By the Looks of Her She is not Credible: Sanna Marin and Fashion’s Influence on Credibility

This paper examines former Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s fashions as a way to explore whether women politicians in Western democracies must approximate an “old-guard” approach to politics by embracing normative masculinity in fashion and behavior in order to bolster their credibility as political leaders. We employ a least likely case analysis of Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s tenure (2019-2023). We find that even in a nation known for high levels of gender egalitarianism, and despite support from an emerging “new guard” of young, progressive, and social media savvy citizens, women politicians are not immune to gendered attacks on their credibility when they dress and act as women. The old guard of white, men politicians overtly critiqued Marin’s fashion choices and youthful behavior in order to question her credibility.