Do Female Politicians Have an Effect on Women’s Political Interest and Knowledge?

What Affects the Gender Gap in Political Interest?  

Research shows that on average, women in the United States are less politically interested in politics than men. Research also shows that when women receive a political quiz, they consistently answer questions less correctly than men.   This is puzzling because despite leaps in women’s advances in education and professional careers, the gender gap still persists.  Why is there still a large gender gap despite these increases? Perhpas other factors besides access to resources need to be examined.  Recent research has focused on the influence of role model theory, which suggests that female politicians may influence women to be more knowledgeable and interested in politics.  One study specifically shows that when a women views a female politician on television that her interest increases.  Another study shows that women who have female senators are more likely to remember their senators’ names.  The literature suggests that role models may have an influence to help close the gender gap.  This study seeks to add to the current research by testing experimentally if women politicians have a positive effect on women’s political knowledge and interest. 

Experiment 

-Two political speeches were given to subjects to read. At the top of each speech was listed a fictitious senator name: Senator Jennifer West or Senator Jeffrey West.  

-Each speech was followed by quiz content questions and questions about political interest, duty and government responsiveness. 

-Two topics of the speeches were employed. The first topic was about adoptions in Haiti which had a more feminine connotation.  The second topic was about exports which had a more masculine connotation.  Different speeches were used to find how females may respond differently to different contexts.  

Expectations

-It is expected that women who receive the political speech from Senator Jennifer West will be more likely to answer quiz questions correctly and will report higher levels of political interest. 

-It is also expected that women who receive Senator Jennifer West’s speech will more likely report a higher sense of political duty, will be more likely to feel that the senator represents their interests and will report that the senator is more unique than women who received Senator Jeffrey West’s political speech. 

-It is also expected that women who receive Senator Jennifer West's adoption speech will be more likely to be politically interested than women who received Senator Jennifer West's export speech. 

 Results

-A change in name of the senator had no significant effect on how well the respondents answered the content question and had no effect on their levels of political interest. 

-However, the results suggest that the name changes had an effect on women and men’s level of duty, feelings towards government, and if they felt that the senator represented their interests.   

Below are a visual representation and interpretations of the significant findings. 

Table 1

These findings show that females who received the female senator & adoption speech treatment were more likely to report that the senator represented their political interests than females who received the male senator and adoption speech treatment. 

Other Findings

Females who received the female senator & export speech treatment were less likely to report that the senator represented their political interests than females who received the male export speech. 

Males who received the female senator & export speech treatment were less likely to feel that the senator was unique. 

Males who received the female senator & export speech treatment were less likely to feel that elected officials cared about what they thought. 

Gender and Context

Overall, males and females respond differently to female political role models.  We also find that these perceptions may also be influenced by context, such as the topic of the speech.  The results suggest that women do not just respond to a female politician just because she is a female, but respond positively if she is a female and is also perceived as feminine.  This has implications because not only does a female role model need to be present, but the context also needs to be considered. 

Do Female Politicians Make a Difference?

Yes.  The experimental results suggest that female politicians do have an influence on women’s perception towards politics.  The results show that a small change in the name has an effect in influencing women’s perceptions towards politics. This is encouraging to female politicians and shows that if they put forth effort in motivating women, that the effects can have a positive influence on women's perceptions towards politics.