What Do Women in Politics Represent? The Moderating Role of Sexism in the Relationship Between Ideological Positioning and Normativity in Support of a Female Candidate

Increasing women’s political representation is key to advancing gender equality worldwide. This article addresses challenges related to this issue and investigates the impact of ideological positioning and normativity on support for a candidate, analysing the moderating role of sexism in this relationship in Brazil and Spain. The study was conducted using an experimental design. In Brazil, the 185 participants had a mean age of 27.34 years (SD = 9.06), and 52.5% were female. In Spain, the 185 participants were also mostly female (49.7%) with a mean age of 21.22 years (SD = 6.3). The results indicate that ideological positioning is the main determinant of support, in Brazil, F(1,181) = 25, p < .001, ηp² = .12, with more support to the left-wing candidate (M = 3.78, SD = 0.122) compared to the right-wing candidate (M = 2.91, SD = 0.123) and in Spain, F(1,181) = 98.83, p < .001, ηp² = .353, with the left-wing candidate (M = 3.80, SD = 0.093) also receiving more support than the right-wing candidate (M = 2.49, SD = 0.094). Unlike in Spain, the Brazilian sample shows that participants’ ideology is also related to normativity in determining support. Additionally, the results indicate a moderating role of sexism in this relationship, particularly in Brazil. This raises the question of what women in politics actually represent, given the impact of these variables, which, as factors underlying discrimination, may also be related to Brazil’s slower progress towards gender equality in politics.