Conservatives Aren't Naturally Biased Against Female Candidates—Here's How to Elect More Women

Title:

How to Elect More Women: Gender and Candidate Success in a Field Experiment

The Problem:

Women are dramatically underrepresented in legislative bodies. Most scholars agree the primary issue is the lack of female candidates.

Our Approach:

We designed an original field experiment involving messages from party leaders targeting 1,842 precinct-level Republican meetings to address both supply and demand factors for women's representation.

What We Found:

When party leaders encouraged both increasing the number of female candidates (supply) and addressing voters' subconscious biases against women (demand), more women were elected as delegates. This effect was replicated in a survey experiment with 2,897 Republican primary voters.

Why It Matters:

Simple interventions by party leaders can significantly increase women's descriptive representation by influencing both candidates and voters.