Whatever progress has been made in forging equality between women and men, there is at least one issue on which there remains a difference: their vote.

In this year's election, 55 percent of men and 48 percent of women voted to re-elect President Bush, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. Bush gained five percentage points among women from the 2000 election.

"We still had a gender gap in this election," said Kathleen Casey, associate director of the Center for American Women and Politics. "Had the number of women who voted for Gore in 2000 voted for (Sen. John) Kerry, he would have won. That's how important (women) were."

In 2000, 53 percent of men and 43 percent of women voted for Bush. Gore received 54 percent of the women's vote, and 42 percent of the men, according to the Institute for Women's Policy Research. This year 51 percent of women and 44 percent of men voted for Kerry, according to the Institute for Women's Policy Research.

An exit poll commissioned by Votes for Women 2004 found 24 percent of women who voted for Bush cited terrorism and security as their most important concern, while 38 percent of the women who voted for Kerry said the economy and jobs were the most important issues.

"Kerry did not give women enough of a reason to vote of him," Casey said. "I think women didn't hear how their lives were going to be affected."

Nadeam Elshami, spokesperson for Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Women LEAD project, said Democrats lost some women's votes because they did not clarify the issues.

"I think it's an issue of message here," Elshami said. "The Democrats had to have a better mechanism to deliver their message."

Terry Lukas, director of policy for the Independent Women's Forum, a right-wing organization, said 9/11 and the terrorist attack in Russia changed the way people thought about the issues, and women realized the importance of security in this election. She pointed out that when the issues of terrorism and Iraq are combined, they were of the highest concern for many voters.

"Certainly security and Iraq was a top issue for many people, including women, including families," Elshami said.

Women comprised 54 percent of voters in this year's election, according to Lukas.

"On a pure numbers level, women are a substantial voting bloc," Lukas said. "Women really did turn out in this election. I think they recognized how important they were and went to the ballot box."

This is not significantly different from other elections, according to Casey.

"Consistently women have voted at higher rates than men," Casey said.

Casey said Democrats have done better with women when they ran on issues such as health care and education.

"Women will continue to be interested in those rock solid — what we call kitchen table — values that make a difference in their lives," Casey said.

"I think at the end of the day women just felt more comfortable with President Bush than with Kerry on the issue of security," Lukas said.

Elshami said Democrats will make an effort to focus on the values of health care, women's rights and education that have traditionally been important to women in the next election.

"We did get 53 million votes," Elshami said. "We did make inroads in state legislatures and other places and we showed we're united, and we'll continue to fight."