Do Voters Punish Women Politicians More?

• In Event: The Selection and Retention of Politicians of and by Underrepresented Groups

Abstract

Despite a rich literature on gender stereotypes, few studies consider whether voters reward/punish women
politicians differently than their men counterparts for their policy records. To study this question, we
conducted a conjoint survey experiment with a quota-based nationally representative sample of 1,495
American citizens. The experiment focuses on electing one of two hypothetical councillors (keeping their
political experience constant) to become a mayor. We find that voters do not penalize women politicians
more for breaking campaign promises. In fact, they are at least as likely to reward women politicians for
keeping their promises compared to men politicians. This is true across genders and political parties. Our
results have implications for the gender and politics and representation literatures.

Authors

• Semra Sevi, University of Toronto

• Charles David Crabtree, Dartmouth College

• André Blais, University of Montreal