Gender Stereotypes in Autocracies: Experimental Evidence from Morocco

How do gender stereotypes shape voters’ evaluations of female politicians in autocracies? Despite increased women’s representation in autocracies, we know less about the link between gender stereotypes and voters’ assessment of female politicians in these contexts because findings on political gender stereotypes are mostly drawn from established democracies. This registered report draws on a nationally representative survey with an embedded conjoint experiment to examine how voters evaluate female politicians’ competency in a conservative electoral autocracy: Morocco. We argue that stereotypes would lead voters to generally view female politicians as less competent but that competency ratings would improve when women were described as assertive or ambitious, focused on priority issue areas, highly productive, or effective at clientelistic service provision. We find weak evidence that respondents evaluate male politicians more favorably and no evidence that gender stereotypes play a central role in shaping voters’ evaluations of either male or female politicians.