Leadership Quarterly Political Leader

Think Political Leader — Think He or She? A Multi-Country Test of a Gender-Fair Language Intervention to Reduce Gendered Leadership Stereotypes

Kim Peters, Alma Jeftić, Timothy Ballard, Steven Zhou, Niklas K. Steffens, Ilke Inceoglu, Michelle K. Ryan, Renata Bongiorno, Alice Eagly, Patrícia Arriaga, Agustin Espinosa, Balazs Aczel, Adeyemi Adetula, Salvatore M. Aglioti, Ece Akca, Emine Akman Direkçi, Zahra Alizadeh, Itziar Alonso-Arbiol, Muhammad Fahizza Amru, John Andre, Raquel António, Uğur Arcagök, Nwadiogo Chisom Arinze, Romina Asadollahpour, Gayane Alberty Asatryan, Muhammed Sukru Aydin, Bülent Aykutoğlu, Parisa Azimisefat, Soufian Azouaghe, Sercan Balım, Gabriel Baník, Krystian Barzykowski, Maja Becker, Nora C.G. Benningstad, Julia Berenguer, Monika Bidzan-Wiącek, Bartosz Błaszczak, Ricardo Borges Rodrigues, Islam Borinca, Leanne Boucher, Sarah Boukarras, Mustapha Boulahya, Olcay Bozkuş-Demir, Mark J. Brandt, Fabrice Brodard, Hilmar Brohmer, Erin M. Buchanan, Jacek Buczny, Mehmet Fatih Bükün, Moa Bursell, Andrea Buscemi, Muhammad Mussaffa Butt, Angelica Caicedo-Moreno, Cinzia Calluso, Selin Metin Camgöz, Octav Sorin Candel, Thomas Castelain, Pablo Castro-Abril, Müge Cavdan, Trawin Chaleeraktrakoon, Abdelilah Charyate, Jennifer Chavanovanich, Mohammed Cherradi, Peilian Chi, Phatthanakit Chobthamkit, Shalini Choudhary, Çağla Çınar, Heather M. Claypool, Sharon Coen, W. Matthew Collins, Nadia Sarai Corral-Frías, Cleno Couto, Mioara Cristea, Wilson Cyrus-Lai, Anna Dalla Rosa, Trac Vu Dang, Maria Giovanna Devetag, Bojana M. Dinić, Terence D. Dores Cruz, Andrei Dumbravă, Julia Dykla-Bień, Clare Ellen Edge, Sina Eftekhari, Youssef El Mottaleb, Christian T. Elbæk, Cécile Emery, Simona Epure, Thomas R. Evans, Zuzanna Farny, Shameem Fatima, Mario Muhammad Noer Fauzan, Katharina Fellnhofer, Tommaso Feraco, Ángela Fernández-Canseco, Ludovic Ferrand, Paulo Roberto dos Santos Ferreira, Silvia Filippi, Sam Fluit, Raquel Meister Ko Freitag, Martha Frias-Armenta, Althea Frisanco, Katalin Füzér, Linda Isis Garcia-Estrada, Karla Alejandra Garduño-Realivazquez, Agata Gasiorowska, Janet Geipel, Sophie Gerdel, Isabella Giammusso, Vaitsa Giannouli, Konstantinos Giannoulis, Fenne J.J. Gijzen, Magali Ginet, Lola Girerd, Ilka Helene Gleibs, Hendrik Godbersen, Taylor Gogan, Leticia Horbach Gonçalves, Amélie Gourdon-Kanhukamwe, Franca Grafe, Hedy Greijdanus, Rashmi Gupta, Hande Guzel, Pascal Gygax, Constantinos Hadjichristidis, Soufiane Haffou, Marius Duhović Hafstad, Mina Hagen, Peter Halama, Emma Halfmann, Paul H.P. Hanel, Eric M. Hansen, Adriana Hanulíková, Samantha M. Harris, Claire M. Hart, Levke Henningsen, Pentti Henttonen, Gabriela Hofer, Caan Hollenbach, Xiaoya Huang, Joevarian Hudiyana, Kotomi Ideishi, Izabella Ilea, Hirotaka Imada, Moritz Ingendahl, Natalia C. Irrazabal, Chris Isloi, Izuchukwu Lawrence G. Ndukaihe, Lea Jakob, Kigobe Janeth, Hansori Jang, Candela I. Jantus, Juan Rafael Juarez, Nina M. Junker, Pavol Kačmár, Asahi Kanisawa, Alper Karababa, Muhammed Enes Karacoşkun, Gizem