Political sociologist with a focus on gender inequality in Western industrialized democracies. Say hi to your pet for me (and share their pics!).
Katie Bolzendahl
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🌈 #GenderingDemocracy No.41
📈 #GenderEquality is rising in parliaments, cabinets + party leadership.
🔎 But Catherine Bolzendahl & @hildecoffe.bsky.social argue that we need to look beyond elite politics, to explore how ordinary women + men take part in democratic life.
👉️ bit.ly/4t0Pb14
The @cambup-polsci.cambridge.org deliveries keep rolling in! Congratulations to our newest authors @cbolzendahl.bsky.social & @hildecoffe.bsky.social.
🎉🎉🎉
@dzobrien.bsky.social
@rblaifeder.bsky.social
Do women now have an advantage in political party candidate selection?
📝 Read our latest blog to discover why context matters and how greater transparency in the selection process could support candidate confidence and strengthen trust in the process.
👉 blogs.bath.ac.uk/iprblog/2026...
Finland is an outlier in gender parity terms, so whether these patterns hold elsewhere is an open question — and one we'd love to see tested.
Full article here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
And it gets more interesting. Among women, the sense of a "woman advantage" fades significantly as more women are on their party's list — suggesting women candidates are keenly attuned to the gendered signals parties send during recruitment.
Do political candidates think being a woman is an advantage in getting nominated? @hildecoffe.bsky.social, @asavschoultz.bsky.social, and I just published research asking Finnish candidates that question — and the answers are more nuanced than you might expect.
Most candidates do perceive being a woman as at least some advantage in their party's nomination process. But here's the twist: that perception is driven almost entirely by women candidates. Men candidates are nearly twice as likely to say being a woman is not at all an advantage.
