Going Feminine: Identifying How and When Female Candidates Emphasize Feminine and Masculine Traits on the Campaign Trail

• Author: Nichole M. Bauer,Martina Santia
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10659129211020257
• Published date: 01 September 2022
• Date: 01 September 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/10659129211020257

Political Research Quarterly

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DOI: 10.1177/10659129211020257

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Hillary Clinton’s historic presidential campaign in 2016

generated extensive discussion about the role of gender in

politics. For example, commentators repeatedly criticized

Clinton for failing to smile more during a serious policy

discussion. But when Clinton smiled, pundits quickly

decided she should smile less. Clinton is not the only

female leader to receive gendered criticisms. The day

after Elizabeth Warren announced her candidacy for the

2020 Democratic presidential nomination, online news

outlet Politico published an article declaring that Warren

will have to battle the likability factor if she projects too

much confidence on the campaign trail. These criticisms

illustrate the unique tension female political candidates

face that stems from gender stereotypes (Dittmar 2015).

Feminine stereotypes characterize women, in general, as

caring and compassionate, and voters stereotype men, in

general, as tough and aggressive (Prentice and Carranza

2002). Masculine stereotypes map onto stereotypes about

political leaders (Conroy 2015; Huddy and Terkildsen

1993), but voters do not see female candidates as having

masculine qualities (Bauer 2015; Schneider and Bos

2014). If female candidates display masculine qualities,

such as showing a stern image, they face attacks for being

too masculine and not feminine enough (Falk 2010;

Jamieson 1995; Lawrence and Rose 2010).

Extant scholarship offers conflicting conclusions about

the types of traits female candidates should emphasize in

campaign messages (Iyengar, Valentino, and Ansolabehere

1996) and the traits female candidates actually emphasize

in messages (Dolan 2014; Schneider 2014a). One strand

of scholarship finds that female candidates highlight qual-

ities consistent with feminine stereotypes (Schneider

2014a), while another line of inquiry finds that female

candidates highlight masculine qualities more than femi-

nine qualities (Sapiro et al. 2011). These methods do not

consider how female candidates develop campaign strate-

gies that integrate both feminine and masculine approaches

into a single message (see, for example, Dolan 2014;

Schneider and Bos 2014; for an exception, see Carpinella

1020257PRQXXX10.1177/10659129211020257Political Research QuarterlyBauer and Santia

research-article2021

1Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA

Corresponding Author:

Nichole M. Bauer, Department of Political Science, Manship School

of Mass Communication, Louisiana State University, 240 Stubbs Hall,

Baton Rouge, LA 70808, USA.

Email: nbauer4@lsu.edu

Going Feminine: Identifying How and

When Female Candidates Emphasize

Feminine and Masculine Traits on

the Campaign Trail

Nichole M. Bauer1 and Martina Santia1

Abstract

Female candidates face a messaging challenge. There is a strong association between masculinity and political leadership.

Stressing masculinity can result in a likability backlash for female candidates often seen as lacking feminine qualities,

such as warmth. Preventing a likability backlash by highlighting feminine qualities can also harm female candidates.

Current scholarship offers conflicting conclusions about how female candidates balance these gendered challenges.

We fill this empirical and theoretical gap with a trait-balancing theory clarifying how and when female candidates

use feminine and masculine traits to manage competing expectations. We use original data merging information on

candidate advertising strategies across three election cycles. We show that female candidates strategically balance

masculine and feminine stereotypes in ways that often differ from their male counterparts but also differ based on

female candidate partisanship and incumbency. These results are consequential because they highlight how female

candidates manage gendered pressures in campaign strategies, which can affect their ability to win elections and,

ultimately, women’s representation in government.

Keywords

female candidates, campaign advertising, gender stereotypes, partisan stereotypes

2022, Vol. 75(3) 691–705

Article