Do voters prefer well-behaved women?

Liberal and conservative voters use gender stereotypes quite differently from one another, according to research by a University of California, Berkeley, political science graduate student that sheds some light on how and why women can effectively run for elected office in the United States. In her paper,  "Do Voters Prefer Well-Behaved Women? Experimental Tests of Competing Stereotypes,"  Rachel Bernard explores responses to hypothetical political candidates' biological sex and gender expression in conjunction with voter ideology. The headline-grabbing presidential nomination bids of Carly Fiorina and Hillary Clinton notwithstanding, women hold just 19 percent of the seats in the U.S. Congress, 24 percent of elected state legislative offices and no woman has shattered the Oval Office's glass ceiling. Talking tough Bernhard finds that not only do conservative voters on average appear to strongly prefer political candidates who are masculine, male, or both, but the more conservative they are, the stronger their preferences. Consider some of the Republican Party's popular women politicians, such as former Arizona Governor Jan Brewer or Sarah Palin, a former Alaska governor, lifetime member of the National Rifle Association and attractive soccer mom who earned a vice presidential spot on the 2008 Republican ticket with John McCain. Or think Carly Fiorina, the only woman contender in a current field of 15 Republicans vying for their party's 2016 presidential nomination, whose poll numbers soared after a televised debate highlighted by her smack down with Donald Trump.