The Qualifications Gap
Why Women Must Be Better than Men to Win Political Office

Women need to be significantly more qualified than men to win political office.

Nichole M. Bauer (Author)

9781108818896, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 30 July 2020

232 pages, 23 b/w illus. 21 tables
22.8 x 15.1 x 1.9 cm, 0.35 kg

'Her work here offers a potential framework for scholars studying intersectionality and voter bias in elections and represents an important contribution to the women and politics literature.' Carrie Skulley, American Politics

What does it take for women to win political office? This book uncovers a gendered qualifications gap, showing that women need to be significantly more qualified than men to win elections. Applying insights from psychology and political science and drawing on experiments, public opinion data, and content analysis, Nichole M. Bauer presents new evidence of how voter biases and informational asymmetries combine to disadvantage female candidates. The book shows that voters conflate masculinity and political leadership, receive less information about the political experiences of female candidates, and hold female candidates to a higher qualifications standard. This higher standard is especially problematic for Republican female candidates. The demand for masculinity in political leaders means these women must “look like men” but also be better than men to win elections.

1. The gendered qualification gap
2. Fomenting a gender rebellion
3. No place for women
4. A gendered information gap
5. Do voters expect women to be better than men? 6. Different parties, different standards
7. Gender bias, disrupted
8. The future is female
Appendices
References.

Subject Areas: Election law [LNDS], Elections & referenda [JPHF], Social, group or collective psychology [JMH], Gender studies, gender groups [JFSJ], History of the Americas [HBJK]