Breaking the Mould: Examining the Link between Gender Role Attitudes and Political Gender Stereotypes across 28 European Countries

Political gender stereotypes shape our beliefs and attitudes about women in politics: Women are seen as less politically knowledgeable, competent, and ambitious; and female politicians are thought to be less effective political leaders and less competent in traditionally male policy fields, such as economy or defence. The impact of these beliefs is well documented: Political gender stereotypes can shape individual voting decisions, affect party lists, and even influence women’s own political ambitions and their decision to run for office. Thus, they contribute to women’s underrepresentation in politics. Despite this negative impact, political gender stereotypes are not yet well understood, particularly their relation to broader gender role attitudes. Although researchers often assume that both sets of attitudes are influenced by the same factors, and strongly and directly associated, this is rarely assessed empirically. In this paper, I explore the relationship between general gender role attitudes and political gender stereotypes and argue that the strength of the association varies—depending on the nature of the stereotype (on male/female traits or competencies) and across countries. Specifically, I argue that gender role attitudes are a better predictor of gender stereotypes about competencies than character traits: In other words, individuals holding progressive gender roles are less likely to believe that women are less politically capable than men, but they might still view female politicians as more compassionate. Second, I suggest that the strength of the association between gender role attitudes and political gender stereotypes varies across countries, as contextual factors, such as women’s political representation, and media coverage of female politicians, exert a moderating effect. I test these hypotheses empirically through a set of multilevel models with cross-level interactions. Utilising Eurobarometer data, which includes standard indicators of gender role attitudes as well as a unique set of items on political gender stereotypes and over 28,000 observations from 28 European countries, this study contributes to the literature by providing a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between general gender role attitudes and political gender stereotypes both within and between countries.