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ABSTRACT
While many research study the impact of gender stereotypes on electoral possibilities of girls candidates within the U.S. little analysis investigates this relationship outdoors two-party programs and experimental designs. This article examines the connection between gender stereotypes and vote selection for girls candidates within the Swiss federal election of 2019. Our regression analyses present that voters holding male subject stereotypes are much less prone to elect girls candidates, whereas voters holding feminine subject stereotypes usually tend to elect girls candidates. Interaction results counsel differing results relying on a respondent’s age, political information, and the candidate’s party place.
Introduction
“Frankly, if Hillary Clinton have been a person, I don’t suppose she would get 5 % of the vote,” Donald Trump stated in 2016 about his opponent Hillary Clinton (Gearan and Philipp Citation2016). With this assertion, he implies that Clinton is an incompetent candidate and if it have been a man-to-man contest, she would lose the election.Footnote1 However, since she is a lady, she will be able to use her gender to her political benefit. At the identical time, he doubted whether or not she had sufficient “energy” and “stamina” – stereotypically male traits – to be president of the United States (Gearan and Philipp Citation2016), that means that her feminine traits are a political drawback.Footnote2 Examples similar to these present how frequent stereotypical concepts concerning the traits, skills, and attitudes of men and women in politics nonetheless are at this time. It is commonly assumed that these stereotypes about female and male politicians will not be with out penalties for his or her political success. In the U.S. this has led to in depth analysis concerning the impact of gender stereotypes on candidate analysis, political resolution making, and vote selection for a person or lady candidate (Bauer Citation2015, Citation2018; Hayes and Lawless Citation2015; Dolan Citation2010, Citation2014a, Citation2014b; Dolan and Lynch Citation2016; Fridkin and Kenney Citation2009; Holman, Merolla, and Zechmeister Citation2016; Huddy and Capelos Citation2002; Lawless Citation2004; McDermott Citation1998; Ono and Yamada Citation2020; Sanbonmatsu Citation2002, Citation2003; Sanbonmatsu and Dolan Citation2009).
But simply as Donald Trump himself isn’t positive whether or not being a lady helps or hurts Clinton, the literature suggests differing outcomes concerning the impact of gender stereotypes on vote selection as nicely.Footnote3 While some analysis finds a constructive relationship between gender stereotypes and the propensity to vote for a girl candidate (Bos Citation2011; Brooks Citation2013; Hayes and Lawless Citation2015; Dolan Citation2010; Fridkin and Kenney Citation2009), different research discover a unfavorable relationship between the 2 variables (Dolan Citation2010; Huddy and Capelos Citation2002; Knuckey Citation2018; Lawless Citation2004), contradicting outcomes and even discovering no substantial, constant relation in any respect (Gordon, Shafie, and Crigler Citation2003; Bauer Citation2015; Hayes and Lawless Citation2015; Dolan Citation2014a, Citation2014b; Dolan and Lynch Citation2016; Johns and Shephard Citation2007; McDermott Citation1998; Sanbonmatsu Citation2002). Additionally, most research examine the U.S. and its two-party system, whereas little analysis has examined the impact of gender stereotypes on real-world vote selection in a multi-party system.Footnote4
Yet, analysis on extra nations can be vital, as some research level to the truth that the impact between gender stereotypes and vote selection within the U.S. differs from the impact in different nations. Endo and Ono (Citation2023) for instance discovered that voters in Japan nonetheless maintain extra gender stereotypes than voters within the U.S. More importantly, other than investigating nations apart from the U.S. we imagine that it’s related to judge the impact of gender stereotypes outdoors of two-party programs. While in a two-party system, party affiliation might be the primary cause for voting for a sure candidate, in multi-party programs, there are a number of candidates of comparable events and with comparable ideologies. This makes traits of those candidates extra prone to have an effect on vote selection – one in all them being a candidate’s gender. Thus, multi-party programs could be seen as a most probably case for gender stereotypes to have an effect on vote selection. Lastly, to one of the best of our information, most research depend on experiments as a substitute of real-world elections (see for instance Schwarz and Coppock Citation2022 for a meta-analysis of 67 experiments). For multi-party programs specifically, largely experimental analysis appears to have been performed, and findings up to now are inconclusive: While a Finnish research discovered various results of gender stereotypes on vote selection relying on whether or not the survey context was hypothetical or involved actual legislative elections (Lefkofridi, Giger, and Holli Citation2019),Footnote5 in Brazil, respondents most popular stereotypically feminine candidates (Lucciola Citation2022). Due to the possibly far-reaching implications and the dearth of analysis specializing in nations outdoors the U.S. on multi-party programs, and on real-world elections, our analysis query is: To what extent did gender stereotypes have an effect on vote selection relating to candidate gender within the 2019 federal election in Switzerland?
To reply our analysis query, we draw on individual-level information from the Swiss Election Study (Selects) from the Swiss federal election of 2019. Switzerland is in some respects a particular case, as girls in Switzerland solely gained the appropriate to vote in 1971 (Vatter Citation2020), round 50 years later than in most European nations (The Federal Assembly Citation2021). Despite above-average illustration of ladies in parliament at this time,Footnote6 this late introduction of the appropriate to vote for girls might imply that gender stereotypes are nonetheless extra predominant in Switzerland in comparison with different European nations. Therefore, Switzerland could be seen as a most probably case.
We measure gender stereotypes with male in addition to feminine trait and subject stereotypes and hyperlink them with respondents’ self-declared vote selection within the 2019 Swiss State Council elections. The primary benefit of this dataset is that it measures vote selections from actual elections on the nationwide stage, whereas a lot of the analysis up to now needed to depend on experimental settings (see Dolan Citation2014a; Dolan and Lynch Citation2016). This is a bonus in comparison with such experimental research by which respondents have to make selections in summary settings with out understanding extra details about the candidates. A uncommon bonus in our setting is that we are able to nearly definitely exclude a social desirability bias since we manually code the candidates’ gender and don’t explicitly ask for gender preferences. Therefore, our findings reveal details about the impact of gender stereotypes within the complicated setting of an actual election. Our logistic regression fashions point out that male subject stereotypes result in a decrease chance of voting for a girl candidate, whereas voters holding feminine subject stereotypes have a better chance of voting for a girl candidate. These results do nevertheless differ relying on a respondent’s age, their stage of political information, and alongside the left-right placement of the candidate’s political party. Our outcomes counsel that gender subject stereotypes exhibit a prevalent affect on vote selection for girls candidates in multi-party programs. On the opposite hand, we discover that trait stereotypes will not be systematically associated to girls candidates’ election chance, implying that whereas points nonetheless matter to voters, the candidates’ private traits don’t.
