Voting For Mom: The Political Consequences of Being a Parent for Male and Female Candidates

Stalsburg, Brittany L.

doi:10.1017/s1743923x10000309

Cited by 44 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 44 publications

(36 reference statements)

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“…On the one hand, highlighting motherhood might produce negative effects similar to other strategies that place emphasis on the traditional female role. However, unmarried, childless female candidates received more prejudice (Bell & Kaufmann, ; Stalsburg, ) because having no children is also inconsistent with how women should act (Deason, Greenlee, & Langner, ). Men who emphasize their maternal qualities are unlikely to receive similar backlash.…”

Section: Gender In the Citizenrymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Application of Social Role Theory to the Study of Gender in Politics

Schneider

Bos

2019

Political Psychology

139

106

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Social role theory provides a framework to help understand the complexity of gender in the political sphere. We demonstrate how SRT both helps to explain extant research findings and to generate future research that will help explain the complicated ways in which gender shapes U.S. politics. This article considers two broad categories of behavior: the gendered opinions and engagement of the citizenry and the gendered evaluations of political actors by elites and voters. Within each category, we propose moving beyond the male-female binary and consider the effects of gender in conjunction with other key political identities, such as race, ethnicity, age, as well as examining the effects of (dis)ability, and class. As well, our work demonstrates how masculinity encompasses the U.S. political system and serves as a backdrop in front of which gender roles shape political behavior, and role incongruity can lead to prejudice. This project lays the groundwork for future work to apply theories from psychology to a gendered analysis of U.S. politics. Through a better understanding of sex, gender, and their combined effects with race and other intersectional identities, we contribute to a broader goal of creating a more inclusive U.S. politics. bs_bs_banner Gender in the CitizenryTo consider how gender affects the opinions and participation of the citizenry, we first introduce key concepts that lay the groundwork for social role theory. As a central organizing theory, social role theory provides an explanation for how the powerful, pervasive, segregated social roles of men and women produce gender stereotypes and gendered behavior. Then, we organize the article into sections that address the main outcomes of interest we introduced above: public opinion and political participation. We conclude each section with future research.

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Section: Gender In the Citizenrymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Application of Social Role Theory to the Study of Gender in Politics

Schneider

Bos

2019

Political Psychology

139

106

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The appearance of seemingly sacrificing family for her career could increase any communality deficit. Indeed, Stalsburg's (2010) experimental design found women with no children did significantly worse on every competency indicator except children's issues and time capacities than childless men. In Germany's 2005 election, Angela Merkel's childlessness was raised directly by her opponent's wife who criticised Merkel for not embodying women's normal experience of balancing career and children (Wiliarty 2010).…”

Section: Parenthood and Gender: Does Motherhood Benefit Female Candidmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…She presented herself as a 'hockey mom' who got involved in politics to make things better for her kids (Harp et al 2010). Similarly, Hillary Clinton was pictured arm in arm with her daughter to show she was 'mom first and politician second' (Stalsburg 2010;Deason et al 2015).…”

Section: Parenthood and Gender: Does Motherhood Benefit Female Candidmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the USA, the media questioned whether Palin as a 'mom of five' had the capacity to fulfil the duties of Vice President (Carlin and Winfrey 2009). Political experiments conducted in the USA by Stalsburg (2010) support this hypothesis; when presented with candidates with varying familial responsibilities respondents thought women with young children were less viable candidates with less time capacity than men with young children.…”

Section: Parenthood and Gender: Does Motherhood Benefit Female Candidmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Politics and Parenthood: An Examination of UK Party Leadership Elections

Smith

2017

Parliamentary Affairs

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As women increasingly campaign for the highest political offices, this original content analysis study examines the extent to which gender and parenthood play a role in political leadership using British political party leadership elections as a case study. Competing hypotheses from the limited literature on politics and parenthood are examined. The article finds that family mentions have varied over time and contrary to some gender literature men's family was at times of greater interest than women's. Evidence is found for the politicisation of motherhood and a possible 'maternal mandate'. In parallel, fatherhood was of increasing interest and the rise of the modern man can be seen. Yet, male candidates appear to have an 'opt-out clause' in any politicisation of fatherhood. Further questions about politics and parenthood begged by this article open future research avenues.

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“…30 As a result, female politicians are expected to perform well on ''compassion'' issues, such as education, poverty, family issues, and the environment. 31,32 Male candidates, on the other hand, are expected to be assertive, tough, independent, and competent as well as strong on ''masculine'' issues, such as national defense, crime, and the economy. The conventional wisdom is that female politicians face a ''double bind,'' where voters favor politicians with masculine traits, but judge women unfairly when they display ''counter-stereotypic'' masculinity.…”

Section: Not All Stereotypes Are Created Equalmentioning

confidence: 99%

When women attack

et al. 2015

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The common assumption that female candidates on the campaign trail should not go on the attack, because such tactics contradict gender stereotypes, has not received consistent support. We argue that in some circumstances gender stereotypes will favor female politicians going negative. To test this proposition, this study examines how gender cues affect voter reactions to negative ads in the context of a political sex scandal, a context that should prime gender stereotypes that favor females. Using an online experiment involving a national sample of U.S. adults (N = 599), we manipulate the gender and partisan affiliation of a politician who attacks a male opponent caught in a sex scandal involving sexually suggestive texting to a female intern. Results show that in the context of a sex scandal, a female candidate going on the attack is evaluated more positively than a male. Moreover, while female participants viewed the female sponsor more favorably, sponsor gender had no effect on male participants. Partisanship also influenced candidate evaluations: the Democratic female candidate was evaluated more favorably than her Republican female counterpart.

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Voting For Mom: The Political Consequences of Being a Parent for Male and Female Candidates

Cited by 44 publications

References 44 publications

The Application of Social Role Theory to the Study of Gender in Politics

The Application of Social Role Theory to the Study of Gender in Politics

Politics and Parenthood: An Examination of UK Party Leadership Elections

When women attack

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