Young women and politics: an oxymoron?

Abstract

Building upon the literature that examines young people and politics, this article examines the extent to which young women are interested in politics. The hypothesis is that young women might not necessarily be interested in mainstream party politics but that, when questioned, they are actually interested in political issues. This ties in with the findings of the burgeoning literature on young people and politics, whereby a similar conclusion is reached here that young people may have turned away from the ballot box and from parliamentary politics but that, when questioned, they are actually interested in political issues. The focus is primarily upon young women as opposed to looking at young people as a generic grouping. Based upon in-depth interviews with young women (18–24 year olds) in focus groups, this research seeks to find answers to the vexed question of why politics appears to be a turn-off for the majority of young women.