Female presidents are held to a higher standard than their male counterparts, according to new research directed by Dr. Gregory Love, associate professor of political science at the university.
Love released the findings of the research alongside the six other Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies fellows on Wednesday afternoon.
The research focused on differences in how countries view female and male presidents and executives. His research sought to answer the question: “does the sex of the president influence public evaluations of him or her?”
Love found that the gender of the president influences public perception, and when female presidents are faced with “rising corruption, economic downturns and escalating insecurity,” the damage done to their reputation is greater than that to male presidents’ reputations. However, he also revealed that this does not seem to be the case among female prime ministers. The reasoning isn’t clear.
“A possible explanation is that presidents are directly elected and people identity directly with them individually,” Love said. “Whereas a prime minister is selected by a legislature, causing a buffer between the voter and leader and not as great of an attachment.”
Jaime Harker, who has served as Director of the Sarah Isom Center since 2016, oversaw the creation of the fellowship program– the program through which Love conducted his research. With the assistance of Provost Noel Wilkin, the Isom Fellows program began in 2018.
Harker said that while the center has held programmed events in the past, she wanted to incorporate their fellows’ research into the Isom Center’s programming to display the center’s mission.
When the fellowship program was initiated, the Isom Center only expected one fellow in the first year. They ended up with seven and approached Provost Wilkin for funding. Wilkin approved them all, and the fellowship will continue to add five new fellows per year, each serving two-year stints.
“When you look at all the work in public discourse in the last five years, issues of gender studies have come to the forefront,” Harker said. “What I love about this field is that the research is always striving to make the world a better place and providing a better opportunity. This research is going to help us make good decisions.”
Love praised the Isom Center for the opportunity to conduct his research, as well as the work it undertakes on campus.
“The Isom Center has been great. It provides support, camaraderie with people working on similar issues and provides opportunities to teach new classes around gender and politics that I’m excited to be a part of,” he said.
Dr. Rhona Justice-Malloy, a Professor of Theatre and Film and one of the inaugural Isom Fellows, focused her research on contemporary American women playwrights. As part of her fellowship, Justice-Malloy initiated the Emerging Playwriting Residency, a program that aims to address issues that contemporary female playwrights face. Their first Fellow, Ann Marie Cammarato, spent time on campus as part of her residency this summer.
Justice-Malloy said that while they initially expected 30 women to apply for the residency. 135 applied, emphasizing the need for female playwrights.
“The playwright that we picked had a wonderful residency,” Justice-Malloy said. “Now she’s working with the students in my dramaturgy class, and the students get an opportunity to participate in the creation of something new, and that’s so important for everyone included. It’s been a wonderful experience.”
