Women aren’t seen as leaders

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

In 2012, the number of women serving in the U.S. Senate reached a historic high: 20 out of 100. And so we continue to debate about the low representation of women in political office. Some argue that women are unsuited for political office because they’re naturally less assertive and dominant than men. Others claim that women are better suited for modern leadership roles because they’re more compassionate than their male peers. But a new study suggests that the public doesn’t associate female politicians with stereotypically feminine qualities.

In “Measuring Stereotypes of Female Politicians,” published in Political Psychology this month, Monica Schneider and Angela Bos surveyed a group of students about the traits they associate with women in general and female politicians specifically. They found that while over 90 percent of respondents described women as feminine, emotional, motherly and beautiful, they were far less likely to associate female politicians with those traits. Female politicians didn’t even benefit from those stereotypes like compassion and sensitivity that are often cited as potential advantages for women in office.

You’d think that “leader” would be a defining characteristic for any politician, but only 39 percent of participants described female politicians with that term; 93 percent of them described male politicians that way. Women in politics were more likely to be described as “uptight” and “dictatorial.”

Schneider and Bos suggest that “despite gains in the percentage of politicians who are female, there may still not be enough women in office for voters to form a consensus of stereotypical qualities.” But the utter mismatch between stereotypes of women in general and stereotypes of women in office also speaks to Americans’ begrudging acceptance of this very low level of women in power. Changing that would require us to actually see female leaders as . . . leaders.

Editorial, Pages 16 on 06/19/2013