The gender gap in policy responsiveness in Spain

This article examines whether politicians in Spain address the political demands of women and men equally. Recent literature has consistently focused on understanding unequal responsiveness on the basis of social class and income level, ignoring a fundamental aspect that generates political inequality: gender. Our article follows a recent approach that seeks to establish the existence of unequal responsiveness based on gender, analysing data from almost the entire democratic period in Spain (1978–2018). The article shows that policymakers in Spain favour men’s preferences over women’s, especially on issues with high gender disagreement. Although this gap exists, it is often small and most pronounced when it comes to gender-specific issues. Additionally, women from lower socio-economic backgrounds face the most neglect, revealing compounded gender and class biases. The existence of left-wing governments or a stronger descriptive representation of women does not necessarily lead to a better consideration of women by political elites.