Not All Issues Are Equal: The Role of an Issue and Trait-Based Gender Stereotypes in the Evaluation of Politicians

Gender stereotypes have been identified as an essential factor influencing the public’s attitudes towards politicians. While some research suggests that gender stereotypes about women are harmful to women politicians, some studies indicate that women politicians can benefit from being perceived through feminine stereotypes. Research has recently identified that stereotypes related to political issues may have different effects than stereotypes based on personality traits. Our study further enhances the research on gender stereotypes in politics by assessing the interaction of issues and traits in the evaluation of politicians. Using a population survey experiment in Slovakia (N = 2,009), we explore whether the information about the gender non/stereotypical traits of politicians in the context of gender non/stereotypical issues has a different effect on the evaluation of men vs women politicians. We find that traits of political officials trigger gender stereotypes among voters. A key result is that evaluation of political representatives based on their gender, traits and issues depends on the extent of stereotypes in the society. We find that voters who agree with traditional division of gender roles penalize women in politics and vice versa. This penalty applies to women candidates providing they either adopt masculine traits or aim to succeed in a traditional masculine portfolio. Similar findings apply to perceived suitability for a parliamentary office. While men candidates are evaluated equally suitable for an MP office among all groups of voters, the same applies to women only if their portfolio matches with their traits. Our paper thus shows that women in politics are more likely to face a penalty by voters based on the issues they specialize in and the traits they adopt.