Content uploaded by Leonie Huddy
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Leonie Huddy on Nov 22, 2017
Content may be subject to copyright.
Gender Stereotypes and the Perception of Male and Female Candidates
Abstract
We investigate the origins of voters' expectations of greater female competency on ''compassion'' issues, such as dealing with poverty or the aged, and greater male competency on military and defense issues. We contrast two alternative explanations: gender-trait stereotypes, emphasizing a candidate's gender-linked personality traits; and gender-belief stereotypes, placing greatest importance on the differing political outlooks of male and female candidates. We test contrasting predictions from these two approaches with data from an experiment in which 297 undergraduate participants were randomly assigned to hear about a male or a female candidate with typically masculine or feminine traits. Overall, there was stronger support for the trait approach. Warm and expressive candidates were seen as better at compassion issues; instrumental candidates were rated as more competent to handle the military and economic issues. Moreover, masculine instrumental traits increased the candidate's perceived competence on a broader range of issues than the feminine traits of warmth and expressiveness. Finally, there was some limited support for the belief approach with gender-based expectations about the candidates' political views affecting their rated competency on compassion but not other types of political issues.
... Gender diversity brings to the table diverse viewpoints, rich and broad experiences, and creative problem-solving methods [43][44][45][46]. However, studies have shown that women tend to be more compassionate than men [47]. These tendencies are reflected in their business and corporate decision-making as it pertains to leadership style, consensus decision-making, and risk taking [48]. ...
... Research has shown that gender-diverse teams bring a range of perspectives and experiences to the table, which can lead to better financial outcomes for the firm. Some of the value-adding attributes include more creative and effective problem-solving, better decision-making, increased innovation, better talent recruitment and retention, and enhanced firm reputation [46][47][48]. Despite this evidence, women face challenges navigating the corporate workplace and upward mobility ladder. ...
We revisit the debate on whether a firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities enhance firm value. Research on related topics has produced mixed results suggesting a need to further investigate factors that directly or indirectly impact the CSR–firm value association. To this end, we examine if a firm’s adoption of a golden parachute (GP) moderates the relationship between CSR and firm value. We also investigate if diversity-based innovation as it pertains to the gender of executives reveals any difference in the CSR–firm value relation. Using a sample of 11,065 firm-year observations of publicly traded US firms from 2007 to 2016, we find that CSR activities are significantly and positively associated with firm value. More importantly, our study shows that for US firms that issue GPs, this severance pay strengthens this positive relationship, suggesting that CEOs with a GP engage in more value-enhancing innovative CSR projects than their counterparts without it. This finding supports the conflict resolution theory and the resource-based view of the firm. A test to examine if the gender of the corporate executives alters their behavior towards CSR when the GP protects them shows an inverse relationship between female executives and CSR–firm value association. This interesting finding lends credence to related theories suggesting that women in male-dominated fields may feel pressured to conform to the stereotype of women as less competent than men and may adopt traditionally masculine behaviors to counteract this stereotype. As they climb the corporate leadership ladder endowed with a GP, the stereotype threat may still prevail, adversely affecting the CSR–firm value outcomes. These results remain robust after a series of sensitivity tests.
... Brickell et al. (1995) show that husbands are less likely than wives to report political discussion with spouses, as well as being less likely to evaluate the political expertise of their spouses favorably. Huddy and Terkildsen (1993) demonstrate the role of enduring gender stereotypes in the evaluation of male and female political candidates. Conover and Sapiro (1993) show recent gender differences in foreign policy opinions. ...
... Wives are more likely than husbands to respect the political expertise of their spouses, but we have not uncovered any other gender asymmetries in political communication. Moreover, not all political issues are "male issues" (Huddy and Terkildsen 1993), and hence we should not expect husbands always to be dominant in political communication within marriages. ...
This paper examines politics and marriage, with particular attention directed towardgender effects on the political communication that occurs between husbands and wives.Three different models of political interdependence within marriages are considered –social cohesion, self-selection, and structural equivalence – and in this context weaddress several questions. How extensive are the levels of political agreement betweenmarriage partners? Do similar levels of agreement extend across various opinions andbehaviors? To what extent do gender-based asymmetries exist in the communication ofpolitical information? While levels of marital agreement regarding highly salient partisanopinions are very high, results taken from a 1992 study show that: (1) these levels ofagreement are attenuated for other political opinions, (2) husbands and wives arefrequently unaware of their spouses’ opinions, and (3) in other instances they recognizeand acknowledge disagreement. Moreover, the results do not support an interpretationwhich suggests that husbands uniformly occupy the leading role in politicalcommunication within marriages.
