Stereotypes, Who to Blame? Exploring Individual-Level Determinants of Flemish Voters’ Political Gender Stereotypes

Abstract

The gender of political candidates is associated with particular personality traits, capacities and opinions. The extent to which voters apply these political gender stereotypes to their evaluation of political candidates is influenced by both contextual- and individual-level attributes. This article, based on an experimental study conducted among a representative sample of the Flemish (Belgian) population, examines the individual-level determinants of voters’ political gender stereotypes. Our results indicate that political gender stereotypes are only present to a limited extent in Flanders, even among the most likely groups such as older and lower educated voters. Furthermore, stereotype reliance is generally not conditioned by individual-level determinants. Most importantly, the finding that respondents’ perceptions of female candidates is primarily based on their level of agreement with the content of the presented policy position, demonstrates that other cues outweigh the importance of candidate gender.