Sexism in American political elections

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Sexism in American political elections refers to sexism which is discrimination, prejudice, or stereotyping based on sexual characteristics or perceived sexual characteristics.^[1] Sexism is inherently a product of culture, as culture instills a certain set of beliefs or expectations for what constitutes as appropriate behavior, appearance, or mannerisms for a sex.^[2]

Sexism in American political elections is generally cited as a socially-driven obstacle to female political candidates, especially for non-incumbents, raising concerns about the influence of women on politics in the United States.^[3] When women are seen as threatening to a man's power or leadership, it can often produce hostile sexism.^[4]

Sexism occurs against those who identify as female.^[3] Women are undervalued in society because of their sex.^[5] This is seen in elections when qualified women are judged based on appearance and lose to men.^[3]

Sexism in politics[]

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Sexism in the United States functions as a way to distribute power based on an individual's ability to meet gender expectations, however, sexism typically rewards men over women and as such men are granted more power as well as opportunities.^[6] Sexism exists as a process within patriarchy as it is the dominant cultural practice in the United States, although, it can function separately in that feminine behavior or appearance can be rewarded.^[7] Politics represents the field in the United States in which a significant amount of power is available for distribution, as such politics is a field rife with sexism and this effect is increasingly present in high-stakes elections such as Presidential Elections.^[8] As the head of the Executive Branch, Presidents, have access to an extraordinary number of governmental abilities such as assigning Supreme Court Seats and Vetoing bills by Congress, and thus this position carries with it a symbolic and legitimate connection to the informal establishment of patriarchy.^[9][10]

The extreme prominence of Presidential Elections means that a large amount of sexist media and discriminatory attack ads are created, therefore it offers an opportunity to examine the role of Sexism in politics. This recent presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton is a model for the effect of sexism in presidential elections as Clinton, is the first female candidate to be nominated one of the two major political parties, and thus she has received a great deal of sexist portrayal and rhetoric from the media as well as Trump's Campaign.^[11]

“Sexism in the systematic inequitable treatment of girls and women by men and by the society as a whole”.^[12] Implications of sexism include girls having lower expectations of their own capabilities and also being subject to ridicule for being assertive.<ref=bearman38/> These factors have a direct effect on women who want to run for political positions. Women are less likely to run for political positions due to internalized sexism and a lack of female role models that hold political positions in the US. Cisgender men cannot be subject to negative political sexism seeing that the stereotype promotes males holding political positions.^[12] This is supported by the facts that cisgender men hold 59% of elected political positions in the U.S whereas cisgender women hold only 37.6%.^[13]  

Sexism toward female candidates[]

Sexism towards female candidates, and towards females, in general, is the most apparent form of sexual discrimination in American society and tends to manifest itself in more direct forms of discrimination and sexual objectification through a focus on behavior and appearance standards expected of women.^[14] This manifests itself in two distinct ways, the first being that a female candidate satisfies social expectations of beauty, resulting in over sexual objectification, such as in the case of Sarah Palin in her Vice Presidency Campaign with John McCain in 2008. The second being in the case of Hillary Clinton, where perceptions and disdain for the candidate lead to sexual discrimination in the opposite fashion, referring to the candidate with labels characterized as stereotypically negative female traits.^[15]

Although female candidates are viewed more as caring compared to their male competition when it comes to topics like military issues, women are disadvantaged because a topic like that is thought to be “owned” to men. For example, in the 2016 presidential election, terrorism and national security were top priorities to the American public, possibly making it more difficult for a female candidates running to gain support.^[16] Furthermore, women that reject traditional gender roles are viewed as competent for the job of an executive position but lack emotions, creating an unappealing image of them. When the image is reversed, women who run in elections who are viewed as caring and full of emotions, end up being viewed as not competent. When women follow traditional gender stereotypes or reject them they struggle in political elections.^[17] Stereotypes held against female candidates are more relevant to executive elective positions that are seen as “masculine” based on policies that are in the spotlight.^[18]