Generally, our research contributes to analysis in not less than two methods: First, our evaluation additional expands present literature on the impact of gender stereotypes on vote selection by investigating this relationship in one other multi-party system, whereas most of at this time’s analysis nonetheless focuses on the two-party system of the U.S. Testing the impact within the democratically-unique Swiss multi-party system helps to additional generalize the outcomes on the impact of gender stereotypes, even other than Finland. Second, our research evaluates actual vote selections from precise elections as a substitute of experimental settings, which stays an exception in at this time’s analysis on the subject at hand. Thus, we’re capable of examine the impact of gender stereotypes in an actual, complicated setting, which might additionally assist clarify our findings.
The article is structured as follows: The subsequent two sections overview the present literature on gender stereotypes and their results on vote selection and develop our hypotheses. The following part describes the information, variables and statistical strategies we make use of. We then current and focus on our primary empirical outcomes. Finally, we summarize our findings, focus on their implications, and counsel areas the place additional analysis is required.
Stereotypes
As people, all of us are inclined to view the world in a schematic, categorized means. It is folks’s inferences and recollections that information their information-processing. These generic information constructions, in flip, drive folks’s evaluations of and reactions towards others (Macrae and Bodenhausen Citation2001). One of those generic information constructions that information folks’s information-processing are stereotypes. They are generally outlined as robotically activated, basic expectations about members of explicit social teams, normally accompanied by a spread of feelings, that may affect habits (Amodio Citation2014; Bottom and Kong Citation2012; Fiske and Neuberg Citation1990; Macrae and Bodenhausen Citation2001). Or as Walter Lippmann (Citation[1922] 1998) aptly acknowledged: “For essentially the most half we don’t first see, after which outline, we outline first after which see.” Stereotypes thus affect information processing within the context of social teams. Certain options are seen as typical for particular social teams, which signifies that the folks holding these stereotypes exaggerate disparities between teams and underestimate variations throughout the group (Bordalo et al. Citation2016; Ellemers Citation2018; Kunda Citation1999). Unlike regular beliefs, stereotypes function with out acutely aware consciousness (Amodio Citation2014; Kunda Citation1999; Macrae and Bodenhausen Citation2001). One contested presumption is that even low-prejudice individuals expertise this computerized activation of stereotypes.Footnote7 With a acutely aware effort, it’s nevertheless nonetheless potential to suppress such stereotypical beliefs (Macrae and Bodenhausen Citation2001).
Generally, stereotypes are perceived as one thing unfavorable, as they’re deemed each personally and socially unacceptable (Amodio Citation2014). This doesn’t essentially should be true since stereotypes could be useful each time fast estimates of somebody’s possible habits and skills are wanted, and they’re additionally used as reminiscence retrieval cues (Ellemers Citation2018; Fiske and Neuberg Citation1990). In this manner, stemming from a mechanism of survival, these cognitive programs assist construction the complicated bodily world (Amodio Citation2014; Fiske and Neuberg Citation1990; Lippmann Citation[1922] 1998). Humans like to resolve issues simply, which works finest if they’re put right into a class and if this class is then used to prejudge an answer (Allport Citation1954). Whenever individuals are cognitively busy, they particularly are inclined to fall again on stereotypes (Fiske and Neuberg Citation1990; Gilbert and Hixon Citation1991; Hayes Citation2011). Stereotypes subsequently present a most quantity of data with minimal cognitive effort (Gilbert and Hixon Citation1991). While stereotypes can typically be correct (Bordalo et al. Citation2016), more often than not, nevertheless, stereotypes oversimplify issues and result in unjust assumptions and even inequalities (Ellemers Citation2018; Hastie Citation2016; Sanbonmatsu Citation2003).
This tendency to generalize perceived variations between teams and kind stereotypical concepts about their traits and skills is understood for numerous social teams or classes similar to race and gender (Bordalo et al. Citation2016; Ellemers Citation2018). Gender is a major function of notion. People instantly ascribe a set of traits to women and men, which contributes to the formation and persistence of gender stereotypes.Footnote8 In basic, two forms of political gender stereotypes could be distinguished: stereotypes relating to traits and stereotypes relating to points. These are totally different for women and men (Huddy and Terkildsen Citation1993; Sanbonmatsu Citation2003; Turska-Kawa and Olszanecka-Marmola Citation2018). Trait stereotypes are expectations about traits that male or feminine politicians embody. While male politicians are stereotypically seen as extra rational, combative, assertive, and extra bold than feminine politicians, girls politicians are in flip evaluated as extra delicate, empathetic, heat, caring, compassionate, and consensus-building than their male counterparts (Dolan Citation2010, Citation2014b; Dolan and Lynch Citation2016; Haines, Deaux, and Lofaro Citation2016; Hastie Citation2016; Huddy and Terkildsen Citation1993; Johns and Shephard Citation2007; McDermott Citation1998; Schneider and Bos Citation2014; Turska-Kawa and Olszanecka-Marmola Citation2018). Issue or coverage stereotypes, however, describe coverage points which might be anticipated to be owned by both male or feminine politicians. While male politicians are deemed extra competent in coping with legal issues in addition to international and financial affairs, feminine politicians are deemed superior within the domains of schooling and well being care (Dolan Citation2010, Citation2014b; Dolan and Lynch Citation2016; Huddy and Terkildsen Citation1993; Sanbonmatsu Citation2002, Citation2003). These expectations concerning the traits and problems with female and male politicians can in flip affect their probability of being elected.
