Women make up roughly two-thirds of the activist community and, in recent decades, have voted in higher numbers than men, Hersh said. Their turnout in presidential elections first surpassed men’s in 1980, then 1998 in midterm elections. Elected offices are still male-dominated, but women candidates have made significant strides since 2016, though most of the gains have been among Democrats. According to the Center for American Women and Politics, women’s representation in state legislatures increased in recent elections to almost 30 percent. There are now 127 women in Congress, 47 of them women of color.

The momentum is continuing into 2020. Activist groups are expanding their female candidate training programs. Experts have predicted a large number of women will run for office, like they did in the 2018 midterm election. Notably, the Knight study found that the majorities of both voters and nonvoters said this presidential race is more important for the country compared to previous elections. Across the board, women — who also lean Democrat — were more likely than men to label it “more important.”

Nonetheless, the Knight study found that men, as a group, were more likely to rigorously follow politics. Seventy-six percent of male voters actively sought out news and information, compared to 69 percent of female voters. Among nonvoters, the numbers were 60 percent men and 53 percent women.

“Men might be just much more fixated on politics,” said Stony Brook University political science professor Yanna Krupnikov, also an adviser on the Knight study. “Much more free to speak out, much more likely to be loud and go on Twitter.”

That willingness to speak out does not translate into higher voting rates among men than women. Still, news consumption does affect whether someone votes or participates, Krupnikov said. On some measures, the Knight study also revealed wider gaps between women voters and women nonvoters than among men.

Female voters and nonvoters differed by a whopping 18 points on whether they increased their time spent on news before an upcoming election, compared to only a five-point divide among men.

Sixty-four percent of female voters said they were more knowledgeable about issues facing the United States, while just 49 percent of female nonvoters felt that way. For men, 72 percent of voters said they were more knowledgeable about national issues versus 59 percent of nonvoters.

Participants were asked to rate their interest in politics on a scale of 0 (no interest) to 10 (extremely interested). Female voters had an average score of 7.192 and female nonvoters had an average of 5.582. Male voters had an average score of 7.820 and male nonvoters had an average of 6.472.

Page Gardner, founder and president of the Center for Voter Information, said many women become disengaged from politics because they’re overwhelmed by other burdens in their lives. The center provides information about current issues and how to vote to unmarried women, people of color and millennials.

Sure, some female nonvoters can swing attending a women’s march or volunteering one weekend, Gardner said. That’s easier than figuring out whether their state has same-day registration and early-voting, how to sign up, or if they can wait in long lines to vote on a workday.

However, in general, unmarried parents with young kids have an especially difficult time participating in civic life, she added. The “second shift” — taking care of kids after work — cuts into time spent following up on news and eventually voting. Low-income nonvoters face housing and food insecurities too, exacerbated for women because of the gender pay gap.

Krupnikov said women also struggle with feeling more disillusioned about the electoral process and who the system keeps in power. “If you basically have no time, and you think that politics isn't for you, why would you ever want to participate?” she said.