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Do voters prefer gender stereotypic candidates? evidence from a conjoint survey experiment in Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 October 2018

Yoshikuni Ono Open the ORCID record for Yoshikuni Ono [Opens in a new window]  and
Masahiro Yamada
Yoshikuni Ono*
Affiliation:
School of Law, Tohoku University, 27-1 Kawauchi, Aobaku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8576, Japan Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry, 1-3-1 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo100-8901, Japan
Masahiro Yamada
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, School of Law and Politics, Kwansei Gakuin University, 1-155 Uegahara 1-bancho, Nishinomiya, Hyogo662-8501, Japan
*
*Corresponding author. Email: onoy@tohoku.ac.jp
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Abstract

The striking under-representation of women in Japan has been partly attributed to gender stereotypes and prejudice toward female leadership among voters. We examine whether and to what extent candidates get rewarded or punished when they deviate from the behavioral expectations associated with their gender roles and images. Our conjoint experiment results in Japan demonstrate that not only are female candidates disadvantaged compared to their male counterparts, but also that they could lose support when they diverge from gender-based behavioral expectations. Our findings suggest that female candidates face a difficult dilemma in that they must weigh the cost of losing support for failing to conform to gender-based expectations, against the general loss of support they would incur for conforming to these expectations.

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Type
Original Articles
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Political Science Research and Methods , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , July 2020 , pp. 477 - 492
Copyright
Copyright © The European Political Science Association 2018

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Ono and Yamada Dataset

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https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/DOZCK5
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