Replication Data for: How do Gender Stereotypes about Leadership Positions Change in the Face of a Crisis?

This study explores how a crisis situation affects voter bias towards women leaders. In an era of global pandemics, frequent climate disasters, economic recessions, and violent conflicts, this question is especially timely. Using an experimental research design, fielded prior the 2019 Israeli elections, we simulate a crisis in one of three policy areas. One typically regarded as masculine (defense), another as feminine (education), and a third with mixed perceptions (finance). We examine whether the framing of a crisis in one of these policy areas changes voters’ gender stereotypes regarding the suitability of women or men for the relevant ministerial positions. We then interact the crisis condition with voters' gender baseline preference to see how their predispositions towards men and women in politics moderate the effect of a crisis on gender stereotypes. We find that while men are generally regarded as better suited to serve as Ministers of Defense and women to serve as Ministers of Education, a crisis situation increases the perceived suitability of men for both ministerial roles. Thus, a crisis situation strengthens the conventional notion of men as the most competent leaders. These effects are more pronounced among voters whose gender baseline preferences align with existing gender stereotypes.

本研究旨在探究危机情境如何影响选民对女性领导者的性别偏见。在全球大流行、频发气候灾害、经济衰退与暴力冲突交织的当下，该议题尤具时效性。本研究采用实验研究设计，于2019年以色列大选前开展，模拟三类政策领域中的一类危机场景：通常被视为男性主导的国防（defense）领域、女性主导的教育（education）领域，以及认知偏向模糊的财政（finance）领域。本研究旨在检验，上述任一政策领域的危机框架，是否会改变选民对于女性或男性胜任对应内阁部长职位（ministerial positions）的性别刻板印象（gender stereotypes）。随后，我们将危机情境与选民的性别基线偏好（gender baseline preference）进行交互分析，以探究其对政坛男女的固有倾向如何调节危机对性别刻板印象的影响效应。研究结果显示，尽管大众普遍认为男性更适合担任国防部长、女性更适合担任教育部长，但危机情境会提升选民对男性胜任这两类内阁职位的评价。由此，危机情境会强化"男性为最具胜任力领导者"的传统刻板印象。此类效应在那些性别基线偏好与既有性别刻板印象相符的选民中表现更为显著。