The increase in women candidates representing the Republican Party (GOP) is a monumental step in increasing representation through all sectors of the political field. The 2018 midterm elections are an example of this increased representation. There are record-breaking numbers of women holding seats in Congress. How are these women running, what is their tactic, and how do they stand against their male counterparts in elections? Republican women have, in large numbers, used tactics that portray traditional masculine characters while also emphasizing being a woman who has it all.
Women running for the Republican Party are making a noteworthy step in achieving equal representation in Congress and beyond, but because of gendered stereotypes enforced by groups of Republican voters they have faced significant obstacles. Their ability to balance family life and leadership is consistently doubted and questioned. The historic lack of women’s participation in politics is vital in conceptualizing the tactics modern Republican women candidates have used in order to stand a chance against their incumbents and prove to their voters they can ‘have it all.’
The elections of 2020 exemplify the scope of women’s representation in the GOP party and what that may mean for the future. More than 200 Republican women candidates filed, 48 of whom were nominees for the U.S. House. However, this story shouldn’t be thought of as if they ran and won, but rather, how they ran and won. Women running for the Democratic Party’s platform have taken similar approaches, so what is it that differentiates Republican women’s campaigning tactics?
Meeting masculine expectations has been an obstacle all Republican and Democratic women candidates have had to face. Senator Victoria Spartz, a Republican nominee in Indiana’s 5th Congressional District, launched a campaign with an ad that was titled “Fighter.” She is described as being “tough”, “driven” and “relentless” while running on a treadmill, doing strength workouts, and putting on boxing gloves.
Conservative candidates have used their strong commitment to the Second Amendment as a guiding method of portraying toughness. This has been done primarily through gun imagery in campaign advertisements. Majorie Greene, of Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, was filmed shooting a high-powered gun at targets that symbolized gun control, the Green New Deal, and socialism. “The symbolism of guns is both ideological and gendered, often used to convey conservative bona fides as well as toughness via a tool of brute force,” explains Professor Kelly Dittmar.
Another method seen through these campaign tactics was noticeably highlighting their distinct gendered experience. In an ad titled “Texas Woman,” Genevieve Collins explains that being a Texas woman means you can shoot a gun, clean the house, cook your kill and then be in a board meeting right after.
These few examples epitomize the methods many Republican women have taken during their campaigning trail. They are using masculine-seeming approaches and, for example, emphasizing how the “Texas women” does it all. Although how has this been perceived among Republican voters?
Stay-at-home mothers are one of the leading voting groups for the Republican Party who are most skeptical of women’s ability to balance office-holding positions with their family responsibilities. This has been a historic barrier for women running for the Republican Party, a barrier that is hard to break because of ingrained beliefs of gender roles within society. Moreover, this demographic of voters is thought to be the most reliable Republican voting group, so to have what could be your leading group of supporters questioning your ability as a woman to balance having a family and being a leader is quite demoralizing.
There are more Republican women than ever running for office—which must be recognized as a step in a direction all parties want to achieve: equal representation in politics for all genders. Republican women have portrayed themselves as traditional masculine characters while also emphasizing a woman who has it all. This has given them some popularity, although has also confronted them with skeptical Republican voters questioning if they really can do it all, or if they should stay home and continue with their “traditional duties” as a woman. Throughout history, women have been told they must stay home, and that their duty as a woman is to take care of the children and the home. These confined norms have been broken, though large numbers of women, many of which tend to vote conservatively, still believe these gendered roles should be followed, causing them to doubt women who campaign and advertise themselves as being able to be a good mother and a strong leader. What will this mean for the future of women leaders in the Republican Party? How much does a woman have to do to prove to her own party that she’s just as well suited to hold a position in Congress as a man?
