Status Threat and Young Men's Opposition to Legislative Gender Qutoa

Despite the increasing efforts to implement legislative gender quotas, many countries still encounter substantial popular opposition against this policy. Previous work cannot explain why opposition to legislative gender quotas persists, particularly among young men, who are believed to be open to diversity. We develop and test a theoretical framework linking men’s perceived status threat to their attitudes toward legislative gender quotas. While men’s perceptions of status threat could trigger opposition to legislative gender quotas, we expect that this effect will be more profound among young men due to a heightened degree of economic insecurity. Using an original survey experiment in South Korea, this study demonstrates the strong influence of status threat in the formation of negative attitudes toward legislative gender quotas among young men. However, these effects are not mediated by traditional gender norms. Our findings present significant implications for the study of gender and politics and democratic representation.