Gender stereotypes and vote selection
Since girls in politics keep alarmingly underrepresented in most nations, an intensive research into the causes appears pivotal. Scholars have lengthy appeared into the matter and located that facets similar to poor candidate high quality or scarce marketing campaign sources can not clarify feminine underrepresentation (Dolan Citation2010). Recent analyses of voter attitudes towards girls candidates however current a somewhat totally different image and counsel influences of gender stereotypes on vote selection (e.g., Dolan Citation2010, Citation2014a, Citation2014b; Dolan and Lynch Citation2016; Fox and Oxley Citation2003; Johns and Shephard Citation2007; Knuckey Citation2018; Lawless Citation2004; McDermott Citation1998; Sanbonmatsu Citation2002). Gender info could be conveyed by way of stereotypes, similar to merely studying a candidate’s title on a poll and instantly deriving world information about social roles or persona traits of women and men (Canal, Garnham, and Oakhill Citation2015; Corbett Citation1991; Kunda Citation1999). As Samuel Popkin described again in 1991, “voters do cause about events, candidates, and points” (Kinsey and Popkin Citation1993, 569), with the reasoning being often called “low-information rationality.” This entails the usage of info shortcuts similar to gender or party stereotypes, which voters purchase information about in on a regular basis life and apply it to political selections. Due to restricted sources, folks don’t take in all obtainable info and, to make up for this incompleteness, they use earlier experiences and stereotypes (Kinsey and Popkin Citation1993).
As male trait stereotypes, similar to assertiveness or ambition, are sometimes according to agentic roles and qualities of a very good chief, folks holding male trait stereotypes are much less prone to vote for a girl candidate, as they could see males as a greater match for the agentic position of a politician. The similar holds true for feminine trait stereotypes similar to heat and compassion, that are according to communal roles and distinction classical management qualities. People holding feminine trait stereotypes understand girls as unfit for roles requiring agentic traits and won’t vote for them (Bauer Citation2015; Dolan Citation2014a; Huddy and Terkildsen Citation1993; Koenig et al. Citation2011; Lawless Citation2004; Richard and Smith Citation1998; Simon and Hoyt Citation2008). On the opposite hand and in accordance with the trustee mannequin of illustration, which states that elected political representatives act within the curiosity of a nation and in line with civic nature (Rehfeld Citation2009), feminine stereotypes would possibly show helpful for girls candidates since girls are sometimes seen as extra consensus-oriented and receptive towards the need and desires of the citizens. Therefore, voters may additionally see girls as higher politicians when the voters are holding feminine trait stereotypes (Brooks Citation2013; Dolan Citation2014b; Dolan and Lynch Citation2016; Schwarz and Coppock Citation2022). To sum up, folks holding male trait stereotypes are anticipated to have a decrease chance of voting for a girl candidate. For folks expressing feminine trait stereotypes, each unfavorable and constructive results on girls candidates’ election chances are high cogitable. While some analysis discovered the proclaimed unfavorable results of female and male trait stereotypes (Huddy and Capelos Citation2002; Lawless Citation2004; Lefkofridi, Giger, and Holli Citation2019), different research discovered constructive or contradicting results for trait stereotypes (Fridkin and Kenney Citation2009; McDermott Citation1998). From this, we derive our first set of hypothesesFootnote9:
H1:
Holding male trait stereotypes negatively correlates with voting for a girl candidate.
H2a:
Holding feminine trait stereotypes negatively correlates with voting for a girl candidate.
H2b:
Holding feminine trait stereotypes positively correlates with voting for a girl candidate.
While trait stereotypes could be claimed to function homogeneously in any respect state ranges, the impact of subject stereotypes closely relies on whether or not the election is on the nationwide or subnational stage. As the stereotypically male coverage areas are normally situated on the nationwide stage and stereotypically feminine coverage areas are normally situated at state or subnational ranges (Bauer Citation2015; Dolan and Lynch Citation2016), voters demand extra subject competency in stereotypically male subject areas the upper a political workplace is (Huddy and Terkildsen Citation1993). While financial or protection coverage are stereotypically seen as male subject areas, they’re additionally extra usually tasks of the nationwide stage, in Switzerland, but in addition in different nations (see Vatter Citation2020). Social coverage and well being coverage, stereotypically feminine subject areas, are however normally situated on the subnational stage (Vatter Citation2020). Therefore, voters holding stronger gender subject stereotypes could be anticipated to vote for feminine candidates on the subnational stage and male candidates on the nationwide stage. Hence, gender stereotypes would possibly profit or drawback girls candidates, relying on the extent of the election. This suggestion is confirmed by the discovering that ladies both search workplace extra usually on subnational ranges or get elected into these subnational positions extra usually than into nationwide stage ones (Fox and Oxley Citation2003; Huddy and Terkildsen Citation1993). Some analysis is ready to not less than partially replicate the unfavorable impact of male coverage stereotypes on vote selection for girls candidates on the nationwide stage (Dolan Citation2010, Citation2014b; Dolan and Lynch Citation2016; Lefkofridi, Giger, and Holli Citation2019) and even suggests that it’s the most vital gender stereotype for vote selection (Dolan Citation2010). Other analysis, nevertheless, finds constructive or contradicting results of female and male subject stereotypes (Dolan Citation2010, Citation2014b; Dolan and Lynch Citation2016; Fridkin and Kenney Citation2009; Sanbonmatsu Citation2002; Sanbonmatsu and Dolan Citation2009). Our final hypotheses can subsequently be summarized as follows:
H3:
Holding male subject stereotypes negatively correlates with voting for a girl candidate on the nationwide stage.
H4:
Holding feminine subject stereotypes negatively correlates with voting for a girl candidate on the nationwide stage.