... Third, citizens may believe that female politicians are more competent to talk about gender issues (Dolan 2010;Huddy and Terkildsen 1993) and, for this reason, may provide them with more positive feedback for tweeting on the topic even if there is no difference in the content of the gender-issue tweets written by female and male politicians. Recent research finds that partisanship or incumbency dominate gender stereotypes when citizens decide for which candidate to vote (Dolan 2014;Lawless 2015). ...
This article studies how politicians react to feedback from citizens on social media. We use a reinforcement-learning framework to model how politicians respond to citizens' positive feedback by increasing attention to better received issues and allow feedback to vary depending on politicians' gender. To test the model, we collect 1.5 million tweets published by Spanish MPs over 3 years, identify gender-issue tweets using a deep-learning algorithm (BERT) and measure feedback using retweets and likes. We find that citizens provide more positive feedback to female politicians for writing about gender, and that this contributes to their specialization in gender issues. The analysis of mechanisms suggests that female politicians receive more positive feedback because they are treated differently by citizens. To conclude, we discuss implications for representation, misperceptions, and polarization.
This article is under a Creative Commons licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
... These perceptions may not always dampen support for candidates of color depending on the type of office (Sigelman et al. 1995), but previous experimental research finds that voters are more likely to support white candidates than candidates of color when there is little information available for voters to use Terkildsen 1993). When other candidate information is unavailable, voters use candidate identity cues to make assumptions about candidate priorities; for example, female candidates are perceived to care more about compassion issues (Alexander and Andersen 1993;Huddy and Terkildsen 1993) and Black candidates are perceived to care more about minority issues (McDermott 1998). Candidates of color and women are also perceived to be more liberal than substantively similar white candidates (Jacobsmeier 2014;McDermott 1997McDermott , 1998. ...
Electoral rules can affect who wins and who loses elections. Most cities select office holders through plurality rule, but an alternative, ranked-choice voting (RCV), has become increasingly popular. RCV requires voters to rank candidates, instead of simply selecting their most preferred candidate. Observers debate whether RCV will cure a variety of electoral ills or undermine representation. We test the effect of RCV on voter’s choices and perceptions of representation using survey experiments with large, representative samples of respondents. We find that candidates of color are significantly penalized in both plurality and RCV elections, with no significant difference between the rule types. However, providing respondents with candidates’ partisan affiliation significantly increases support for candidates of color.
This study contributes to the literature on gendered candidate choice by investigating how voters’ ideological positions on both the socioeconomic left–right and the cultural GAL–TAN dimensions are associated with support for women candidates, and how these associations play out among women and men voters. The study is situated in the open-list proportional electoral system (OLPR) of Finland, where voters are obliged to cast a vote for a single candidate from a large selection of nominees and where women have a strong presence in the political sphere. We use unique data on voters’ self-reported candidate choice from two Finnish post-election studies in 2011 and 2019. The results show that a majority of both men and women voters tend to engage in same-gender voting, meaning that women voters are more inclined to cast a vote for women candidate than men voters are. We further show that the two ideological dimensions have different connections for men and women voters. While women voters’ propensity to support women candidates is connected to their position on the left–right dimension, but not to the GAL–TAN dimension, the opposite holds for men voters.
At workplaces gender is an issue with complex dynamics that has long been studied and discussed. The underrepresentation of women at workplaces, especially in senior positions, is a noteworthy problem. Identifying the underlying causes of this underrepresentation is essential to break the barriers. The aim of this study is to uncover the factors leading the main gender biases in workplaces. For this aim, Conceptual Framework of Arksey & O'Malley (2005) on scoping review methodology was used. In this study, papers indexed in Web of Science and Scopus databases between 2010 and 2022 were examined. Eligible papers were identified and selected with PRISMA guidelines. The results of the study show that in workplaces predominantly women are exposed to biases and factors leading these biases can be grouped under seven headings. These are motherhood/caring, work/family balance, skill/ competence, wage, sensitiveness/emotionality, culture, and physical appearance/ clothing.
While studies investigating gendered ways of campaigning have primarily focused on negative campaign strategies, we explore the extent to which women and men engage in negative and positive campaigning and how they are combined. Our analyses, relying on the 2019 Finnish Parliamentary Candidates Survey, shows that even in the Finnish context, with comparatively high levels of gender equality in society and politics, distinct gender patterns in campaigning occur. Women candidates report having campaigned more positively than men candidates, while men candidates are more likely to report having campaigned negatively than women candidates. We also find that men are more inclined to incorporate a balanced mixture of positive and negative campaign messages, while women predominantly rely on positive campaigning. Based on our findings, we conclude that women and men still do not compete in politics on equal terms.
