Research

How do citizens evaluate queer party leaders? While recent scholarship has provided a window into how individuals evaluate queer legislative candidates, few studies have examined voter evaluations of queer individuals in executive positions, where voters may have different expectations of political leaders. This study assesses public perceptions of queer party leaders, with a focus on leader deservingness, competency, and electoral viability, which, taken together, we refer to as leader legitimacy. Results from a conjoint experiment in the UK indicate that queer leaders are perceived to be less legitimate than straight leaders on all dimensions. Additionally, we find that queer men and women face similar penalties. This finding holds regardless of the queer leader's level of legislative experience. Thus, queer party leaders face a significant disadvantage compared to their straight counterparts when seeking the top position within their party.

How did women’s access to formal employment affect the gender gap in policy preferences? Studies of the political economy of gender inequality argue that women became more supportive of the welfare state than men as they entered the workforce. However, we still lack causal evidence on the effect of outside-marriage options, such as simply being able to work, on the gender gap in support of welfare. This paper provides that evidence by studying the consequences of the end of the Marriage Bar in 1973, a widespread practice in twentieth-century Ireland requiring women to quit their jobs upon marriage.  A Difference-in-Differences analysis of public opinion data shows that, once the Bar was lifted, married women became less satisfied with their welfare benefits and time budget compared to married men, a signal of a growing divergence between their policy preferences and men's. These results align with explanations of gender gaps in attitudes based on household dynamics and help us better understand the causes of past and present differences between men and women’s policy preferences.