In addition to those linear results, we examine potential group results by calculating interactions because it is likely to be believable that gender stereotypes don’t affect vote selection for all inhabitants teams identically. We work together gender stereotypes with numerous traits of the voters: Earlier research point out that stereotypes solely have an effect on male voters (Johns and Shephard Citation2007; Ono and Burden Citation2019), whereas there may be some more moderen proof that gender stereotypes primarily have an effect on feminine voters (Schwarz and Coppock Citation2022). Therefore, we begin by interacting gender stereotypes with voters’ gender. Regarding age, it might be anticipated that the impact of stereotypes is stronger for older generations and diminishes for youthful generations (e.g., Devroe Citation2021). For schooling, it appears probably that the impact of stereotypes weakens with rising schooling, as people replicate extra on their very own stereotypes (Devroe Citation2021). Existing literature additionally finds various results of gender stereotypes on vote selection for voters’ self-placement on the political left-right-scale (see Dolan Citation2014b; Dolan and Lynch Citation2016; McDermott Citation1998; Schwarz and Coppock Citation2022). Since stereotypes could be seen as a heuristic in candidate analysis and their utilization ought to subsequently rely upon different info (McDermott Citation1998), we additionally embody an interplay of gender stereotypes with respondents’ political curiosity and political information. Lastly, it is also anticipated that the impact of gender stereotypes relies upon not solely on traits of the voters however on traits of the candidates, too. Some research counsel for instance that gender stereotypes have an effect on assist for feminine Republican and Democratic candidates otherwise (Bauer Citation2018; Sanbonmatsu and Dolan Citation2009). In a final step, we subsequently work together gender stereotypes with the left-right place of the candidate’s political party.
Research design, variables, and technique
The case of Switzerland
With Switzerland being one of many final Western nations to implement girls’s suffrage in 1971 and thus lastly permitting all residents aged 18 years and above to vote on the nationwide stage (see Vatter Citation2020), expertise with girls in political places of work remains to be somewhat sparse. Following Jenning’s (Citation2006) publicity concept, as a result of various intercourse position socialization, it’s recommended that perceptions of feminine politicians between societies with an extended historical past of ladies in key political positions reverse to societies with a brief historical past, similar to Switzerland, differ. As the uneven gender distribution in political places of work portrays (see Federal Statistical Office Citation2024; hereafter FSO), voters on this nation are nonetheless getting used to having girls in politics and thus, variations in intercourse position perceptions would possibly persist. Despite the late begin of ladies’s political illustration and participation in 1971, over time, feminine illustration in Swiss political places of work has risen: While the primary lady solely turned a part of the chief, the Federal Council, in 1984, in 2019, three out of seven members of the Federal Council have been feminine (in 2011 they have been even briefly within the majority with 4 out of seven members; there have been three girls in 2023). The legislative, the Federal Assembly, consists of two chambers, the National Council and the Council of States. In the previous, 42% of elected representatives in 2019 have been girls and within the latter, 26.1% girls have been featured (see FSO Citation2024).Footnote10 This is indicative of the truth that the Council of States stays a male-dominated area and, because of this, gender stereotypes should still be extra prevalent there as in comparison with the National Council the place voters are extra accustomed to feminine illustration.
In our analyses, we goal the Council of States. This is as a result of the 200 seats of the National Council are distributed proportionally to cantonal dimension and in a single canton alone as much as 35 politicians could be elected. Party lists are generally used for National Council elections, so gender won’t be the first electoral criterion. Moreover, with so many seats in some cantons, the elections will not be very personalised and are extra concerning the political party than about particular person candidates. This can also be proven by the truth that 43% of respondents within the dataset forged an unchanged party checklist. A potential gender impact right here is subsequently extra because of the composition of the party lists than to the voters’ particular person stereotypes. The Council of States, however, solely has 46 seats with every canton having precisely two seats and every half-canton one seat. Elections for these two seats are held in a first-past-the-post election system,Footnote11 which makes these elections rather more personalised (Federal Chancellery Citation2024; Vatter Citation2020). The voters’ electoral resolution subsequently most likely relies upon not solely on the party – particularly since voters in most cantons are eligible to elect two candidates however most events solely put up one candidate per canton – but in addition on traits of the candidates similar to their gender. In mixture with the aforementioned indisputable fact that feminine illustration within the Council of States stays low, therefore making gender stereotypes extra possible, this makes the Council of States a most probably case and is subsequently finest fitted to our analysis design.
As beforehand described, Switzerland has a multi-party system with many political events which makes an affect of gender stereotypes on vote selection extra probably. Different events which might be politically shut to one another put up their very own candidates and lots of candidates additionally run with out party affiliation. It is less complicated to vote or to not vote for the candidate of Party A due to their gender if Party B makes comparable political content material and places up a candidate of a distinct gender. With an efficient party variety of roughly 6.2 within the National Council after the 2019 parliamentary elections, Swiss voters had a lot of events to select from in worldwide comparability.Footnote12 Accordingly, it’s believable to imagine that they might select between totally different candidates from comparable or no events on the idea of the traits of the candidates themselves, similar to their gender.
Data and variables
We analyze the Panel Survey of the Swiss Election Study (Selects) from 2019 (Selects Citation2022).Footnote13 Apart from gender stereotypes, the survey additionally asks respondents about their vote selection within the elections to the Federal Assembly in October 2019. With this information, our focus lies on nationwide stage election outcomes. Due to the aforementioned causes, we go for vote selection within the first spherical of the election to the Council of States of 2019 as our dependent variable. However, we encountered the issue that in 4 out of 24 cantons with a majoritarian system, no related feminine candidates have been nominated in any respect and that these cantons consequently should be excluded from our analyses.Footnote14 It is a basic statement in single member districts that events are inclined to nominate extra male than feminine candidates, as they’re perceived to have higher possibilities of getting elected (Matland and Studlar Citation1996). Figure A1 within the appendix shows considerably extra male than feminine candidates for the Council of States, which as soon as once more underlines the relevance of our research. The Green Party and the Green Liberal Party are the one ones with extra feminine than male candidates. This might imply that voters didn’t at all times have a feminine different that represented their political place, though that is tough to look at, as there have been additionally a lot of candidates with out party affiliation. Nevertheless, this must be saved in thoughts when deciphering our outcomes.
Our dependent variable is the acknowledged vote selection, for which we code the elected candidate both as male (0) or as feminine (1).Footnote15 Out of the 178 candidates within the survey, we coded 62 as feminine and 106 as male candidates. Out of the elected 42 candidates, 10 have been coded as feminine and the remaining 32 as male. As a lot of the residents have been allowed to elect two candidates, we cut up them up into two separate observations and clustered the observations within the regression by respondent ID. Lastly, we preserve the variety of observations fixed all through our regression fashions. This left us with round 4,861 observations from about 2,783 totally different respondents.