This paper discusses the impact of gender stereotypes on American female politicians. To demonstrate this problem, the paper will start by examining the struggles that female politicians face in their political careers because of their gender, focusing on their campaign strategies, political image, etc. This paper will then use the political life of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton as a more specific example of the impact of gender bias. The “double bind” that Clinton has faced as a woman and a politician has negatively impacted her political campaigns. Gender stereotypes have also conditioned the media and the public’s response to her. Through focusing on the “evolutions” of Clinton’s political strategies throughout her career, this paper argues that Hillary Clinton has always grappled with gender stereotypes. However, even when she addressed criticisms that she faced in the past, she stilled failed to meet voters’ demands.
Women are extremely underrepresented in Japanese political life. One possible reason for this is that voters are biased against women. Compared to American voters, to what extent are Japanese voters opposed to women political leaders? What kinds of stereotypes do they have about women politicians? To answer these questions and probe the external validity of American studies on this topic, we conducted a survey that elicits respondents’ attitudes toward women political leaders. First, our list experiment outcomes revealed that approximately 10% of Japanese, and 20% of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) supporters, oppose a woman becoming prime minister. Second, we also identified respondents’ gender stereotypes by asking them directly about their impressions of politicians, which revealed that Japanese voters have strong stereotypes for men and women politicians regarding their policy areas of expertise and personal characteristics. These stereotypes are strongest among men and older voters as well as voters who support the LDP. Our findings have broad implications for the literature on gender and politics beyond the study of Japanese politics.
This citation is to a review of Women, Elections, and Representation, authored by R. Darcy, Susan Welch, and Janet Clark, and published by Longman in 1987.
The review is by Diane L. Fowlkes, published in the APSR in 1988.
Most analysis of the gender gap has focused on the mass electorate. But over the past 20 years, women have also come to play a much more important role in presidential nominations in both parties. Looking at caucus participants across parties, we find sex differences greater than those discovered at the mass level. Female caucus participants are significantly more liberal than males. Within each party sex differences are strong for women's issues and foreign policy issues; and for both sets of issues the differences are greater within the Republican party. Sex differences hold up with controls for demographics as well. The strong findings on sex differences in attitudes fail to translate into sex differences in candidate choice. Confronted with a very complicated political environment, both males and females choose candidates on largely nonideological bases.
In this paper, we develop a theory about how people assess political candidates in order to arrive at a basic like or dislike judgment for each candidate. We argue that in deciding whether to like or dislike candidates, voters emphasize both the candidates' personal qualities and the unique nature of the campaign environment. Since initial impressions of presidential candidates are formed before voters make direct comparisons for the general election, voters may compare their images of candidates with their intuitive ideas about "human nature" or "most people." In arriving at candidate evaluations, then, voters might rely on a "superman" standard, expecting their political leaders to rise above human nature. Alternatively, they might rely on an "everyman" standard, expecting their leaders to be as representative or typical as possible. Using data from the 1984 presidential election, we find that although the superman model fits the data better, the everyman model has some impact, particularly on feelings toward Reagan. This may explain, in part, the often-noted bias in favor of the incumbent.
Effectiveness of male/female candidates for the presidency and the importance of "masculine"/"feminine" presidential duties were investigated. One hundred forty-one college students read a narrative describing a hypothetical presidential candidate. Candidate sex, salience of candidate sex, and the amount of candidate information provided were varied. Participants also rated the candidate's effectiveness on "masculine," "feminine," and "neutral" presidential duties and rated the importance of these duties. Female candidates were rated higher on "feminine" tasks (p < 0.01) while a trend was found (p < 0.10) for male candidates to be rated higher on "masculine" tasks. "Feminine" presidential tasks, though, were rated as less important than "masculine" presidential tasks (p < 0.001) or "neutral" presidential tasks (p < 0.001). Perhaps "masculine" attributes are necessary for a candidate to be considered for the presidency.
Current research suggests that gender prejudice no longer impedes women from winning top-level political positions. Nevertheless, the number of women in all levels of political office remains startlingly low— meriting a closer look at the role of gender prejudice. This study takes an experimental look at how voters respond to female candidates pushing unambiguous, tough policy stands. Interestingly, voters seem to infer that women possess traditional "feminine" strengths even when they emit a clear "masculine" message. Therefore, female candidates should not fear visceral reactions from voters if they assume an aggressive campaign posture. Rather, this "masculine" approach may be the optimal campaign strategy for women seeking top-level or administrative positions.