Are feminine traits a liability in elections?

A possible reason for the lack of women in elected positions is that voters prefer candidates with masculine qualities. Studies have found that women and men politicians tend to emphasize different candidate traits during an election campaign. In the present study, we designed an online experiment in which candidates were asked to tell voters their best personal quality. We investigate whether candidates choose a feminine or a masculine trait and whether those who choose a feminine trait had more (fewer) votes. We find that candidates are slightly more prone to select feminine traits over masculine traits (though the difference is not statistically significant) and that candidates who choose feminine traits receive slightly more votes.