Karadeniz, Karlijn Massar, Ahmed Khaoudi, Ji Hye Kim, Mikyoung Kim, SeungMin Kim, Andrew Kloeden, Nadine Knab, Michal Kohút, Büşra Kök, Marta Kowal, Tomas Kratochvil, Clara Kulich, Eva Kundtová Klocová, Bahtım Kütük, Anna O. Kuzminska, Duc Anh La, Kelly Ka Lai Lam, Claus Lamm, Jose M. León-Pérez, Badolo Bawala Léopold, Savannah C. Lewis, Claire Linares, Delila Lisica, Zhiyu Liu, Morgana Lizzio-Wilson, Wilson López-López, Winnifred R. Louis, Jackson G. Lu, Jessica Mesmer-Magnus, Behrooz Mahmoodi-Bakhtiari, Annette Malapally, Klara Malinakova, Winfrida Saimon Malingumu, Nihal Mamatoğlu, Nguyen Duc Manh, Diego Manríquez-Robles, Efisio Manunta, João Mariano, Chloé Marie, Marco Marozzi, Magdalena A. Marszałek, Edurne Martinez-Moreno, Delphine Martinot, Marcel Martončik, Yuya Maruo, Katarina Mašić Đonlić, Buffie McCue-Quinn, Anahita Mehdinejad, Ezgi Mehmetoglu Comert, Zdenek Meier, Ewout H. Meijer, Ethan Meimoun, Yuliana G. Melkumyan, Julie Mellul, Irem Metin-Orta, Linaja Mikalonis, Alberto Mirisola, Katarina Mišetić, Michal Misiak, Maria Montefinese, Nicole Moore, Mahmoud Moradi, Eva Moreno-Bella, Lamya Mouhssine, Annakarina Mundorf, Houdaifa Nadif, Joaquin Navajas, Eduardo Navarrete, Brett H. Neely Jr, Thuc Hien T. Nguyen, Thi Loan Nguyen, Elena-Gabriela Balint, Milica Ninković, J. Lukas Thürmer, Lukas Novak, Annika Nübold, Armelle Nugier, Ellen K. Nyhus, Boglarka Nyul, Brian A. O'Shea, William G. Obenauer, Chisom E. Ogbonnaya, Oluyinka Ojedokun, Josefine Østergaard R. Pedersen, Begum Otken, Tobias Otterbring, Nestor Motemba Ouoba, Fatih Özdemir, Asil Ali Özdoğru, Gökçe Özkılıçcı, Mariola Paruzel-Czachura, Freya L. Pedersen, Ivana Pedović, Marija Pejičić, Mehmet Peker, Sofia Pelica, Narumol Petchthip, Aino Petterson, Stefan Pfattheicher, Ivana Piterová, Ekaterina Pronizius, Oara Prundeanu, Katarzyna Pypno-Blajda, Alain Quiamzade, Jannes Luka Rebel, Sandrine Redersdorff, Sara Redlingshöfer, Sylwiusz Retowski, Andres Felipe Reyes, Azalea Reyes-Aguilar, Gianni Ribeiro, Gabriela Řičařová, Céline Robert, S. Craig Roberts, Marta A. Roczniewska, Jan Philipp Röer, Anette Rohmann, Erika J. Rosenberger, Robert M. Ross, Leopold Helmut Otto Roth, Susana Ruiz-Fernandez, Shawn M. Russell, Shaho Sabbar, Fatima Zahra Sahli, Guro R. Sanden, Costanza Scaffidi Abbate, Sarina J. Schäfer, Kathleen Schmidt, Julia Schnepf, Sebastian L. Schorch, Sofía Schwartz-Salazar, Karolina Aleksandra Scigala, Ingvild Müller Seljeseth, Esra Cansu Şen-Gümüştaş, Amir Sepehri, Astghik Serobyan, Shaul Shalvi, Anna Siegler, Michal Silberg, Slavka Silberg, Emina Sinanović, Samuel Liljaharju, Lea Skewes, Adam R. Smith, Çağlar Solak, Fatih Sonmez, Agnieszka Sorokowska, Piotr Sorokowski, Jakub Šrol, Franziska A. Stanke, Andreas Stenling, Ian D. Stephen, Julia Stern, Daniel Storage, Anna M. Studzińska, Jihyun Suh, Caterina Suitner, Barnabas Szaszi, Alicja Jadwiga Szmidka, Ewa Szumowska, Olivia B. Szwinge, Susanne Tafvelin, Ruri Takizawa, Hande Tasa, Theodosios Tasios, Peter Tavel, Julian Tejada, Ahmet Temel, Passagorn Tevichapong, Yukari Jessica Tham, Marija