Misperceptions of Male Bias Against Female Candidates
An Obstacle to Women’s Political Representation?
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24226969 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Carolyn Barnett (0000-0003-2108-0866), Alexandra Domike Blackman (0000-0002-4542-1904), Marwa Shalaby (0000-0002-2094-1110) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-10-15 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Political Behavior (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0190-9320 • E-ISSN: 1573-6687 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11109-026-10194-z |
| OpenAlex | W7222146689 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 74 |
Do people believe that others in their community prefer male to female political candidates? To what extent is that perceived bias actually misperceived , and who do people view as the most biased? Perceived gender norms often diverge from actual levels of support for gender equality globally, particularly among men. These (mis)perceptions, often stemming from pluralistic ignorance, may undermine women’s political ambition and access to political power. In a nationally representative survey of Moroccans, we embed a conjoint experiment that asks respondents to identify not only the candidates they personally prefer but also the candidates they perceive male and female voters as preferring. We find no evidence of pro-male bias in respondents’ own preferences. We do find that respondents perceive that men are biased in favor of men and that women are biased in favor of women. We also find that men express greater personal bias against female candidates when they are primed to think first about others’ preferences.
Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Gender Politics and Representation
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The Qualifications Gap
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Strategic Voting Under Proportional Representation
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Misperceived Social Norms
Unpacking “Gender Ideology” and the Global Right’s Antigender Countermovement
Rethinking the ambition gap
The social and psychological characteristics of norm deviants
The Instrumentalization of Women Opposition Leaders for Authoritarian Regime Entrenchment
Gender, race, and political ambition
Sustainable representation of women through gender quotas
On Political Misogyny
The dynamic nature of social norms
And If the Opponents of Gender Ideology Are Right? Gender Politics, Europeanization, and the Democratic Deficit
Uncovering the Origins of the Gender Gap in Political Ambition
Not-So-Individual Voting
Punishment or Reward? An Experiment on the Effects of Sex and Gender Issues on Candidate Choice
Do Women and Men Know Different Things? Measuring Gender Differences in Political Knowledge
Gender Stereotypes in Autocracies
Inaccurate Politicians
What Have We Learned about Gender from Candidate Choice Experiments? A Meta-Analysis of Sixty-Seven Factorial Survey Experiments
Public Beliefs About the Beliefs of the Public
Pluralistic Ignorance and the Spiral of Silence
Pluralistic Ignorance and White Estimates of White Support for Racial Segregation
Pluralistic Ignorance-A Replication and Extension
What Explains Low Female Political Representation? Evidence from Survey Experiments in Japan
Do Women Politicians Know More about Women’s Policy Preferences? Evidence from Canada
When Gender and Party Collide
Voting in a Multi-dimensional Space
Gender Stereotypes, Candidate Evaluations, and Voting for Women Candidates
Do Voters Judge the Performance of Female and Male Politicians Differently? Experimental Evidence from the United States and Australia
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Revisiting the Gender Gap in Political Knowledge
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The Gendered Politics of Congressional Elections
The Contingent Effects of Candidate Sex on Voter Choice
Causal Inference in Conjoint Analysis
Does Conjoint Analysis Mitigate Social Desirability Bias
Strategic Discrimination
A Non-Gendered Lens? Media, Voters, and Female Candidates in Contemporary Congressional Elections
How Autocrats Weaponize Women's Rights
Democracy and the Adoption of Electoral Gender Quotas Worldwide
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Who Supports Gender Quotas in Transitioning and Authoritarian States in the Middle East and North Africa
Women’s Rights and Misperceived Gender Norms Under Authoritarianism
Well-Behaved Women
The Global Impact of Quotas
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Compulsory voting increases men's turnout most
Pluralistic ignorance and alcohol use on campus
Knowing and Caring about Politics
Intervening to Change Social Norms
The Ties That Double Bind
Female Representation and Legitimacy
Bias in Perceptions of Public Opinion among Political Elites
Do Voters Dislike Working-Class Candidates? Voter Biases and the Descriptive Underrepresentation of the Working Class
Do Politicians Outside the United States Also Think Voters Are More Conservative than They Really Are
Bargaining With Patriarchy
| Highly cited | No |
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