Our impartial variables encompass gender stereotypes. We hereby distinguish between trait and subject stereotypes in addition to female and male stereotypes.Footnote16 In our information set, there are 4 objects measuring trait stereotypes and 5 objects measuring subject stereotypes. The objects measuring trait stereotypes requested respondents whether or not they thought that ladies or males in politics have been extra prone to possess the next traits or whether or not there was no distinction between women and men: ambition, capability to construct consensus, decisiveness, and compassion. The objects measuring subject stereotypes requested whether or not a person or a lady politician within the Federal Council was higher suited to deal with the next coverage areas or whether or not it made no distinction: protection and safety, the economic system, social coverage, migration and asylum coverage, in addition to gender equality coverage. Drawing on the stereotypical traits and subject areas recognized by the literature (Dolan Citation2010, Citation2014a, Citation2014b; Fridkin, Kenney, and Serignese Woodall Citation2009; Haines, Deaux, and Lofaro Citation2016; Hastie Citation2016; Huddy and Terkildsen Citation1993; Johns and Shephard Citation2007; McDermott Citation1998; Sanbonmatsu and Dolan Citation2009; Schneider and Bos Citation2014; Turska-Kawa and Olszanecka-Marmola Citation2018) we code ambition and decisiveness as male trait stereotypes and compassion in addition to the flexibility to construct consensus as feminine trait stereotypes. Regarding subject stereotypes, we code protection and the economic system as male and social and gender equality coverage as feminine subject stereotypes. We don’t use migration coverage to code subject stereotypes.Footnote17 We coded every of the eight objects as both 0 (respondent didn’t give a stereotypical reply, i.e. “no distinction” or “man” within the case of a feminine stereotype, or “no distinction” or “lady” within the case of a male stereotype) or 1 (respondent gave a stereotypical reply).Footnote18 Following the coding in earlier research (Dolan Citation2014b), we then construct an additive index for every of the 4 stereotype-categories starting from 0 to 2, indicating the variety of stereotypical solutions given.
Finally, we make use of some management variables, specifically the respondents’ gender, age, schooling, earnings, their place on the left-right-scale, their political curiosity, whether or not the individual voted for was an incumbent, the political left-right placement of the candidate’s party, in addition to the canton the respondent voted in.Footnote19 For a extra detailed overview of our measurement of the management variables, see Table A4 within the appendix. Methodologically, we make use of logistic regression with the elected candidates’ gender because the dependent binary variable. We cluster the observations by respondent ID, as most respondents have been allowed to elect two candidates. In our empirical evaluation, we first calculate a separate logistic mannequin for every of the 4 stereotypes, earlier than calculating a full mannequin with all 4 stereotypes concurrently.
Results
Before turning to our regression fashions, we first briefly focus on the distribution of gender stereotypes in Switzerland. depicts the distribution of gender stereotypes for all 4 classes: male trait, feminine trait, male subject, and feminine subject stereotypes. First, it’s noteworthy that in two of the 4 classes, specifically male stereotypes, a majority of respondents don’t exhibit any gender stereotypes. Nevertheless, relying on the kind of gender stereotype, between 45 and 65% of respondents exhibit not less than one stereotypical concept concerning the traits and skills of women and men. Female trait stereotypes are significantly prevalent. Approximately one-third of the respondents exhibited the utmost variety of stereotypes on this class. Regarding variations by the gender of the voter (see Figure A5 within the appendix), we discover that ladies present a a lot smaller variety of male subject stereotypes and considerably much less male trait stereotypes. Their feminine trait and subject stereotypes, nevertheless, are simply as pronounced as they’re for male voters. So, whereas not all Swiss folks maintain stereotypical concepts about women and men in politics anymore, there may be nonetheless a substantial quantity of gender stereotyping embedded in folks’s minds – in males’s in addition to in girls’s. Additionally, these descriptive findings are a very good indication that many respondents didn’t reply in a socially fascinating means, as a major quantity of gender stereotypes have been nonetheless expressed.
Figure 1. Distribution of Gender Stereotypes in Switzerland.
Next, we start with empty regression fashions that embody solely the 4 stereotypes and cantonal fastened results, however no management variables. The outcomes of those regression fashions could be present in Table A6 within the appendix. They present that solely male subject stereotypes have an effect on the chance of voting for a girl candidate. People who maintain male subject stereotypes and thus imagine that male politicians are higher suited to deal with coverage areas similar to protection and safety or the economic system are much less prone to vote for a girl candidate within the Swiss elections to the Council of States (p < 0.001).
In a second step, we add management variables. The outcomes of our logistic regression analyses in present how these gender stereotypes relate to vote selection when controlling for gender, age, schooling, earnings, the political place and political curiosity of the respondents, in addition to for the incumbency standing and party place of the candidates. Columns 1 to 4 present that not one of the 4 forms of stereotypes exhibit any impact on the chance of voting for a feminine candidate with out controlling for the opposite sorts of stereotypes. In the total mannequin in column 5 that features all 4 stereotypes concurrently, we discover no impact of neither male nor feminine trait stereotypes. Stereotypes about sometimes male or feminine traits therefore don’t appear to impression the probability of electing a lady candidate, which signifies that now we have to reject speculation H1, H2a and H2b.
Table 1. Logistic Regression Models.
