The Image of Gender and Political Leadership

Description

There are many theories as to why women remain severely underrepresented in democratic governments. Perhaps voters do not consider women to be capable leaders, or maybe party elites obstruct women's paths to office because they don't believe that they are electable. But if these attitudes are hurdles standing in the way of women being elected to office, where did they develop?

In The Image of Gender and Political Leadership, Michelle M. Taylor-Robinson and Nehemia Geva bring together parallel experiments conducted in countries around the world to compare the ways in which young adults view gender and leadership. Together, the chapters in this book present findings from on-site experiments conducted with over 6,000 young adult students of highly diverse socio-economic backgrounds in eight countries that have varying levels of experience with women in government: Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, England, Israel, Sweden, the United States, and Uruguay. Overall, the book finds little evidence of traditional gender stereotypes that would limit young people's support for women as political leaders. Women candidates are accepted as leaders by the participants, indicating young adults' approval of women's ability to hold diverse posts, win votes, and manage stereotypically masculine policy areas. The book also finds that young adults are very responsive to political party—regardless of gender, they tend to favor candidates from their preferred parties. With an in-depth, cross-national perspective, Taylor-Robinson and Geva provide empirical evidence to dispel myths about what contributes to the low election rates of women, and importantly, investigate logical steps to achieve gender parity.

About the editors:

Michelle M. Taylor-Robinson is Professor of Political Science at Texas A&M University. Her research focuses on how the design of democratic institutions affects representation and the consequences for consolidating democracy.

Nehemia Geva is Associate Professor of Political Science at Texas A&M University. His research highlights experimental methodology in the assessment of the public's preferences and choices of political policies and actions.

Reviews

"In their innovative study, Taylor-Robinson and Geva leverage survey experiments with young adults from eight democracies across the globe to demonstrate how mental templates of leadership have transformed to be more inclusive of women candidates. This novel research challenges conventional wisdom about preferences for male candidates, showing that women fit the leadership image held by most young adults." - Tiffany D. Barnes, Professor of Political Science, University of Kentucky

"Taylor-Robinson and Geva's ambitious, collaborative research suggests that young people largely view women as leaders—across posts and in stereotypically masculine and feminine policy areas. Their edited volume questions conventional wisdom about the role gender stereotypes now play in politics and sets the stage for future research on this important topic." - Diana O'Brien, Professor of Political Science, Washington University in Saint Louis

"How much do young adults use gender stereotypes in evaluating political candidates? Taylor-Robinson and Geva's study shows that across culturally diverse democracies, candidates' sex, compared to information about candidates' parties, tends to have little impact on assessments of those running for office. However, notable exceptions remain. Anyone curious about voter decision-making and the psychology of gender should read this ambitious, beautifully cohesive volume." - Catherine Reyes-Housholder, Assistant Professor, Instituto de Ciencia Política, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

"This outstanding collection provides important, cross-national insight into how young people assess women's ability to govern. Through parallel experiments in eight countries, Taylor-Robinson and Geva offer new wisdom into how the presence of women in government is changing who young people view as fit to lead; this is an invaluable text for growing our understanding of modern responses to women in power." - Melody Valdini, Associate Professor of Political Science, Portland State University

Table of contents

Acknowledgments
List of Contributors
PART I: Mental Templates of Leaders and Designing an Experiment to Study Templates
1. Mental Templates of Leaders
Michelle M. Taylor-Robinson and Nehemia Geva
2. Research Protocol
Nehemia Geva and Michelle M. Taylor-Robinson
PART II: Findings in Individual Cases
3. Costa Rica - Where Urban Young People View Women as Leaders
Gerardo Hernández Naranjo and Michelle M. Taylor-Robinson
4. The Masculine Template in Perceived Competence of Women in Israeli Politics
Ayala Yarkoney-Sorek and Nehemia Geva
5. Attitudes Towards Women in Government: Evidence from an Experiment in Canada's Alberta and Quebec Provinces
Melanee Thomas, Valérie-Anne Mahéo and Guillaume Bogiaris
6. Young Adult's Attitudes to Women Candidates in Uruguay: No Obstacle to Change
Niki Johnson
7. England: Young People View Women as Leaders
Claire Annesley, Beatriz Lacerda Ratton and Jake Watts
8. Party over Gender: Young Adult's Evaluations of Political Leaders in California and Texas
Kostanca Dhima and Jennifer M. Piscopo
9. A Generation Without Political Gender Biases? The Case of Sweden
Elin Bjarnegård, Josefina Erikson and Pär Zetterberg
10. Chile's Shift to the Left and the Rise of Women
Alejandra Ramm, José Manuel Gaete and Milena Morales Bonich
PART III: Cross-National Findings and Conclusions
11. Meta-Analysis Assessment of Candidate Gender as an Attribute of Young Adult Leadership Templates
Michelle M. Taylor-Robinson and Nehemia Geva
12. Do Women Fit the Leadership Image? Yes!
Michelle M. Taylor-Robinson and Nehemia Geva
References
Index