A woman’s place? An experimental study on the interaction of gender and list-position cues in a system with gender quota

This research note focuses on the interaction of gender and list-position cues in preferential-list Proportional Representation (PR) systems in Flanders (Belgium). The list of candidates contains a number of heuristic cues that influence voters’ perceptions of a candidate’s competence. Flanders’s electoral setting, combining a flexible-list PR system with far-reaching quota regulations, provides a good case study for exploring this interaction. The results, based on an innovative survey experiment, highlight that the list position works the same way for women and men. Female head-of-list candidates do not enjoy additional advantages in terms of perceived competence. Since middle-of-list women do not suffer from reduced esteem, these results also contradict the concerns voiced by quota opponents that the use of electoral gender quotas will generate the perception among voters that parties select less-qualified candidates to meet the quota standards.

Jaar van publicatie:2019

BOF-keylabel:ja

IOF-keylabel:ja

Auteurs:National

Authors from:Higher Education

Toegankelijkheid:Open