Todosijević, Natalia L. Tome, Fernando Tonini, Mathilde H. Tønnesen, Sergio C. Torres, Panagiota Tragantzopoulou, Bastien Trémolière, Jarno Tuominen, Jil Ullenboom, Özden Melis Uluğ, Andreea Ursu, Anna Elisabeth van ’t Veer, David C. Vaidis, Suzanne van Gils, Leigh Ann Vaughn, Marta Vercillo, Michelangelo Vianello, Maria Elena Villarreal Gonzalez, Orsolya Vincze, Vivian dos Santos Miranda, Susanne Vogel, Tomas Vojtisek, Ulrica von Thiele Schwarz, Marek Vranka, Bich-Phuong Vu, Radosław B.Walczak, Guilherme Welter Wendt, Rahmadina Syarafina Wibowo, James S. Williams, Mirella Wojciechowska, Pujith Niel Wood, Deborah J. Wu, Qingyang Wu, Mariel Pauliina Wuolio, Ziqian Xia, Tao Yang, Chunhui Yang, Jane Jingyao Yang, Jinquan Ye, Niyayesh Yousefi-Gerakouhi, Ümran Yüce-Selvi, Whinda Yustisia, Daniela Victoria Zaharia, Inesa Zayets, Agata Zdun-Ryżewska, Przemyslaw Zdybek, Xian Zhao, Wang Zheng, Janis H. Zickfeld, Radka Zidkova, and Artur Ziółkowski

Women are greatly underrepresented in positions of political leadership around the world. In seeking to explain this underrepresentation, some researchers have pointed to people's tendencies to stereotype leaders as more similar to men than women as these tendencies can support the belief that women are unsuited to leadership. This project aimed to test whether a subtle linguistic intervention was able to ameliorate this gender bias in political leadership stereotypes across different languages and national contexts (country/region N = 42, language N = 30, sample N = 22,996). Specifically, this project examined whether gender-fair language (e.g., the use of paired pronouns ‘he or she’) can reduce the tendency for people to stereotype political leaders as more similar to men than women. To increase the rigor with which these stereotypes were measured, this project complemented the dominant ‘cheap talk’ measure of personal stereotype content with an incentivised community measure of this content. As expected, participants stereotyped political leaders as more similar to men than women; this pattern was stronger on the incentivised measure of community stereotypes. Unexpectedly, there was no evidence that paired pronouns reduced this bias (there was weak exploratory evidence that paired nouns increased participants' tendencies to stereotype political leaders as more similar to women). This project suggests that the ability of gender-fair language interventions to ameliorate gender bias in the political leadership domain may be limited.

Citation: Peters, K., Jeftić, A., Ballard, T., Zhou, S., Steffens, N. K., Inceoglu, I., Ryan, M. K., Bongiorno, R., Eagly, A., Arriaga, P., Espinosa, A., Aczel, B., Adetula, A., Aglioti, S. M., Akca, E., Akman Direkçi, E., Alizadeh, Z., Alonso-Arbiol, I., Amru, M. F., . . . , Ziółkowski, A. (2026). Think political leader — think he or she? A multi-country test of a gender-fair language intervention to reduce gendered leadership stereotypes. The Leadership Quarterly, 37(6), 101991. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2026.101991