We develop and test a theory of gendered political times, which argues that the gendered political climate during an election shapes the extent to which female candidates emphasize feminine or masculine traits in campaign messages. We measure gendered electoral contexts through rigorous analyses of public opinion data and news media content of the top issues during an election, and we complement these data with an analysis of the gendered traits candidates emphasize in campaign messages during U.S. congressional election cycles from 2000 through 2018. Our results suggest that feminine electoral contexts do not necessarily lead female candidates, or male candidates, to rely on feminine traits. We find that masculine electoral contexts lead female candidates to rely more heavily on feminine traits. Our results have important implications for understanding the forces that shape the way candidates develop strategic campaign messages, and the factors that ultimately influence women’s under-representation in politics.

中文翻译：

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性别时代：性别背景如何塑造女性候选人的竞选信息

我们开发并测试了性别化政治时代理论，该理论认为，选举期间的性别化政治气候会影响女性候选人在竞选信息中强调女性或男性特征的程度。我们通过对选举期间热门问题的舆论数据和新闻媒体内容进行严格分析来衡量性别化的选举环境，并通过对 2000 年至 2018 年美国国会选举周期中候选人在竞选信息中强调的性别特征的分析来补充这些数据. 我们的结果表明，女性化的选举背景并不一定会导致女性候选人或男性候选人依赖女性特质。我们发现，男性化的选举环境导致女性候选人更加依赖女性特质。