Female candidates get fewer votes, according to ANU research released today that analysed the performance of nearly 17,000 candidates who ran for the House of Representatives between 1903 and 2004.
The study, conducted by ANU economist Dr Andrew Leigh and Oxford University student Ms Amy King, found that voters were consistently more likely to favour men.
“On average, female candidates receive 0.6 percent fewer votes than male candidates”, said Ms King. In a federal electorate with 100,000 voters, this means that a woman running for office would receive 600 fewer votes than a man representing the same political party.”
For major party candidates, the researchers found, the gender gap rose to around 1½ percent of the vote. “For one in ten races, this is the difference between winning and losing,” Ms King said.
The researchers conducted the study by using candidates’ first names to code whether they were male or female. Their study accounted for party differences, incumbency, and a measure of the likelihood that a given party would win each seat.
Although female candidates received fewer votes than male candidates in the 2004 election, the researchers found that the gap between male and female candidates has shrunk considerably over time.
“In the 1920s, female candidates received 10 percent fewer votes than male candidates of the same party,” said Dr Leigh. “By the 1940s, the gender gap was still very large, around 5 percent. This helps explain why only three women were elected to the House of Representatives between 1901 and 1970.”
“Since then, the gender voting gap has fallen, in line with the gender pay gap. It seems that discrimination in the labour market and at the ballot box move closely together. Both measures are improving, but women are still at a disadvantage.”
Nationally, the researchers found, women benefited from having more female candidates running for office. But within the same electorate, they found that female candidates are harmed, not helped, when they are competing with more women on the ballot.
A copy of the paper, Bias at the Ballot Box? Testing Whether Candidates’ Gender Affects Their Vote, is available at:
http://econrsss.anu.edu.au/~aleigh/
Source: Australian National University
Related stories:
Long-term care fraught with uncertainties for elderly baby boomers
The continued decline of the nursing home — once the mainstay care for the frail elderly — and an upsurge in popularity of assisted living will lead to many dramatic changes in long-term care, according to a University of Florida expert and editor of a new book on the subject.
Women's Online Skills Far Better than They Think
Fourteen years after a talking Barbie doll chirped “math class is tough” and a barrage of criticism from women's groups forced the doll off toy store shelves, it is hard to imagine Barbie announcing, “my Internet skills are not so hot.” Yet a study described in the latest issue of “Social Science Quarterly” suggests that women are thinking along those lines.
Biologist Discovers What May Be World's 'Pickiest' Mates
California fiddler crabs may be among the world’s pickiest animal when it comes to selecting a mate.
A study conducted by a biologist at the University of California, San Diego that appears in the August issue of the journal Animal Behaviour found that females of the species Uca crenulata may check out 100 or more male fiddler crabs and their burrows before finally deciding on a mate.
Study shows dual-career academic couple hires on the rise
(PhysOrg.com) -- He has a fancy-sounding title, but Robert Weisberg gives himself a blunt job description when explaining what he does as "special assistant to the provost for faculty recruitment and retention."
Researchers discover how rheumatoid arthritis causes bone loss
Researchers have discovered key details of how rheumatoid arthritis (RA) destroys bone, according to a study published in the Aug. 22 edition of the
Journal of Biological Chemistry. The findings are already guiding attempts to design new drugs to reverse RA-related bone loss and may also address more common forms of osteoporosis with a few adjustments.
Voluntary exercise does not appear to alleviate anxiety and depression
Voluntary physical activity does not appear to cause a reduction in anxiety and depression, but exercise and mood may be associated through a common genetic factor, according to a report in the August issue of
Archives of General Psychiatry..
Nano sculptures in gold
If someone is charged up, the colour of their face might change, but they don't immediately pull off one of their arms, only to reattach it as a third leg. With some molecules, however, the situation is quite different - for example, in a gold cluster with seven atoms. In a charged state, the atoms arrange themselves differently than when they are uncharged.
General election campaign advertising surpasses $50 million in first two months
(PhysOrg.com) -- Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain are airing more advertisements in more media markets than their counterparts did during a comparable period in the 2004 election campaign, according to a University of Wisconsin-Madison study.