The Politics of Perception: How Beliefs about Women’s Inclusion Shape Democratic Legitimacy in the Us

In 1992, Dianne Feinstein, noting the number of women in the Senate, declared that, ＂two percent may be good enough for milk, but it is not good enough for the United States Senate.＂ At the heart of Feinstein’s quote was a simple message: women’s inclusion in politics matters. Despite the power of this message, scholars continue to debate whether and how women’s inclusion in politics shapes public views of political institutions, but with no clear consensus.

In The Politics of Perception, Katelyn E. Stauffer tackles one of the central debates in research on women and politics--to what extent does the presence of women in office shape citizens’ confidence in government and their views on democratic legitimacy? Stauffer unpacks the contradictions of previous research and develops a framework that allows us to gain a better understanding of when, how, and which citizens link the concepts of women’s inclusion and democratic legitimacy. Applying this framework to survey data on a variety of political attitudes collected from 2015-2022, Stauffer offers clear and compelling evidence that Americans do view women’s inclusion as a component of good governance. For example, women’s perceived inclusion is associated with higher levels of trust, approval, and external efficacy. Women’s inclusion also leads to an increase in positive associations with the legislative process, as well as greater confidence in institutions’ policy expertise and ability to produce effective outcomes across a host of issue areas.

Addressing a long-debated topic in the discipline, The Politics of Perception provides critical insights into our understanding of the relationship between descriptive representation and trust in government, legitimacy, and equality.

Katelyn E. Stauffer is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Georgia. Her research addresses questions related to how the public responds to the presence of women in positions of power and how women wield power in non-elected positions. Her work has been published in journals such as the American Political Science Review and American Journal of Political Science among other outlets, and her research has been the recipient of multiple awards.