Role Models or Partisan Models? The Effect of Prominent Women Officeholders

Abstract

Women remain underrepresented in electoral politics compared to their share of the population. Using an original dataset spanning 1975–2019, we examine whether the presence of women in prominent political office leads to an increase in the number of women serving in state legislatures. We define prominence in two ways: the total number of women elected to statewide office and the length of a state’s history of electing women. We find that the prominence effect diverges by party. The election of prominent Democratic women leads to an increase in the proportion of Democratic women state legislators, while the election of Republican women leads to a decrease in the proportion of Republican women state legislators. Rather than serving as role models for women of both parties to enter the political pipeline, electing more women to prominent office is contributing to a greater representational gap between the parties in state legislatures.

When Push Comes to Shove: An Experimental Analysis of Voter Support of a Woman President and the 2024 Nomination

“…Given prior research on party affiliation and gender stereotypes (Sanbonmatsu & Dolan, 2009), we believed offering a single woman candidate to be the best way to assess how theoretical support for a woman presidential candidate manifests into tangible support within a Republican primary. Our experiment is asymmetrical in design in order to reflect the asymmetric nature of the parties relating to the gender gap and treatment of women candidates (Crowder-Meyer & Cooperman, 2018; Elder, 2021; Manento & Schenk, 2021). Former-Ambassador Haley was the only woman appearing across rankings (Blake, 2022; Cillizza, 2022a; Stanage, 2022).…”

Women Grab Back: Exclusion, Policy Threat, and Women’s Political Ambition

“…Other studies from the US, however, yield mixed or null results. Manento and Schenk (2021) find support for role model effects for Democratic women, but find the opposite effect among Republicans. Using a regression discontinuity design, Broockman (2014) notes that contrary to prevailing expectations, the election of women to US state legislatures has no effect on other women’s candidacies.…”

“…Focusing on the US from 1978 to 2012, Ladam, Harden, and Windett (2018) show that the presence of women governors and senators is positively associated with the emergence of new women candidates for state legislatures. This role model effect is most pronounced among Democratic women (Bonneau and Kanthak 2020;Manento and Schenk 2021;Mariani, Marshall, and Mathews-Schultz 2015). Work examining the use of role models in campaign trainings for women also points to the positive effects of "presenting women who are perceived to be both strong and successful[…] in politics" and who "inspire confidence that their success is achievable" (Sweet-Cushman 2018).…”