Congressional Candidates' Photo Presentation on their Campaign Websites

Abstract

This article uses gender role theory to explain the way male and female candidates appeared in their campaign websites photographs during the 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2014 Congressional elections. The research question is “do male and female Congressional candidates appear dressed in suits in their campaign website photographs at different rates?” The analysis uses binary multivariate logistic regression to test the dependent variable (appear dressed in a suit), with gender being the main independent variable and region and party as dummy variables. The results report that both men and women appear dressed in business attire but the percentage of men that appear dressed in a suit is higher than that of women. Also, the percentage of Republican women that appear dressed in suits is higher than that of Democrat women.