The Qualifications Gap

Know about the book -

The Qualifications Gap is written by Nichole M. Bauer and published by Cambridge University Press. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 1108873499 (ISBN 10) and 9781108873499 (ISBN 13).

What does it take for women to win political office? This book uncovers a gendered qualifications gap, showing that women need to be significantly more qualified than men to win elections. Applying insights from psychology and political science and drawing on experiments, public opinion data, and content analysis, Nichole M. Bauer presents new evidence of how voter biases and informational asymmetries combine to disadvantage female candidates. The book shows that voters conflate masculinity and political leadership, receive less information about the political experiences of female candidates, and hold female candidates to a higher qualifications standard. This higher standard is especially problematic for Republican female candidates. The demand for masculinity in political leaders means these women must “look like men” but also be better than men to win elections.