Where do female Conservatives stand? A cross-national analysis of the issue positions and ideological placement of female right-wing candidates

De Geus, R. A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3053-2123 and Shorrocks, R. (2020) Where do female Conservatives stand? A cross-national analysis of the issue positions and ideological placement of female right-wing candidates. Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, 41 (1). pp. 7-35. ISSN 1554-477X doi: 10.1080/1554477X.2020.1688612

Abstract/Summary

Many right-wing parties have attempted to increase their share of female representatives to appeal to women in the electorate. Underlying this is the assumption that women will offer a distinct perspective to the party. Using a comparative dataset of male and female candidates of Conservative and Christian Democratic parties across 21 European and Anglo-Saxon countries, we show this is the case. Female candidates in right-wing parties are less right wing than male candidates, both in terms of their overall ideology and their issue positioning. Perhaps as a consequence, female candidates perceive a greater distance to their own party than male candidates.