A High Bar or a Double Standard? Gender, Competence, and Information in Political Campaigns

• Published in: Political behavior Vol. 39; no. 2; pp. 301 - 325
• Main Author: Ditonto, Tessa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer Science + Business Media 01.06.2017; Springer US; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Experiments; Gender; Gender differences; Information; Men; ORIGINAL PAPER; Political campaigns; Political Science; Political Science and International Relations; Political Science and International Studies; Sociology; Stereotypes; Voter behavior; Voting; Impression formation; Voting behavior; Gender; Stereotypes; Information processing; Candidate evaluation
• DOI: 10.1007/s11109-016-9357-5
• ISSN: 0190-9320

This study seeks to determine whether subjects in two dynamic process tracing experiments react differently to information related to a candidate’s competence when that candidate is a woman, vs. when he is a man. I find that subjects evaluate a candidate whose competence is in doubt less favorably, and are less likely to vote for the candidate, when she is a woman. In general, evaluations of women seem to be influenced much more by information related to their competence than are evaluations of men. I also find that competence as portrayed by the composition of a candidate’s facial features does not alter this relationship. My findings suggest that gender-based stereotypes may have an indirect effect on candidate evaluations and vote choice by influencing how voters react to information about them.