Does Exposure to Powerful Women Reduce Prejudice?
“In July 2006, women accounted for just under 17% of parliamentarians worldwide. A woman was the head of government in only seven countries.” This could be due to short supply, higher cost to entry due to family, or to voter attitude, which previous research has found may be “distaste” for female leadership.
Is that “distaste” why we’ve seen such out lash against Palin? As Laura Bush suggested in an interview with ABC’s Brian Williams this week, “No one would be talking about a man’s children and how many children they had, or any other thing about their children.” And as Giuliani last night proclaimed, “How dare they question whether Palin will have enough time to spend with her children while vice president? When do they ever ask a man that question?” Instead of attacking Obama’s lack of experience, the media attacks Palin’s, arguing she would be unfit to step in as President if circumstances required it. So is this more than just the typical media bias?
Researchers at the Center for International Development at Harvard have found that voters, men in particular, are prejudiced against female leaders. At least those in certain villages in India, where the 73rdAmendment mandates that at least 1/3 of government positions be filled by women. This mandate allowed the researchers to study the attitude toward female leaders and how exposure to female leadership changed those attitudes.
They found that the voters in a village with its first female leader give evaluations of the woman’s performance that are lower than those of her men counterparts (even when the woman outperforms the men). However, that “distaste” dissipates over time – when a village is exposed a second time to a female leader, the woman’s evaluations are on par with those of her male counterparts. It appears, per the research, that exposure to a female leader reduces prejudice by 50 to 100% (depending on the village).
The study is both preliminary and incomplete, and it certainly may be a stretch for me to apply the findings to our current political situation, especially considering Hillary’s 18 million popular votes do not exactly scream “distaste.” One could think that Hillary paved the way for Palin’s nomination. But if certain states swing red, it may be Palin who could pave the way for Hillary in 2012.