Women are also less likely to make the decision to run for office than men, despite having the same characteristics and qualifications.^[19] This is mainly due to two factors, the first is that women are less likely to be encouraged to run for office, and the second, women tend to view themselves less qualified for holding office as opposed to men, even if an individual woman has the same or even higher qualifying attributed than an individual male candidate.^[19] Hostile sexists, those who believe powerful women are a threat to men, often hire less qualified men over more qualified women, causing a disadvantage to women that want to gain political power. This form of sexism is apparent in President Trump's attacks on Hillary Clinton during her campaign when she reinforced the value of her gender. Benevolent sexism, the view that women should be cared for by men, holds positive stereotypes towards women but still views them as subordinate to men. This upholds the view that men should be in political positions of power, emphasizing gender inequality.^[20] The effects of sexism and sexual objectification result in the negative perception of female candidates and subsequently their poor performance, thus sexism has a noticeably detrimental impact on the success of women in political elections and this trend is evident in Presidential Elections.^[21]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in her 23 July 2020 address to Congress, condemned Rep. Congressman Ted Yoho stating, he had shown the world “that you can be a powerful man and accost women”. She added, “Having a wife does not make a decent man.” The address was made three days after Republican Congressman Yoho called Cortez, a “f****** b****” on the Capitol Hill on 20 July 2020. Celebrities and politicians hailed Alexandria for her comments and for standing up against sexism at work.^[22]

Sexism towards transgender candidates[]

Transgender persons are significantly underrepresented in political positions. Only 0.1% of elected officials in the US openly identify as LGBTQ.^[23] This leads to a severe lack of LGBTQ role models. This causes LGBTQ identifying persons who might want to run for political office to be discouraged from doing so. The psychological importance of role models^[24] has been scientifically proven, demonstrating how the lack of LGBTQ people in politics can discourage new ones from running.

The role of media[]

Since the first televised presidential debate in 1960, the rise of media, especially visual media, has had increased importance on political elections. By televising elections, more emphasis was placed on the physical appearance of the candidates and how that reflected their perceived ability or skill. As well, the idea of what a president looked like was cemented in American minds as a white male.^[25] This such coverage has only increased since the rise of social media. This poses additional challenges to female candidates. They have difficulties getting equal news coverage to their male counterparts, receiving 50% less coverage.^[26] When covered, the information emphasizes on the female candidates’ personal traits, such as physical appearance, rather than their positions on political issues.^[27]

Research has also found that voters put more value in qualities seen as masculine and rank male candidates as more effective than their female counterparts who are similarly qualified.^[28] But, when women try to use more traditionally masculine approaches, they are portrayed in the media as too angry or aggressive. This also crosses over into a female candidate's physical appearance. The Barbara Lee Family Foundation advised a “powerful yet approachable”^[29] look in a guidebook meant for female candidates, pointing to a women's need to balance traits viewed as masculine and feminine. Women politicians are also scrutinized in the media for their family lives. Female candidates without families are portrayed as not able to understand the average American family, while women with kids are seen as distracted by their additional responsibilities of motherhood.^[28]

Through media coverage, sexist tropes against female candidates can be amplified. Media platforms give pundits with sexism-laced rhetoric an opportunity to spread their message.^[30] During the 2008 presidential campaign, candidate Hillary Clinton began to tear up when speaking about her experiences running. In response, comedian Bill Maher said, “The first thing a woman does, of course, is cry,” despite all of the other campaign moments in which Clinton did not cry.^[30]

Likability[]

A key component of political campaigns is a candidate's likability.^[31] Although likability applies to candidates of all gender identities, female candidates are disproportionately affected.^[32] As of September 2019, women are underrepresented in Congress (24% of House and Senate seats are held by women, but they comprise over 50% of the United States population). Hurdles can exist in electing more women. Sociologist Marianne Cooper writes that women are judged in such different ways than their male counterparts because “their very success violates our expectations about how women are supposed to behave."^[33] She adds that the simple under-representation of women means people don't have the ability to expect women in authority positions. This concept can be applied to government as well: because of female under-representation in government, female candidates are held to preexisting, oftentimes toxic expectations, which in turn damage a candidate's likability.^[34]

These expectations are oftentimes not straightforward.^[31] Sexism can be expressed through both implicit and explicit means; this is reflected in how people view women in positions of authority, including female political candidates.^[35] For example, explicit bias against women can be seen in attack ads that deride candidates for being feminists, as seen with former House candidate Amy McGrath.^[36] An example of implicit gender bias is challenging a woman's credentials and qualifications, as seen in attacks against Senator Jacky Rosen’s campaign.^[36]

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