Tak!

Thank you so much for the invitation @gofosu.bsky.social and @carlmc.bsky.social!

Stort tillykke, Ashraf!

Take away: Gender campaigns can work. But the positive effect on willingness to vote for women is stronger, when campaigns stress women's capabilities and electoral viability! Informing voters about gender discrimination may cue voters consider women less viable candidates.

This suggests that it may indeed be the information about discrimination that reduces voters’ views of women as viable candidates and depresses the effect of the classic gender campaign relative to the alternative, which focuses on progress rather than discrimination.

Analyzing respondents free-text answers, compared to the progress video, voters who watch the discrimination video are more likely to recall information about women needing help and encouragement, and less likely to recall information about women being capable politicians.

Campaigns – also those including information about discrimination - increase voters’ willingness to support women. However, the effect of a campaign message about the progress of women in politics is stronger than a campaign message stressing the discrimination faced by women.

Using randomized exposure to campaign videos with a conjoint experiment and text analysis of 2,200 respondents’ answers to open-ended questions, we find positive effects of all types of campaign messages.

Instead, we suggest using messages that stress women candidates’ electoral viability and political successes by highlighting their progress in politics. To test this, we work with one of the longest-running gender campaigns, Malawi’s 50:50 campaign.

We argue that if voters have incentives to support viable candidates, the typical gender campaign, informing voters about gender discrimination against women and the struggles of women in politics, can undercut support for women because it cues voters’ to think that women are not viable candidates.

It was a pleasure. Congratulations Pauline!

We look forward to welcoming you in Aarhus!

Tillykke med det, Anne! Den opgave er jeg meget tryg ved, at du varetager!