Gender and Gubernatorial Personality

• Published in: Women & politics Vol. 24; no. 1; pp. 63 - 82
• Main Authors: Barth, Jay, Ferguson, Margaret R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Taylor & Francis Group 01.01.2002; Taylor & Francis LLC
• Subjects: Comparative analysis; Empowerment; Federalism; Females; Gender; Gender studies; Government and politics; Governors; Leadership; Legislature; Personality; Personality Traits; Political actors; Political Power; Political science; Political systems; Politics; Power; Sex; Sex Differences; State government; U.S.A; United States; Women; Women public officials
• ISSN: 0195-7732; 1554-477X; 1540-9473; 1554-4788
• DOI: 10.1300/J014v24n01_04

Recent work in state politics has presented conflicting evidence regarding whether male and female political actors view and use power in different manners. In contrast with the previous works that have generally focused on gender differences in the legislative arena, this paper examines differences between male and female governors in the expressions of different notions of power in their personalities. Applying measurement strategies grounded in social psychology, we find that female governors are indeed more likely than male governors to express a more "feminine," "power to" orientation in their public lives. Surprisingly, however, modern female governors are also more likely than a large sample of modern male governors to express the more traditional, hierarchical "power over" motive. Based on previous research, these findings bode well for the success of women governors as legislative leaders in the increasingly complex state political environments. Two important trends reveal themselves in the American federal system in the contemporary era: the growth in the power of the American states, in relation to the federal government, and the growing ability of women to gain electoral prominence in those states. Though women remain a distinct minority, 15 women have gained the governor's office-the preeminent elected post in state governmentssince Ella Grasso was elected governor of Connecticut in 1974. Now, the number of women governors is large enough to begin the search for generalizable differences in the behavior of female and male governors. Employing a new theoretical focus for the study of gubernatorial leadership, this article asks whether women who have gained that post in the modern era exhibit different motivations than their male counterparts. Beyond this, we begin to grapple with the question as to what those differences may mean for women governors' success as legislative leaders. We expect these questions to be in creasingly important as state governments, increasingly led by women, will have more and more responsibility in the federal system.