Glass Half Full or Half Empty

Does Optimism about Women’s Representation in Elected Office Matter

Bibliographic Data

ID6409754
AuthorsPatrick W Kraft (0000-0003-0123-221X, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee), Patrick Kraft, Kathleen Dolan (0000-0002-7075-8920, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume44
Issue2
Pages139-151
Publication date2023-04-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueWomen & Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0195-7732 • E-ISSN: 1540-9473
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1554477x.2022.2081444
OpenAlexW4281661706
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited40

Recent years have seen an unprecedented number of women candidates running for public office. Does the resulting potential for greater gender equality in political representation have downstream effects on individual-level political attitudes, particularly among women voters? Given the partisan imbalance in women's candidacies, do Republican and Democratic voters experience the growing gender parity in political representation differently? We explore these questions by employing a survey experiment in the 2018 Cooperative Election Study (CES) that manipulates the perceived trajectory of women's representation in politics. Our results suggest that priming future optimism as compared to pessimism in women's representation has little overall effect on the gender gap in political efficacy and interest, but that party affiliation can be a moderator in this context. We discuss the broader implications of our findings for women's engagement in politics

Optimism · Political science · Representation (politics · Gender Politics and Representation · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology

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