Gendered Incentives for Legislative Compromise (original) (raw)

Abstract

There is a widespread belief, rooted in gender stereotypes, that women are more willing to compromise than men. Moreover, in 2012, a record number of female legislators were elected to Congress, leading news outlets to suggest that more women will mean more compromise and bipartisanship in the legislature. We experimentally investigate whether female legislators have greater electoral incentives to compromise on legislation, jointly considering the roles of partisanship and gender in how voters evaluate compromising and non-compromising lawmakers. Our findings suggest that whether female members are differentially rewarded or punished for not compromising is highly conditional and depends on the whether the member and voter are of the same political party and the type of evaluation being made. As increasing numbers of women continue to be elected to Congress, our work has critical implications for understanding the institutional and electoral challenges faced by female lawmakers.

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