OG 2016 RC 94

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OG 2016 RC 94

by Crystal W » Fri Apr 15, 2016 2:22 pm
In 1955 Maurice Duverger published The
Political Role of Women, the first behavioralist,
multinational comparison of women's electoral
participation ever to use election data and survey
data together. His study analyzed women's patterns
of voting, political candidacy, and political activism
in four European countries during the first half of
the twentieth century. Duverger's research findings
were that women voted somewhat less frequently
than men (the difference narrowing the longer
women had the vote) and were slightly more
conservative.
Duverger's work set an early standard for the
sensitive analysis of women's electoral activities.
Moreover, to Duverger's credit, he placed his
findings in the context of many of the historical
processes that had shaped these activities.
However, since these contexts have changed
over time, Duverger's approach has proved more
durable than his actual findings. In addition,
Duverger's discussion of his findings was hampered
by his failure to consider certain specific factors
important to women's electoral participation
at the time he collected his data: the influence
of political regimes, the effects of economic
factors, and the ramifications of political and
social relations between women and men. Given
this failure, Duverger's study foreshadowed the
enduring limitations of the behavioralist approach
to the multinational study of women's political
participation.

94. The passage implies that, in comparing four European countries, Duverger found that the voting rates of women and men were most different in the country in which women
(A) were most politically active
(B) ran for office most often
(C) held the most conservative political views
(D) had the most egalitarian relations with men
(E) had possessed the right to vote for the shortest time
I know th answer should be found in the last sentence of the first paragraph, but I cannot understand that sentence. Can you explain more?
Thanks in advance!

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by ceilidh.erickson » Mon Apr 18, 2016 12:26 pm
Duverger's research findings
were that women voted somewhat less frequently
than men (the difference narrowing the longer
women had the vote) and were slightly more
conservative.
This sentence is telling us that women voted less frequently than men, but not by a wide margin. The parenthetical "the difference narrowing the longer women had the vote" tells us that in some of these 4 countries, women had had the vote longer than in others. In the countries in which women had the vote for longer, there was LESS of a difference between how frequently women voted and how frequently men voted; those numbers were closer together. In countries in which women had had the vote for less time, there was more of a gap in female voters v. male voters.

Thus, the voting rates of men and women were most different in countries in which women had had the right to vote for the shortest amount of time.

The correct answer is E.
Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education