Symbolic empowerment and female heads of states and government: a global, multilevel analysis

Do Voters Judge the Performance of Female and Male Politicians Differently? Experimental Evidence from the United States and Australia

“…This limitation is significant as increasing numbers of women have been selected to be mayors, governors, cabinet ministers, and-in some countries-presidents and prime ministers (Barnes and O'Brien 2018;Krook and O'Brien 2012;O'Brien 2015). In other words, women do not just run for office; in an increasing number of instances, they also hold office and govern (A. C. Alexander and Jalalzai 2018;Schwindt-Bayer and Reyes-Housholder 2017). Despite an extensive literature on retrospective voting, it remains an open question whether gender stereotypes affect voters' judgments of women's performance in these positions.…”

“…There is reason to believe that gender is particularly important in the executive domain, the focus of these studies of retrospective voting. Work by Schwindt-Bayer and Reyes-Housholder (2017) and A. C. Alexander and Jalalzai (2018) has shown that positions of executive power tend to be associated even more strongly with masculine character traits when compared to positions of legislative power. Whereas legislators design laws and operate as part of a collective, executives enact laws, wield power, and take decisions individually.…”

“…Political executives further tend to be more visible and receive higher levels of attention than any single member of the legislature. As a consequence, the symbolic representational effects (role model effects) are particularly strong for executive politicians when compared to legislators (A. C. Alexander and Jalalzai 2018;Morgan and Buice 2013). This leads us to expect that gender stereotypes might also affect voters' judgments of the governing performance of executives.…”

“…The Australian experience is similar: while females candidates have historically garnered fewer votes than men (Kelley and McAllister 1983), this gap in vote share has shrunk considerably in recent years owing to changes in social norms (A. King and Leigh 2010), potentially due to increased exposure to female politicians acting as role models (on role models, see A. C. Alexander and Jalalzai 2018; Morgan and Buice 2013).…”

At War and at Home: The Consequences of US Women Combat Casualties

“…Rosemary Mariner, the first woman to command a naval aviation squadron, emphasized how equality of exposure to the risks of combat is closely linked to equality of social status: “If you cannot share the equal risks and hazards in arduous duty, then you are not equal.” 16 Several studies document changes in broader gender attitudes in response to observing women hold traditionally male-dominated roles. Women holding positions of political leadership can shift views on women’s fitness for such roles (Beaman et al 2009; Reyes-Housholder 2016; Alexander and Jalalzai 2020). Evidence of symbolic empowerment is consistent with the idea that women serving and sacrificing in previously foreclosed military roles has the potential to challenge stereotypes and reduce political and social inequalities.…”