The impact of cuing candidate quality on female candidates

• DOI: 10.1016/j.electstud.2020.102127
• Publication Date: 2020-02-14T04:50:23Z
• Authors: Patrick Cunha Silva; Brian F. Crisp
• Keywords: 5. Gender equality; 05 social sciences; 0506 political science

Abstract How can parties improve the electoral prospects of traditionally under-represented women? We argue that if a party signals that a single female candidate is of high quality, other women appearing on the ballot with her will receive a boost in support. More specifically, if a female candidate heads a party's list in the district, other women from her party will be rewarded with more votes. We test our reasoning by examining the nomination and election of women in three Free-List Proportional Representation systems where voters can cast multiple preference votes for individual candidates. We find robust support for the finding that when voters receive a signal that women can be quality candidates, they tend to reward additional women with preference votes regardless of their rank on the ballot.