How equal are politicians really? An experiment about gender and the effects of gender stereotypes on the perception of politicians

Abstract: Experimental research in the US has shown that male and female politicians are evaluated differently. Such research has been lacking in a Nordic setting. By conducting an experiment on secondary education pupils in Sweden we bring this research into the modern Nordic setting and reconfirm that politicians are affected by gender stereotypes. We also look at the effects of an additional stereotype manipulation in which respondents are told that men and women often are seen as possessing different levels of authority. This type of manipulation has previously produced significant results in psychological experiments where respondents were taking math tests. In this study we see that the stereotype manipulation also has an effect in the evaluation of politicians. Additionally we establish that gender identification, previously shown to be relevant in experiments where respondents were taking math tests, is also relevant for the evaluation of politicians.