Blaming Women or Blaming the System? Public Perceptions of Women’s Underrepresentation in Elected Office

Abstract

<p>While scholars understand some of the reasons for the underrepresentation of women in elected office in the United States, we know almost nothing about what the public sees as the explanation for this reality. We also know relatively little about the degree to which people see women’s underrepresentation as a problem. Drawing on blame attribution theories, we examine whether people believe that there are systematic or individual explanations for the number of women in elected office. As blame explanations often influence positions on outcomes, we also test whether these explanations are related to people’s attitudes toward women in office and their vote choice behaviors in U.S. House races with women candidates present. Using data from a 2014 Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES) survey, we find differences among people in the blame explanations they make. These explanations are significantly related to attitudes about women in office but do not influence vote choice decisions when women run for office.<br></p>