of the EU gender gap at the country-level. Further influences which cannot be ignored for explaining the dynamics of the EU gender gap are the socio-demographic constitution of countries and their relations with the EU.