Gendered dynamics in representation: Examining candidates' policy congruence with parties and voters

This study tests novel hypotheses on how gender affects candidates’ policy congruence with parties and voters. We argue that structural barriers lead female candidates to align more closely with their parties, while gendered ideological differences shape their congruence with voters across policy domains. Additionally, we examine whether candidates’ voter- or party-centric campaign focus mediates these gendered dynamics. Using data from the 2013 Austrian National Election Study (AUTNES) and blackbox scaling to estimate latent policy positions, we find no gender differences in candidate-party congruence. However, female candidates align more with female voters on the economic dimension but exhibit lower congruence with both female and male voters on socio-cultural issues. While voter-centric campaigns increase candidate-voter congruence on socio-cultural issues, campaign focus does not mediate gendered patterns of congruence. These findings shed new light on gender and policy congruence across dimensions, advancing our understanding of the dynamics between descriptive and substantive representation.