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Did sexist voters bring Italy its first female Prime Minister?

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  • Mauro Bertolotti,
  • Laura Picciafoco,
  • Patrizia Catellani
Mauro Bertolotti
Catholic University of Milan
Laura Picciafoco
Catholic University of Milan
Patrizia Catellani
Catholic University of Milan
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/qoe-16087

Published 2024-11-08

Keywords

  • Hostile Sexism,
  • Gender,
  • Voting Choice,
  • Political Orientation,
  • Candidate Evaluation

How to Cite

Bertolotti, M., Picciafoco, L., & Catellani, P. (2024). Did sexist voters bring Italy its first female Prime Minister?. Italian Journal of Electoral Studies (IJES). https://doi.org/10.36253/qoe-16087

Copyright (c) 2024 Mauro Bertolotti, Laura Picciafoco, Patrizia Catellani

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

We examined the role of hostile sexism in vote at the 2022 general election in Italy, where the largest among center-right parties was led by a woman, Giorgia Meloni. We analyzed data from a sample of 1635 voters who participated in the 2022 ITANES survey. Hostile sexism was associated with male gender, lower education, higher religiosity, and right-wing orientation. As to vote choice, hostile sexism was positively associated with vote for Brothers of Italy and the other center-right parties. However, such association was significantly moderated by the evaluation of Giorgia Meloni, and disappeared among voters with a positive evaluation of her. Discussion focusses on the interplay between gender-related attitudes and candidate-based heuristics in vote choice.

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