The Electoral Buzz: Evaluating Gender Stereotypes and the Politics of the Zika Epidemic in Brazil

• In Event: Race, gender, and Latin American Politics

Abstract

We leverage the quasi-random outbreak of the Zika virus in Brazil in 2015- 2016 and the accompanying priming of “women’s issues” relating to infant health to ground experimental insight on the relationship between gender stereotypes regarding issue competencies and political support for female candidates in the real world. Using difference-in-difference analyses, we assess whether exposure to the Zika virus increased political support for female candidates in the 2016 Brazilian local elections. We find that high incidences of the virus in the months immediately preceding the election increased female candidates’ vote shares and demonstrate that our results do not hold when we consider other viruses transmitted by the same mosquito but without adverse consequences for infant health. We dispel a series of alternative explanations for our results and use empirical analyses conducted with public opinion data to substantiate our argument that exposure to the virus improved voters’ perceptions of female candidates.

Author

• Kelly Senters, Wesleyan University