Do Women Candidates Play to Gender Stereotypes? Do Men Candidates Play to Women? Candidate Sex and Issues Priorities on Campaign Websites

• Date: 01 March 2005
• Published date: 01 March 2005
• Author: Kathleen Dolan
• DOI: 10.1177/106591290505800103
• Subject Matter: Articles

Even though women candidates are becoming more

common in American politics, how they are per-

ceived by voters is often an open question. One thing

that research does show clearly is that the public often sees

women candidates through the lens of gender stereotypes.

Women candidates are thought to be more compassionate

and honest than men, while men are viewed as stronger

leaders and better decisionmakers (Alexander and Andersen

1993; Huddy and Terkildsen 1993; King and Matland

2000; Koch 1999). In terms of issues, the public tends to

see women as more liberal than men, more interested in

issues that affect women, children, education, and health,

and less focused on issues such as business, the economy,

and foreign affairs (Brown, Heighberger, and Shocket 1993;

Kahn 1992; McDermott 1998). The focus of this research is

to examine whether women candidates for Congress con-

tribute to these impressions by campaigning on a set of

issues that conform to these gender-based stereotypes. For

this purpose, an analysis of the campaign websites of

women and men candidates for the U.S. House of Repre-

sentatives and Senate in 2000 and 2002 will be employed.

THE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF STEREOTYPES

While demonstrating that voters employ these gender-

based stereotypes is relatively straightforward, evaluating

their impact is less clear. Indeed, use of these stereotypes

can cut both ways for women candidates, leaving them to

face what Jamieson (1995) refers to as a “double bind.”

Generally, work on women candidates has shown that

voters favor more “male” traits in their elected leaders,

which may lead them to choose men candidates over

women (Huddy and Terkildsen 1993). But, in 1992, the

outsider status of many women candidates actually worked

in their favor, as many voters who were fed up with politi-

cal incumbents chose women, whom they perceived as

more honest and concerned about the public good.

Issue stereotypes can work the same way. Analysts of

congressional elections point to the elections of 1990 and

1992 as examples of how vote choice can depend on which

issues the public values at the time of the election. In 1990,

as the U.S. prepared for the Gulf War, foreign affairs, a set of

issues on which women candidates are given little credibil-

ity, were central to political discourse. In 1992, however,

when a record number of women were elected to the House

and Senate, domestic issues had surged to the fore. While

not the sole explanation for the increase in women elected

to Congress in 1992, it is clear that voters who were con-

cerned with these issues were more likely to choose women

candidates, perhaps because these voters assumed women

would give them more attention (Dolan 1998).

Because of the complexities involved in the public’s per-

ception of women candidates, decisions about how to pres-

ent themselves to voters can be tricky for these women.

Running “as a woman” and playing to the stereotypes the

public holds can work in their favor when these attributes

are valued by the public. Indeed, recent research demon-

strates that women candidates who campaign on traditional

women’s issues and target women voters can reap an elec-

toral benefit (Herrnson, Lay, and Stokes 2003). But, in some

circumstances, women candidates can run the risk of being

seen as ineffectual and only interested in women’s issues

under these same gender-based stereotypes (Larson 2001;

Witt, Paget, and Matthews 1994). This situation is com-

pounded by the role the media play in presenting candi-

dates to the public. There is an extensive body of work that

indicates that the media employ the same sorts of gender-

based stereotypes in covering women candidates that the

public does (Bystrom, Robertson, and Banwart 2001; Devitt

31

Do Women Candidates Play to Gender Stereotypes?

Do Men Candidates Play to Women?

Candidate Sex and Issues Priorities on Campaign Websites

KATHLEEN DOLAN, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN–MILWAUKEE

While previous research indicates that voters hold gender-based stereotypes of women and men candidates for

elected office, the degree to which candidate actions contribute to these views is less well known. The research

reported here attempts to determine whether candidates appeal to gender-based stereotypes by choosing to

campaign on issues that are in line with voter expectations. Specifically, it examines whether women candi-

dates for Congress in 2000 and 2002 presented campaign issues that were different from those presented by

their male opponents and whether these issues conform to expected gender stereotypes, and then compares

these findings to that of a men-only race comparison group. Content analysis of campaign web sites is

employed to examine the campaign images presented by these candidates. Contrary to assumptions, women

in 2000 and 2002 did not focus their issue priorities on a set of gender-stereotyped issues, but instead cam-

paigned on a set of topics that were similar to those of their male opponents.

Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 58, No. 1 (March 2005): 31-44

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