Gender and Electoral Politics in the United States

Abstract

From foundational works on women’s entry into the masculine sphere of politics to the most recent debates over the causes of gender disparities in participation and officeholding, academic research has asked how women navigate, succeed in, and influence political campaigns as candidates and voters. A central issue of scholarly debate has been the causes of and barriers to female candidate emergence. Early scholarship shifted from emphasizing social and psychological factors influencing women’s decision to run to focusing on structural factors impeding women’s entry and election to office. However, more recent work on political ambition has reignited this debate, with studies recognizing the relationship between social and structural factors in shaping female candidate recruitment and selection. This debate is grounded on a shared perception of the gendered nature of American politics and elections. Scholars examine the influence of gender stereotypes on elite perceptions in candidate recruitment, voter expectations and evaluations of candidates, and candidate strategy. Intersectional approaches to understanding gender and electoral dynamics have enriched this research, pushing scholars to grapple with distinct realities for political actors at the intersections of multiple identities, experiences, and stereotypical expectations, with a particular focus on racial politics. Gender dynamics vary as well by type and level of office, as have the data available and methodologies used to study women’s candidacies. Research on women’s election to office has employed multiple methodological tools, including multivariate analyses of electoral outcomes across campaign conditions; surveys of voters, potential candidates, officeholders, and political practitioners; experimental testing of gender effects on perceptions and evaluations; field experiments; analyses of campaign output and media coverage; interviews with party leaders and political consultants; and case studies of political campaigns. Surveys and analyses of voter data have served as the primary methodologies used to investigate women’s political participation in American elections. However, the operationalization of “participation” itself has spurred scholarly debate, with gender and race research seeking to expand existing measures of what is deemed political; scholars have waged similar critiques against methodologies and measures used to evaluate political knowledge. As with research on women candidates, the study of women’s political participation confronts questions about gender roles and women’s transition from the private to the public sphere first made starkly evident through women’s winning and exercise of the vote. A major literature has developed, particularly since the 1980s, on the gender gap in public opinion, party identification, and voting, demonstrating the evolution of women’s influence and behavior as voters while also locating women within racial, geographic, and socioeconomic contexts. Scholars examine the implications of women’s louder political voice to demonstrate women’s electoral impact both on and before Election Day.