What's happened to the gender gap in political participation? How might we explain it?

At some point in the middle of the first decade of the twenty-first century, a stubbornly persistent gender gap in US political activity more or less vanished, fulfilling one part of the aspiration of women's suffrage. This chapter asks why, seeking answers both in changes that have nothing to do with politics and in politics itself. As is typical when considering political participation, our account involves the interaction of several processes rather than a single cause. The most important transformation has been the increase in women's education: women are now more likely than men to earn college and graduate degrees. In addition, a striking increase has taken place in the presence of women as high-profile and successful office seekers, especially since 1992. During a critical period in the 1990s, an influx of female candidates and elected officials appears to have kept the gender gap in participation from being even wider.