Media Discrimination and Gender Differences in Political Ambition in a Laboratory Experiment

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10659129211046890
• Published date: 01 December 2022
• Date: 01 December 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Political Research Quarterly

2022, Vol. 75(4) 1158–1172

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/10659129211046890

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Media Discrimination and Gender

Differences in Political Ambition in a

Laboratory Experiment

Amanda Haraldsson

1



Abstract

Very littleresearch has consideredhow media discrimination could impact men and women’s political ambition. Yet, media

discrimination could impact both beliefs about gender roles and political competence, and beliefs about voter bias, both of

which coulddecrease women’s political ambition and increase men’s. Alternatively, media discrimination could lead women

to react against discrimination and be motivated politically. This study tests how political ambition of men and women is

impactedby media discrimination in a campaign and electionlab experiment.Media discriminationin this experimentunder-

reports on women and uses traditional, stereotypical depictions of men and women. The results suggest that in certain

conditions, media discrimination in political news may lead to a reactance or positive challenge effect for women, increasing

their political ambition. Men, instead, may feel an aversion to entering politics, lowering their political ambition.

Keywords

political ambition, media discrimination, laboratory experiment, gender difference, reactance effect

Introduction

Women in politics are often shown via a gendered lens in

media; for example, female politicians are underreported

on and are more likely to have their political abilities

questioned (Van der Pas and Aaldering 2020). Some

literature suggests this gendered coverage will impact

how voters evaluate women in politics and therefore

decrease the demand for female politicians (Bauer 2015;

Heldman and Wade 2011;Kahn 1992). The results are

ambiguous as other studies f‌ind demand is not impacted

by media (Dolan 2014;Hayes 2011). Yet, almost no

studies have considered whether media depiction of

women could impact the supply side of women’s political

representation.

It is well established that a gender gap in political

ambition is one signif‌icant cause of women’s lower po-

litical representation (Kanthak and Woon 2015;Lawless

and Fox 2010;Moore 2005). Political ambition refers to

the initial interest an individual has in pursuing a political

career (nascent political ambition), which may or may not

eventually lead to taking steps to enter political compe-

tition (expressive political ambition) (Lawless and Fox

2010). The idea that women’s lower political ambition

compared to men’s is caused by their own def‌iciencies in

conf‌idence or skills has been recently criticised as a

misinterpretation of the political ambition gender gap

(Piscopo 2019). Following this line of thinking, this study

investigates whether there is an inf‌luence of media dis-

crimination on men and women’s political ambition,

which could impact the gender gap. Media discrimination

is here def‌ined as the unequal media depiction of indi-

viduals based on (perceived) group belonging.

Some political ambition experts have suggested that

media’s depiction of women could play a role in the

gender gap in political ambition (Lawless 2009;Pruysers

and Blais 2017), but only one study has tested this re-

lationship directly: Pruysers, Thomas and Blais (2020)

test how gendered media coverage impacts men and

women’s political ambition in an online experiment,

f‌inding that exposure to media that sexualises female

candidates or over-emphasises female candidates’family

role does not impact women’s political ambition, but

1

Department of Political and Social Sciences, European University

Institute, Fiesole, FI, Italy

Corresponding Author:

Amanda Haraldsson, Department of Political and Social Sciences,

European University Institute, Via della Badia dei Roccettini, 9, Fiesole,

50014 FI, Italy.

Email: amanda.haraldsson@eui.eu