Can gender-inclusive language weaken the deeply ingrained stereotype that a political leader is a man? A recent international study, conducted in 42 countries and involving researchers from SWPS University, shows that introducing such forms into language has little impact on how the public perceives political leaders.
Women remain greatly underrepresented in positions of political leadership around the world. Currently, only one country in about every eight has elected a woman as Head of State or Government, and across the world women make up only one in every four parliamentarians. Some researchers have suggested that it may be possible to improve the representation of women in politics and other positions of power by changing the stereotypes that people hold about leaders. According to scientists, people tend to stereotype leaders as more similar to men than women, and to believe that men are therefore more suited to leadership than women.
Are leadership positions reserved for men?
That is why an international team of researchers led by Professor Kim Peters from the University of Exeter set out to examine how political leaders were perceived through the lens of language. Specifically, they examined whether exposing people to feminised, gender-fair language when asking them to describe political leaders (e.g., by using the paired pronouns "he or she") could reduce their tendency to stereotype political leaders as more similar to men than women. Participants evaluated profiles of political leaders (both men and women) using a set of adjectives describing various attributes, ranging from dominance and competence to morality and kindness.
The scale of the project was impressive, involving nearly 23,000 participants from 42 countries or regions across six continents. It encompassed 30 languages, all of them incorporating grammatical gender, albeit in different ways. The researchers examined responses from speakers of languages that only encode gender in the lexical meaning of certain nouns (e.g., Hungarian), natural gender languages with personal pronouns (e.g., English), and languages with more highly formalized grammatical gender systems (e.g., Polish or German).
The findings are detailed in the paper " Think political leader — think he or she? A multi-country test of a gender-fair language intervention to reduce gendered leadership stereotypes ", published in the scientific journal The Leadership Quarterly.
Stereotypes run deep
The analysis reveals that stereotypes regarding leadership are prevalent worldwide.
The results of this international study confirm that political leaders are stereotypically perceived as being more similar to men than to women. Participants were asked to rate the extent to which various attributes characterize men, women, and individuals in political leadership roles. We found that the profile of traits attributed to political leaders was more closely aligned with the profile of traits attributed to men than to women. This primarily concerned attributes associated with agency, such as dominance, competitiveness, or assertiveness - as opposed to communal attributes, such as sympathy, warmth, or sensitivity to the needs of others, which are stereotypically more often associated with women, says Professor Agata Gąsiorowska, a psychologist at the Wrocław Faculty of Psychology of SWPS University, one of the co-authors of the study.
Linguistic interventions do not change attitudes
Contrary to the researchers' expectations, no evidence was found to suggest that using gender-inclusive language (for instance, replacing gender-neutralised language with gender-encoding phrases like "he or she," or "this man or this woman") weakens the stereotypical perception of political leaders as being more similar to men than to women. This subtle linguistic shift did not significantly affect how study participants attributed specific traits to individuals in political roles. Regardless of the phrasing used, the stereotypical image of a political leader remained closer to the stereotype of a man than that of a woman.
The findings therefore suggest that the mere use of gender-inclusive language may not be sufficient to reduce gender stereotypes associated with political leadership. This does not mean, however, that such linguistic approaches are ineffective in other contexts, nor does it imply that they cannot influence other aspects of how men and women are perceived.
Personal views are less extreme
The study also revealed an interesting discrepancy between the participants' personal beliefs and their perceptions of the stereotypes prevalent within the community. When assessing the views of others, respondents perceived the stereotypical image of a political leader as being more strongly associated with men than when they were expressing their own opinions. In other words, participants assumed that gender stereotypes regarding political leadership that existed within the community were stronger than those they themselves held. This finding may be significant, as the belief that such stereotypes are widespread can, in itself, constitute an additional barrier for women aspiring to political positions - regardless of the actual attitudes held by individual people.
Supporting women in leadership roles
The authors of the study emphasise that, in the pursuit of balanced gender representation in politics, focusing solely on language is not enough. It is essential to create space for the actual presence of women in leadership roles.
While ensuring gender-inclusive communication is important, this study indicates that minor linguistic adjustments in documents or media will not eliminate stereotypes surrounding leadership. The image of a leader is deeply rooted in social and cultural structures; changing it in any meaningful way requires comprehensive educational and system-wide interventions, comments Professor Agata Gąsiorowska.
The researchers also point to further avenues for future research; they suggest, for instance, that inclusive language might yield more pronounced effects outside of the political leadership domain - for example, in the context of corporate managers or employees. Such communication can also serve another purpose: effectively strengthening women's own sense of agency, inspiring them and increasing their motivation to pursue careers at the highest levels of power.
