The Qualifications Gap

Why Women Must Be Better than Men to Win Political Office

• Author(s): Nichole M. Bauer,
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Pages: 230
• ISBN_10: 1108836321
  ISBN_13: 9781108836326
  
• Language: en
• Categories: History / Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies) , Law / Election Law , Political Science / Political Process / Campaigns & Elections , Political Science / American Government / General , Psychology / Social Psychology , Social Science / Sociology / General , Social Science / Gender Studies ,

Description:... "This book examines how ideas about gender affect who voters see as qualified to serve in political office, and how these gendered perceptions of qualifications limit the success of female candidates. Voters want political candidates who follow the "conventional male pipeline" into political office, but this is a pipeline that formally and informally excludes women. The demand for masculinity means these women must "look like men," but be "better than men" to win elections. I show that the association between masculinity and political qualifications limits the success of women in elections through the news coverage women receive and the ways voters make decisions about female candidates. Through an original analysis of candidate websites and campaign news coverage, I show that voters are less likely to have information about the political experiences of female candidates. Using a series of experiments, I show that voters hold female candidates to a significantly higher qualification standard, and these higher standards are particularly problematic for Republican women. Representing the interests of constituents requires highly skilled, experienced, and qualified lawmakers-and many times, female candidates are more qualified than male candidates. Voters are simply not selecting highly qualified women"--