Replication Data for "Does Exposure to Gender Role Models Increase Women’s Political Ambition? A Field Experiment With Politicians"

There is a persistent gender gap in motivations to run for political office. While exposure to role models is widely believed to increase women's political ambition, there is little field experimental evidence on whether exposure to female politicians in realistic settings can increase political ambition. We conducted a field experiment in which a sample of 612 female students was randomly assigned to receive emails inviting them to an event which included career workshops with female politicians, or no email. The treatment increased interest in the ongoing national election campaign, but against expectations, did not have any positive effect on political ambition. Our results suggest that female politicians who discuss their experience bluntly instead of following a motivational script may fail to motivate other women to pursue a political career. These results highlight the need for more research into the type of events and messages which bring more women into politics.

参选政治公职的动机始终存在持续性的性别差距。尽管学界普遍认为，接触政治榜样能够提升女性的政治抱负，但目前鲜有田野实验证据能够证实，在真实场景中接触女性政治家是否可有效增强女性的政治抱负。本研究开展了一项田野实验：我们招募612名女性学生作为研究样本，将其随机分为两组，其中一组收到邀请参加包含女性政治家职业工作坊的活动的邮件，另一组则未收到此类邮件。实验结果显示，实验组参与者对当前全国选举活动的兴趣有所提升，但与预期相悖的是，该干预并未对女性的政治抱负产生任何积极影响。本研究结果表明，若女性政治家直白分享自身从政经历而非遵循固定的励志发言范式，反而可能无法激励其他女性投身政治事业。上述结果凸显了针对能够吸引更多女性参与政治的活动形式与沟通内容开展更多研究的必要性。