However, within the full mannequin, when together with all 4 stereotypes concurrently, we discover a unfavorable impact of male subject stereotypes and a constructive impact of feminine subject stereotypes on the chance of electing a lady candidate to the Council of States (each p < 0.05). The indisputable fact that these two forms of stereotypes are positively correlated might clarify why their opposing results solely develop into seen as soon as each are included in a mannequin, whereas they continue to be masked with out controlling for all stereotypes. Regarding the impact dimension, holding 2 as a substitute of 0 male subject stereotypes decreases the chance of electing a lady candidate by about 2.9 share factors, whereas holding 2 as a substitute of 0 feminine subject stereotypes will increase the probability of electing a lady candidate by about 2.8 share factors. The discovering on male subject stereotypes is in accordance with our speculation H3 and signifies that folks with extra stereotypical concepts about male political subject areas are much less prone to vote for a girl candidate within the election to the Council of States. This can also be according to present literature (Bauer Citation2015; Dolan and Lynch Citation2016), which proclaims that stereotypically male subject areas are extra usually situated on the nationwide stage, whereas stereotypically feminine subject areas are normally situated on the subnational stage. Thus, holding subject stereotypes will increase the probability of voting for a girl candidate on the subnational stage and reduces it on the nationwide stage. In Switzerland, protection coverage and financial issues are tasks of the state, whereas social coverage (together with well being coverage) tends to be situated on the cantonal stage (see Vatter Citation2020). People holding male subject stereotypes thus contemplate males extra able to coping with points on the nationwide stage in Switzerland. As the Council of States can also be situated on the nationwide stage, these individuals are extra prone to vote for male candidates. However, these concerns will not be according to our discovering on feminine subject stereotypes, for which we discovered a constructive impact of electing a lady candidate to the Council of States. Hence, we discover the other of what we anticipated in speculation H4. In this respect, it could be that respondents additionally view gender equality and social coverage as a nationwide subject and usually tend to vote for girls in the event that they imagine that they’re significantly good at coping with these coverage areas. Or that they wish to see girls who’re more healthy for coping with regional points additionally in nationwide political positions. In conclusion, we are able to affirm our speculation H3 on male subject stereotypes however should reject our speculation H4 on feminine subject stereotypes in addition to the 2 hypotheses H1 and H2 on trait stereotypes.
Lastly, it may additionally appear believable to count on female and male stereotypes to bolster each other and the consequences to be stronger when somebody holds each, feminine and male, as a substitute of just one stereotype. To check this, in appendix A7, we work together feminine trait stereotypes with male trait stereotypes and feminine subject stereotypes with male subject stereotypes. In each circumstances, the interplay coefficient isn’t statistically vital. Hence, female and male stereotypes appear to function independently of each other and neither reinforce nor diminish one another’s impact.
Interactions
In a 3rd step, we work together the 4 stereotypes with totally different traits of the voters to analyze whether or not the impact of gender stereotypes on vote selection differs amongst social teams. Table A8 within the appendix lists the outcomes of all interplay fashions. For the respondent’s gender, their schooling, their left-right self-placement, and their stage of political curiosity we don’t discover any statistically vital interplay phrases. However, we discover statistically vital interactions with the respondent’s age, their stage of political information, and the left-right placement of the candidate’s political party. We will now briefly focus on the 5 statistically vital interplay coefficients we discover. The graphs displaying the marginal results of the stereotypes alongside their moderators could be present in Figures A9 to A13 within the appendix.
First, we discover three vital interactions between the respondents’ age and their stereotypes. The first interplay time period considerations male trait stereotypes (p < 0.01). In the earlier regression fashions, we didn’t discover any impact of male trait stereotypes on the chance of electing a lady candidate. However, the interplay mannequin exhibits that there are opposing results of male trait stereotypes for younger and for outdated voters. While for younger voters we discover a statistically vital unfavorable impact of male trait stereotypes on electing a lady candidate, for outdated voters the impact even turns into considerably constructive. Regarding substantiality, shifting from 0 to 2 stereotypes decreases the chance of electing a lady candidate by about 10.2 share factors for an 18-year-old voter, whereas it will increase the probability by round 7.3 share factors for an 88-year-old voter. Second, we additionally discover a vital interplay time period between age and feminine trait stereotypes (p < 0.05) for which we didn’t discover any impact in earlier fashions both. Here, the impact is reversed to male trait stereotypes. Young voters thus exhibit a major constructive impact of feminine trait stereotypes on the probability of electing a lady candidate (the probability will increase by about 6.8 share factors when shifting from 0 to 2 stereotypes for an 18-year-old), whereas older voters expertise a major unfavorable impact (the chance of electing a lady candidate decreases by about 6.3 share factors when shifting from 0 to 2 stereotypes for an 88-year-old voter). Perhaps older folks don’t deem assertiveness or ambition traits which might be nicely fitted to politicians and subsequently flip to girls candidates once they imagine that male politicians are extra susceptible to having these traits. On the opposite hand, older folks additionally chorus from electing girls candidates once they deem girls consensus-oriented and compassionate. Lastly, we additionally work together feminine subject stereotypes with the age of the voter (p < 0.05). Our interplay mannequin exhibits that the beforehand discovered constructive impact solely holds true for voters which might be round 55 years or older, whereas there is no such thing as a relationship between feminine subject stereotypes and voting for a girl candidate for youthful voters.
Second, we additionally discover a vital interplay time period between a voter’s stage of political information and male trait stereotypes (p < 0.05). We discover that male trait stereotypes exert a unfavorable impact on electing a lady candidate, however just for respondents low in political information. For individuals who answered no query on political information accurately, the chance of electing a lady candidate drops by about 9.2 share factors once they maintain 2 as a substitute of 0 male trait stereotypes. This discovering is per the notion that gender stereotypes usually operate as heuristics. Those with extra political information rely much less on such heuristics, so the impact of gender stereotypes disappears with rising political information.
Lastly, we discover a statistically vital moderation by the left-right placement of the candidate’s political party on the impact of male subject stereotypes on the probability of electing a lady candidate (p < 0.001). For candidates that run for a party on the political left, male subject stereotypes of the voters have a constructive impact on electing a lady candidate. For candidates from the party furthest to the left in our dataset (Ensemble à Gauche), having 2 as a substitute of 0 male subject stereotypes will increase the voters’ probability to elect a lady candidate by about 7.9 share factors. Regarding candidates on the very proper of the spectrum (Swiss People’s Party), however, holding 2 as a substitute of 0 male subject stereotypes decreases the chance of electing a lady candidate by 13.8 share factors. Thus, whereas we discover a unfavorable impact of male subject stereotypes on the chance of electing a lady candidate in our full pattern, we are able to now conclude that this impact solely holds when it’s about candidates on the appropriate of the political spectrum, whereas girls candidates on the political left even revenue from male subject stereotypes.
