Women against Putin: Gendered Security Threats and Female Representation

• In Event: Russian Disinformation Activities

Abstract

Do female candidates have electoral advantages or disadvantages during times of crisis or security threats vis-à-vis their male counterparts? Extant studies suggest that security threats pose electoral disadvantages to female candidates and thus lower female representation in high politics because the security and military arena is male-dominated and associated with masculine attributes. Nonetheless, female candidates may gain electoral advantages conditional on the nature of the security threats they confront. I argue that ‘gendered’ security threats, weaponizing gender stereotypes to justify one’s aggression and discredit the adversary, can create unique electoral advantages for female candidates. Facing a gendered security threat, female candidates tend to respond more swiftly to the threat because of gender-based fears and personal anger, motivating them to discard pragmatism. Once they adopt a hawkish stance, they are better positioned to establish themselves as the antithesis of their hypermasculine adversary, consequently garnering greater public support. Their male counterparts, in the absence of gender-based threat perception and personal anger, are slower to adjust their foreign policy stance and thus face electoral disadvantages.
I test the hypothesis by focusing on the repercussions of Russia’s gendered security threat directed at the post-communist space. Domestically, Putin has cultivated a cult of personality underpinned by macho overtones and staged masculinity. This gendered scenario of power extends into Russia’s foreign policy, exemplified by the Crimean Annexation and the invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s geopolitical aggression is intertwined with misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia. Putin consistently depicts Russia as a strong, rational, and trustworthy man while portraying the West as either a weak and decadent woman or an effeminate man. In this dichotomy, the post-communist states are positioned as women or divorced wives to be reclaimed and protected by Russia. Further, accentuating Russia’s right to defend traditional values, Putin denounces the West’s gender equality and feminism for causing instability or sexual pathology. While the gendered dimension of Russia’s aggression has been widely acknowledged, its impact on elections and female candidates in post-communist states remains underexplored. With an original dataset on female executive leaders in the post-communist space facing Russia’s gendered security threat, I find that there has been a discernible rise in the number of elected female executive leaders after the Crimean Annexation. I further substantiate the causal relationship through a case study of the 2014 Lithuanian presidential election, exploring how female candidates accrue electoral advantages when the most pressing external threat to their country is cloaked in gendered and sexist discourse.
While most extant studies focus on the (dis)advantages female executive leaders face once they are in office, I broaden the scope of analysis to the electoral advantages female candidates vying for power may experience amidst gendered security threats. Especially in light of the current global rise of hypermasculine autocrats, this research holds particular significance for both contemporary academic discourse and foreign policy debates.

Author

• Woojeong Jang, University of Groningen