Why Do Young Men Oppose Gender Quotas? Group Threat and Backlash to Legislative Gender Quotas

Abstract

Despite increasing efforts to implement legislative gender quotas, many countries still encounter substantial popular opposition to this policy. Previous work cannot explain why opposition to legislative gender quotas persists, particularly among young men, a group believed to be open to diversity. We develop and test a theoretical framework linking group threat to men's attitudes toward legislative gender quotas. While the salience of perceived group threat could trigger men's opposition to legislative gender quotas, we expect that this effect will be more profound among young men due to the heightened degree of economic insecurity experienced by younger generations. Using original survey experiments in South Korea, this study demonstrates the strong influence of group threat in the formation of negative attitudes toward legislative gender quotas among young men. These effects, however, are not mediated by traditional gender norms. Our findings have significant implications for the study of gender and politics and democratic representation.

Adopting a gender quota policy in Qatar: a path to gender equity

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We see symbols but not saviors: Women's representation and the political attitudes of working‐class women

“…However, the recent trend of de-industrialization, which has resulted in a decline in manual jobs and enhanced economic insecurity, has created a sense of social alienation and devaluation among working-class men by weakening their positions as breadwinners (Atkinson et al, 2012;McDowell, 2019). This characteristic could make working-class men more sensitive to status threats from women (Edwards, 2006;Kim & Kweon, 2022), making women's representation in politics have greater negative impacts on their political efficacy than on high-skilled men. Nevertheless, the linkage between descriptive and substantive representation is stronger for women voters, resulting in a weaker conditioning effect of women's representation for working-class men.…”

“…However, the recent trend of de‐industrialization, which has resulted in a decline in manual jobs and enhanced economic insecurity, has created a sense of social alienation and devaluation among working‐class men by weakening their positions as breadwinners (Atkinson et al., 2012; McDowell, 2019). This characteristic could make working‐class men more sensitive to status threats from women (Edwards, 2006; Kim & Kweon, 2022), making women's representation in politics have greater negative impacts on their political efficacy than on high‐skilled men. Nevertheless, the linkage between descriptive and substantive representation is stronger for women voters, resulting in a weaker conditioning effect of women's representation for working‐class men.Hypothesis Women's representation in parliament positively impacts the external efficacy of women voters.Hypothesis Women workers with low occupational status have lower external political efficacy than those in nonmarginalized sectors when women's representation in parliament is high.Hypothesis Women's political representation has little impact on the external efficacy of men.Hypothesis The external political efficacy of men with low occupational status is not conditioned by women's representation in parliament.…”