Proving Her Strength: The Partisan and Gendered Implications of Legislative Obstruction

Why do some legislators continue to obstruct despite public support for compromise? We suggest that legislator gender and voter partisanship are key but often overlooked determinants of how voters process obstructive behaviors by legislators. Since Republicans value masculinity more than Democrats, and obstruction is a masculine behavior, we theorize that Republicans are more likely to reward obstructive behavior, especially from women legislators who are presumed to be less masculine. Using a conjoint experiment, we find evidence supporting our theory. Republicans evaluate women legislators more negatively until the perceived obstructiveness of their behavior increases. Meanwhile, perceived obstructiveness has no gendered effects among Democrats. These results suggest that Republican women should be more likely to endorse obstruction, which we find evidence of by analyzing email newsletters issued by members of the US House and Senate from 2009 to 2020. These findings explain partisan and gendered asymmetries in obstructive behaviors that counter conventional notions that women are disproportionately consensus builders.