Probably not! I meant ii/ a sacrificial lamb slaughtered for the sake of Mulroney's sins. The first (i) is to do with her sexuality used for potentially positive reasons, the second (ii) to do with a woman carrying the blame for male failure. I suppose this is still using her sexuality, but now for negative reasons.
Or am I talking nonsense? It is late here after all...
Chris
It's a very interesting idea-- the female leader as a "lamb to slaughter." I examined it in my data set and found it happens occasionally in parliamentary democracies. Particularly in the post-Soviet sphere, women would serve as prime minister for only a few months at a time (3, 5, 6 months or fewer) following the resignation of a prior party leader, then lose an election.
Interestingly, this is also true in presidential systems-- women are significantly more likely to be interim presidents than permanent presidents. The shortest interim president, in South Africa, served just eight hours!
My working theory is that there's an unspoken belief women who are appointed to these temporary positions will not betray the party in order to cling to power. They're presented as "safe, cautious picks" that will fall into line if the electorate rejects them-- perhaps more than a man would? It speaks to the gender perceptions in politics!
You see, my problem is that I never have had a data set! I'm either on the ball or not. Bonkers or a little insightful. The later, I hope, in this case! Thanks for your response, it's interesting and much appreciated.
Any thoughts on Maggie?
Chris
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