Looks Like a Leader: Measuring Evolution in Gendered Politician Stereotypes

Abstract

Previous research showed that the stereotype of women politicians is incongruent with the general politician stereotype, which can be disadvantageous for women seeking political office. Based on the strong influx of women politicians in US politics, and the increased familiarity of the electorate with women in political leadership positions, we expect that voters now have a clearer picture of women politicians and that their stereotype is more congruent with the traits desired in political leaders. In testing this, we make a methodological contribution to the study of stereotyping by adapting a large-N list experiment as an effective and innovative measurement of stereotype endorsement. The results show important changes in gendered political stereotypes over the last ten years. The evolution of the women politician stereotype is encouraging: the traits that people associate with women politicians are more positive than ten years ago and more congruent to desirable traits for politicians. However, the findings also underscore the continuing masculinity of the political domain, by the strong overlap between the stereotype of men politicians and politicians in general. Even more pronounced than the positive trend for women politicians is the unfavorable evolution of the stereotypes of men politicians and politicians generally, which shows a strong downfall compared to a decade ago.