Status Incongruity and Backlash against Female Legislators: How Legislative Speechmaking Benefits Men, but Harms Women

• Author: T. Murat Yildirim,Yuksel Alper Ecevit,Gülnur Kocapınar
• DOI: 10.1177/1065912919861443
• Date: 01 March 2021
• Published date: 01 March 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912919861443

Political Research Quarterly

2021, Vol. 74(1) 35 –45

© 2019 University of Utah

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DOI: 10.1177/1065912919861443

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Article

Introduction

Research on gender stereotypes in the workplace has doc-

umented considerable evidence that men and women are

held to different standards when competence and leader-

ship are evaluated (Brescoll 2016; Eagly and Carli 2007;

Eagly and Karau 2002; Heilman 2001). This is mainly

because men and women are typically thought to have

different defining characteristics (Abele 2003; Bakan

1966; Diekman and Eagly 2000); while men are likely to

be characterized in agentic terms such as dominance,

ambition, achievement orientation, and assertiveness,

women are typically thought to have communal qualities

such as collaboration, friendliness, and emotional sensi-

tivity (Williams and Best 1990). Because agentic quali-

ties are stereotypically regarded as a prerequisite for

effective leadership (Eagly and Karau 2002; Schein

2001), these well-established gender stereotypes “pro-

mote negative expectations about a women’s perfor-

mance by creating a perceived ‘lack of fit’ between the

attributes women are thought to possess and the attributes

thought necessary for success in traditionally male posi-

tions” (Heilman 2012, 114).

Earlier work in political science research showed that

women officeholders are less likely to be evaluated as

effective and capable political leaders due in part to “fam-

ily responsibilities” and “hyperemotionalism” (Mezey

1978, 496–98; also see Kirkpatrick 1974). Elite surveys

with Hawaiian state and local officeholders, for instance,

revealed that the great majority of female legislators

complain about sexism and bias against them by male

representatives (Mezey 1978, 498). However, although

effective leadership is typically perceived to require qual-

ities associated with masculinity and agency, women in

leadership positions who disconfirm gender stereotypes

by displaying such qualities are disliked and face eco-

nomic and social penalties (Brescoll 2011, 2016; Heilman

861443PRQXXX10.1177/1065912919861443Political Research QuarterlyYildirim et al.

research-article2019

1University of Stavanger, Norway

2Sabancı University, Istanbul, Turkey

3Cukurova University, Adana, Turkey

Corresponding Author:

T. Murat Yildirim, Department of Media and Social Sciences,

University of Stavanger, Kjell Arholmsgate 41, Stavanger 4036,

Norway.

Email: murat.yildirim@uis.no

Status Incongruity and Backlash

against Female Legislators: How

Legislative Speechmaking Benefits

Men, but Harms Women

T. Murat Yildirim1, Gülnur Kocapınar2, and Yuksel Alper Ecevit3

Abstract

The literature on nomination procedures and intra-party politics shows that engagement in personalized parliamentary

activities helps legislators get re-elected and promoted in the party list. However, as a considerable body of scholarly

work suggests, women in leadership positions who are perceived to disconfirm the well-known gender stereotypes

by being “too assertive” and “agentic” in the workplace may suffer from what social psychologists call the “backlash

effect” (i.e., facing economic and social sanctions). Integrating insights from the literatures on perceptions of female

leadership and intra-party politics, we reveal the differential effect of legislative speechmaking on the career prospects

of male and female members of parliament (MPs). Specifically, using an original dataset of over thirty-five thousand

parliamentary speeches and the biographies of 2,140 MPs who served in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey

between 1995 and 2011, we show that the well-documented positive effect of engagement in parliamentary activities

on career prospects holds for male MPs, but not for their female counterparts. In fact, we found that female MPs who

were active on the legislative floor were significantly less likely to get renominated and promoted in the party rank.

These results imply that the challenges facing women in leadership positions go beyond electoral competition.

Keywords

gender stereotypes, backlash effect, intra-party politics, parliament, renomination