Making Gender Matter: Gender Based Sterotypes and Candidate Success

• In Event: Gender and Voting Behavior

Abstract

While candidate gender have is said to have a negative effect on a candidate’s likelihood of success(Ono and Burden 2019; Sigleman and Sigleman 1982; Bauer 2014; research shows that gender in itself does not lead to voter defection in elections (Banducci 2020). The independent effect of knowledge of candidate gender does not increase the likelihood of party defection. When, then, do gender stereotypes harm female candidates? Specifically, under which conditions to a female candidate’s gender lead voters to prefer other candidates. In this paper I present 3 electoral scenarios exploring the effect of gender: first when just candidate gender is known, second when gender is embraced by female candidates, and third when gender is weaponized by opposition candidates. I test the role of candidate stereotypes in a conjoint experiment measuring vote choice under 3 different conditions.

Author

• Tara Riggs, Binghamton University