We conclude that the impact of gender stereotypes, though pretty steady amongst totally different genders, academic ranges, left-right self-placement and ranges of political curiosity, varies alongside a respondent’s age, their stage of political information in addition to the candidate’s political place. With regard to our primary results of female and male subject stereotypes, we have been capable of refine these findings and present that the impact of feminine subject stereotypes solely holds true for older voters, whereas it isn’t statistically vital for younger voters. Regarding our primary impact of male subject stereotypes, we discover that it solely holds for candidates on the political proper, whereas it’s even reversed for candidates on the political left. Lastly, we discovered some results of male trait stereotypes and feminine trait stereotypes for sure age teams and ranges of political information. The age of the voters appears to be particularly decisive for the impact gender stereotypes have on the vote selection for girls candidates, as some stereotypes even function in reverse order relying on the voter’s age. However, our cross-sectional design can not make clear whether or not it is a generational impact or a life-cycle impact. Further analyses with panel information are mandatory for this.
Conclusion
Drawing on individual-level information from the Swiss Election Study (Selects) from 2019, this text explores the linkage between gender stereotypes and vote selection for girls candidates in a multi-party system. While the impact of gender stereotypes on vote selection for girls candidates has usually been studied in two-party programs, largely within the context of the U.S. how this relationship behaves in multi-party programs has, other than Finland (see Lefkofridi, Giger, and Holli Citation2019), not been analyzed comprehensively earlier than. However, a stronger relationship might be assumed right here, because the party is much less deterministic in influencing vote selection because of the bigger number of politically comparable events in a multi-party system.
We check 4 forms of gender stereotypes and discover that there’s a vital unfavorable impact of male subject stereotypes on vote selection for girls candidates, whereas there’s a vital constructive impact of feminine subject stereotypes on electing girls candidates. However, each these results solely maintain true when controlling for the opposite three stereotypes. Thus, gender stereotypes will not be per se dangerous for girls candidates. Second, we examined whether or not the consequences of those gender stereotypes fluctuate alongside a variety of traits of voters in addition to candidates. We discover that the unfavorable impact of male subject stereotypes solely holds for candidates with a political place on the appropriate of the political spectrum, whereas the impact even turns into constructive for candidates on the left. We additionally discover that the constructive impact of feminine subject stereotypes solely holds for older voters. Additionally, whereas we didn’t establish a direct impact of trait stereotypes on vote selection, we did nevertheless discover some results of trait stereotypes for sure subgroups. We discover that younger voters holding male trait stereotypes are much less prone to elect a lady candidate whereas for older voters, male trait stereotypes have a constructive impression on electing girls candidates. The reverse is true for feminine trait stereotypes. Lastly, we discover that the unfavorable impact of male trait stereotypes on electing girls candidates solely holds for voters with a decrease stage of political information. These analyses lead us to 3 broader conclusions. First, our outcomes present that political gender stereotypes are nonetheless widespread much more than 50 years after political gender equality was achieved in Switzerland. Second, our research exhibits that not all gender stereotypes essentially cut back electoral possibilities of girls candidates, however that they’ve a related affect on them. Third, we present that the consequences of gender stereotypes fluctuate throughout the socio-demographic traits of voters, particularly age, in addition to throughout the political place of the candidates. Therefore, no generalized conclusions ought to be drawn concerning the results of gender stereotypes.
This article doesn’t suggest a causal interpretation of the connection between gender stereotypes and vote selection, as we solely use cross-sectional information. Employing time sequence information would have the additional benefit that with the various interactions between gender stereotypes and age, it might be investigated whether or not these results are life-cycle results or whether or not some generational shift is at present occurring. Additionally, we draw on information from a panel research and outcomes ought to be interpreted fastidiously as a result of panel attrition. Apart from Lefkofridi, Giger, and Holli (Citation2019), this is among the first research we all know of to analyze the connection between gender stereotypes and vote selection in a multi-party system; therefore, additional analysis is required to generalize our findings. Switzerland was one of many final nations in Europe to undertake the appropriate to vote for girls and it’s subsequently believable to imagine that gender stereotypes are nonetheless extra prevalent in Switzerland in comparison with different European nations. Compared to the National Council, the Council of States additionally posits a most probably case as a result of their low feminine illustration and the concomitant greater probability of gender stereotypes there. Accordingly, as we solely investigated the Council of States, our findings are restricted to this a part of the Swiss legislative. As each, Switzerland and the Council of States are a most probably case, our coefficients are most likely a extra liberal estimate of the impact of stereotypes on vote selection. Furthermore, the nationwide election of Switzerland in 2019 was particular within the sense that extra feminine candidates stood for election and voters additionally elected extra girls than beforehand (see Giger et al. Citation2022). Hence, it stays open to what extent our outcomes are generalizable each time- and context-wise. We thus counsel that additional analysis investigates the connection between gender stereotypes and vote selection in different European multi-party programs and on the subnational stage, too.
Despite these shortcomings, our paper is related from each a societal in addition to from a scientific viewpoint. From a scientific perspective, this is among the first research to have a look at the impact of gender stereotypes outdoors of a two-party system. Additionally, we use information from real-world elections as a substitute of experimental information and present that even within the complicated, high-information setting of an actual election, gender stereotypes nonetheless matter. Socially, this analysis is related as a result of gender stereotypes are nonetheless prevalent – our analyses present that 45 to 65% of respondents maintain not less than one stereotypical concept concerning the skills and traits of women and men – and it’s subsequently vital to know whether or not and the way they affect the electoral possibilities of girls candidates. Although gender stereotypes don’t essentially diminish girls’s electoral possibilities, a societal discourse on these points appears mandatory. Our research is meant to supply the impetus to revisit the problem of gender stereotypes in politics and to present extra thought to them and their results.
Disclosure assertion
No potential battle of curiosity was reported by the creator(s).
1. Authors are listed alphabetically, as they contributed equally.
2. For a extra thorough evaluation of Clinton’s candidacy and gender results in politics, we advocate Manne (Citation2018) and Sorrentino, Augoustinos, and LeCouteur (Citation2022).
