What Girls Do: The Effects of Exposure to Women Candidates on Adolescents' Attitudes toward Women Leaders.

"Politics is a man's job" is a powerful and enduring stereotype. Does exposure to women politicians change beliefs about women's competency for politics? While others have investigated the impact of women role models on women's and girls' engagement and ambition, previous research has not directly examined women politicians' effect on political gender stereotypes in the United States. Using a panel survey of both adolescents and adults, we ask whether adolescents who observe women politicians become more likely to favor more women in office and more likely to see women as possessing positive leadership traits. We find that those for whom women candidates are more novel—Republican teens, and especially Republican girls—are most likely to shift their beliefs when exposed to women candidates of either party. Consistent with research on political socialization, these effects are apparent only for adolescents, not adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]