Who supports (opposes) gender equality policies, and can policy-framing and endorsement-cues make a difference? Experimental evidence from 27 EU-countries

Who supports gender equality policy, and how does this support depend on the framing of the policy? Different gender equality policies are currently politicized in various democracies. We fielded two vignette experiments across 27 EU countries to test who is most (least) likely to support two hypothetical gender equality policies: Gender quotas in politics, and school reforms for less gender-stereotypical teaching. Applying realistic threat theory and the literature on cue-taking to the case of gender equality theory, we manipulate whether the policies are described as: a) promoting material vs. symbolic gender equality, b) benefiting only women vs. everyone, c) supported by experts vs. a majority of the population, and d) endorsed by left- vs. right-wing political parties. Preliminary results reveal partly gendered trade-offs in policy support: Some policy framings appeal to women but deter men, and vice versa. Further, the proposed school reform provokes more strongly polarizing effects than the proposed gender quotas in politics. The policy support patterns by population group differ by the proposed gender equality policy, suggesting that different gender equality policies yield different patterns of support and opposition in the population. Our findings carry implications for the study of gender attitudes and policy support.