Gender stereotypes may not influence the choice of female leaders: Experimental evidence from a crisis framed as social or economic during the COVID-19 pandemic

Ruri Takizawa*, Vincenzo Iacoviello, Michelle K. Ryan, Clara Kulich

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)
67 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This research examined whether female (vs. male) leaders are preferred during a pandemic when stereotypically feminine leadership is deemed useful. We hypothesized that citizens prefer female (vs. male) politicians when the crisis is framed as a social (vs. economic) crisis because they believe it requires feminine (vs. masculine) leadership. In a pilot study and three online experiments with US residents (Ntotal = 1675), we manipulated crisis type or a leadership candidate's gender for a task force. While participants indicated that a crisis framed as social (vs. economic) required more feminine leadership, they did not appoint a woman more or rated her as more suitable for the social crisis (vs. economic crisis or a no-crisis situation). Furthermore, the female (vs. male) candidate was not perceived to possess more feminine leadership traits. Overall, participants did not rely on gender stereotypes when explicitly evaluating politicians. We discuss potential explanations for these unexpected results.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)558-576
Number of pages19
JournalEuropean Journal of Social Psychology
Volume54
Issue number2
Early online date23-Jan-2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar-2024

Keywords

  • crisis Leadership
  • gender stereotypes
  • glass cliff
  • politicians
  • politics
  • social roles

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Gender stereotypes may not influence the choice of female leaders: Experimental evidence from a crisis framed as social or economic during the COVID-19 pandemic'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this