How do gender stereotypes about leadership positions change in the face of a crisis?

This study explores how a crisis situation affects voter bias towards women leaders. In an era of global pandemics, frequent climate disasters, economic recessions, and violent conflicts, this question is especially timely. Using an experimental research design, fielded prior the 2019 Israeli elections, we simulate a crisis in one of three policy areas. One typically regarded as masculine (defense), another as feminine (education), and a third with mixed perceptions (finance). We examine whether the framing of a crisis in one of these policy areas changes voters’ gender stereotypes regarding the suitability of women or men for the relevant ministerial positions. We then interact the crisis condition with voters’ gender baseline preference to see how their predispositions towards men and women in politics moderate the effect of a crisis on gender stereotypes. We find that while men are generally regarded as better suited to serve as Ministers of Defense and women to serve as Ministers of Education, a crisis situation increases the perceived suitability of men for both ministerial roles. Thus, a crisis situation strengthens the conventional notion of men as the most competent leaders. These effects are more pronounced among voters whose gender baseline preferences align with existing gender stereotypes.