quotas).
1. Core Concepts
Professional vs. Social Power Double Bind: Women are socially expected to be warm and caring. Pursuing professional power (leadership, politics) is seen as violating this norm, resulting in a loss of perceived warmth or likeability.
Male Bias as “Common Sense”: Because men dominate positions of power, their worldview and traits are seen as neutral and universal. This normalisation disguises male bias as objectivity.
Projection Bias + Confirmation Bias: We assume others experience the world as we do. When most people in power are men, their experiences get projected as standard, reinforcing systemic bias.
Democracy’s Gender Gap: Despite formal equality, male-dominated governments reflect male priorities. Women legislators bring different priorities and insights but remain severely underrepresented.
Quota Systems as Corrective Tools: All-women shortlists (AWS) and electoral quotas (like Sweden’s zipper system) significantly boost women’s representation and have not harmed competence.
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2. Examples & Statistics
Warmth/Competence Trade-off (Fiske & Cikara): Women seen as competent are assumed less warm; warmth is a “consolation prize” for not competing with men.
Use of AWS in the UK:
In 1997, UK Labour used AWS in 50% of winnable seats. Result: number of female Labour MPs jumped from 37 → 101.
By 2017, 43% of Labour MPs were women vs only 21% for Conservatives (who don’t use AWS).
Global Representation:
23.5% average of women in parliaments worldwide as of 2017.
Nordic countries average 41.4%, Arab countries just 18.3%.
10% or fewer female MPs in 30+ countries.
UK Local Government:
Nine councils have all-male cabinets.
Only 33% of council chief executives are female.
Women make up only 12% of elected metro mayors' cabinets.
Sweden’s Zipper Quota: Alternating male and female names on party lists; representation never dropped below 40% since implementation.
