Gender Clouds Women's Clout As Politicians

If this brings to mind a picture of sweaty guys in boxing gloves, think again. The two candidates - Republican Betsy Cochrane and Democrat Bev Perdue - are women. But don't assume these candidates are afraid to take off their little white gloves.

Cochrane has come under fire in recent weeks for a campaign advertisement that Perdue's camp says is blatantly untrue.

The ad implies that as chairwoman of the N.C. Senate Appropriations Committee, Perdue was responsible for holding up taxpayer refunds to compensate for a budget shortfall.

Billy Warden, Perdue's spokesman, said the ad is inaccurate and hypocritical. "It's the most distorted ad of this political season," he said.

But Cochrane's supporters respond that the ad is not part of a negative campaign.

Cochrane campaign manager Susan Myrick said the spot accurately blames Perdue for allowing the budget shortfall resulting in the tax refund delay. "The ads we have on TV are issue-oriented, not personal attacks," Myrick said. "Some people may think they're negative, but we're not saying someone has done something when they haven't."

And while Myrick said some viewers called her with positive responses, others see the ad in a different light.

Ed Litt, a former political science professor at the University of Connecticut who now lives in Chapel Hill, said he has seen several of Cochrane's ads, including the one in question. "A couple were pretty negative ads," Litt said. "She was tough. This isn't a League of Women Voters kind of commercial. I don't think I'd want to meet her in a bar."

If the candidate in question were a man, I don't think his toughness would be under consideration.

At issue here is not whether Cochrane's advertisements are negative, but how she's perceived for them.

Female candidates' negative ads unfortunately often evoke a different public response than similar ads by men. "If you look at this as iconography, women just have a different set of icons than men," said Rachel Gorlin, an elections media consultant.

"It's the Madonna versus David, if you will, and those preconceptions are not based on the candidate. Because women are seen as `softer' or `less hard-edged', when a woman does attack, it conjures up catfight images."

What's more, such an ad might even reflect poorly on a woman's character. "Extrapolating from research, it's conceivable that voters might be disappointed by negative advertising by women," said UNC political science Professor Pam Conover. "What she puts on the line is what advantage she might have in being caring and compassionate."

A race between two women also brings to light other stereotypes about female politicians.

Gorlin said planning a campaign strategy for this kind of race is tough because the public has preconceived notions of women candidates' positions on issues.

She said that in head-to-head competitions, Democratic female candidates had a difficult time distinguishing themselves from their GOP counterparts because voters assume that all women are pro-choice and pro-education.

In fact, both Perdue and Cochrane place a high priority on education in their platforms.

But Myrick said this race should be a good learning experience for voters who lump female candidates together.

"If you have two women running, you can't say `she's a woman and she stands for this.' Voters have to ask `what does this woman stand for and what does this woman stand for?'"

Over the last 20 years, both Cochrane and Perdue have distinguished themselves in the state Senate as extremely effective legislators.

Not female legislators. Legislators.

Women have been a part of state government in North Carolina since 1921. It's time we stop coloring their actions with gender.

Columnist Anne Fawcett can be reached at fawcetta@hotmail.com.