3. While we’re totally conscious that there are greater than two genders, we hereafter stick to the binary classification of gender, “male” and “feminine”. This simplification stems from the truth that voters usually maintain stereotypes about feminine and male politicians, and that they classify the politicians’ names and pictures on the electoral lists accordingly into these two teams.
4. The Finnish research of Lefkofridi, Giger, and Holli (Citation2019) poses a notable exception, because the authors evaluated each experimental and real-world information in one other European multi-party system.
5. Despite the dearth of in depth analysis on the affect of gender stereotypes on vote selection outdoors of two-party programs and experimental settings, our research leans on Lefkofridi, Giger, and Holli (Citation2019) who first ventured into this new setting by utilizing real-world information from 2011 in Finland, one other multi-party system. We nevertheless depart from their research in three key facets: By Switzerland, we examine a most probably case, whereas Finland could be seen as a “least probably” case as a result of its greater diploma of political equality. This allows the protection of a wider vary on the spectrum of multi-party programs, permitting for extra generalizable statements. Second, our information is from the 2019 nationwide elections, therefore with the ability to present extra present information. And third, other than together with solely subject stereotypes, we additionally study trait stereotypes.
6. In complete, 39% of Swiss federal parliamentarians are girls, in comparison with a European common of 30% (UN Women Citation2020).
7. Bauer (Citation2015) for instance concluded that particularly for feminine stereotypes, computerized stereotype activation isn’t the case.
8. Female politicians are judged otherwise than girls, as they’re normally seen as a subtype of ladies on the whole. This leads them to endure from the so-called “double bind” (see Costa Citation2021): the necessity to fulfill two opposing stereotypes individually. On the one hand, they need to fulfill female stereotypes, however, they need to be competent – a trait that’s stereotypically related to masculinity as a substitute of femininity. The issue of this balancing act can also be mirrored in empirical proof which exhibits that feminine politicians are neither ascribed stereotypically male qualities nor that they’ll profit from stereotypically feminine qualities (Schneider and Bos Citation2014). However, this image doesn’t emerge in our information: later within the textual content exhibits that feminine politicians are attributed each, extra stereotypical qualities and extra stereotypes about coverage fields than male politicians.
9. While H3 and H4 theoretically stress the actual fact to be totally different relying on the extent of the political workplace, H1 and H2 ought to maintain no matter the extent of political workplace. In the course of this research, we’re nevertheless solely able to testing results on the nationwide stage, subsequently, all hypotheses goal at national-level results.
10. In worldwide comparability, feminine illustration within the Council of States is thus nonetheless beneath the European common of 29.1% in higher chambers (UN Women Citation2020).
11. As the Cantons of Jura and Neuchâtel elect their representatives for the Council of States in a proportional illustration system, their elections focus extra on the events than on the candidates. Therefore, we determined to exclude observations from these two cantons from our analyses.
12. Own calculations based mostly on information from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) and the calculation technique in line with Ladner (Citation2004, 67–96).
13. The panel consists of three waves, which have been performed from May to December 2019, beginning off with about 7,900 respondents within the first wave and ending with round 4,700 respondents within the final wave. We make use of variables from all three waves.
14. These are the cantons Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Glarus, the Canton of Solothurn and Schaffhausen.
15. We do that manually and based mostly on our personal analysis of the candidates’ title, as that is the way in which the voters most probably assessed the candidates’ gender, too. We acknowledge that our evaluation of a candidate’s gender won’t be according to their self-identification. However, stereotypes are activated based mostly on a voter’s notion of the candidates and never based mostly on the candidates’ self-identification. This is why we go for this operationalization.
16. These stereotypes correlate to some extent with correlations between 0.246 (male subject stereotypes and feminine trait stereotypes) and 0.5355 (male trait stereotypes and feminine trait stereotypes). Nevertheless, stereotypes could be thought of as separate variables with these ranges of correlation.
17. In the literature, migration is usually coded as a male coverage stereotype (Dolan Citation2014a, Citation2014b; Dolan and Lynch Citation2016; Fridkin, Kenney, and Serignese Woodall Citation2009; Sanbonmatsu and Dolan Citation2009). Our empirical evaluation nevertheless confirmed that 15.8% of respondents considered migration as a feminine coverage subject, whereas solely 13.2% of respondents considered it as a male coverage subject. Therefore, we determined to not use migration for both of the 2 coverage stereotypes. A separate evaluation of migration stereotypes on vote selection for a girl candidate could be present in Table A2 within the appendix. We discover that individuals who imagine migration to be a male coverage subject are much less prone to elect a lady candidate, though this impact diminishes considerably when including the management variables. People who imagine migration to be a feminine coverage subject, however, are neither much less nor extra prone to elect a lady candidate.
18. We repeat our evaluation with a stricter coding of gender stereotypes, by which solely“no distinction” counts as no gender stereotypes whereas respondents with inverse stereotypes (i.e. answering“man” for feminine stereotypes and“lady” for male stereotypes) have been excluded from the evaluation. Results (obtainable upon request) stay considerably the identical, nevertheless, in some circumstances the extent of statistical significance diminishes barely.
19. We code the political left-right placement of the party of the candidate utilizing the Manifesto Project Database (Lehmann et al. Citation2022). However, this dataset solely incorporates a coding of the 11 largest of a complete of 31 events to which the candidates within the survey belong. Due to the ensuing missingness, the cantons of Basel-Stadt and the Canton of Schwyz are excluded from our information set. Together with the exclusion of Jura and Neuchâtel as a result of their electoral system in addition to Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Glarus, the Canton of Solothurn and Schaffhausen as a result of their lack of feminine candidates, this leaves us with 18 cantons to investigate. To evaluate whether or not the excluded cantons are essentially totally different from the cantons that stay in our pattern, Figure A3 within the appendix depicts the distribution of gender stereotypes within the excluded cantons. Comparing this graph with exhibits that gender stereotypes are distributed very equally within the two teams, which signifies that the exclusion of those eight cantons is unlikely to systematically bias our outcomes.
