Youth and beauty start to play part in election race

“THE posters are definitely different to what people usually see” – Councillor Sarah Ryan, 25, is slow to admit it but being young, female and good looking is helping her and others like her, get noticed in the local election campaign.

It will take a few days before Sarah knows if she will hold her seat in Dublin City Council. But she has already succeeded in one poll – the Boylesports’ unashamedly macho “foxiest candidate” vote – where she comes in a close second behind her local rival, Labour’s Maria Parodi, also 25.

A European election candidate, Sinn Fein’s Toireasa Ferris, also made headlines in this campaign when a Spanish newspaper voted her as one of the 10 most beautiful politicians in the world.

The days are gone when a person would “vote for a pig if their party put one up” as one voter was famously quoted saying in the 1950s. The local elections have become something of a beauty contest with research showing a superficiality and ageism creeping into the voting patterns of the Irish electorate.

In what has been a relatively dull campaign, the old stories about local rivalries and spats at the cross roads have been replaced with candidate “hot lists”.

The otherwise dull election campaign last week threw up a Facebook picture of FG candidate, Emma Kiernan, on a night out with friends with another girl’s hands on her breasts.

While all this publicity might get some good looking candidates noticed for the wrong reasons, the question to be answered on Friday is whether beauty can win votes or if being too pretty can be a hindrance in politics.

Being good-looking confers a lot of advantages for people. They earn more money (known as the beauty premium), have better career prospects, are more likely to be happy and, just to stick the knife in, are more successful in getting bank loans according to the latest study (good looking people are also more likely to have research done on how fortunate they are).

But what are the advantages it confers on politicians and is there such thing as a political beauty premium? The Boylesports poll found that 43% of respondents believe a candidate’s appearance would influence their voting decision, with over a third saying they would vote for someone solely based on how they looked. But this theory is extended further than the talk down in the bookies, with an increasing number of academics trying to prove that looks win votes.

Research from University College Cork (UCC) after the last local elections found that young female candidates perform better when their photo appears on the ballot paper, as has been the case in recent elections.

Researchers presented ballot papers from Dublin City Council to more than 650 voters in Cork who would not have been familiar with the candidates. They were more likely to vote for younger and female candidates. Three of their top five preferences were elected in the real poll. The researchers concluded that Irish local elections are becoming a beauty contest with increasing emphasis on candidate appearance and presentation.

Female voters also displayed a strong preference for young, attractive male candidates and the eldest looking candidate on the ballot paper was the worst performer.

The researchers said the findings show that “the drift to superficiality across society is now being reflected in the political arena” and that “ageism is an emerging trend in Irish politics”.

How does this explain the fact that females, young and old, are significantly underrepresented in county and city councils which are still dominated by older males? One of the main reasons for this is that there are far fewer female candidates on the ballot paper (less than 20% in these elections) and fewer younger candidates. Incumbents, councillors already holding seats, are also at a far greater electoral advantage.

But more recent research shows another important factor at play. Studies by the Northwestern University based on the 2006 US congressional elections, showed that woman’s chance of getting voted in depended on the perception of their competence combined with their attractiveness.

This compares with male candidates where perception of competence is the main factor with attractiveness a significantly lesser consideration. This means a double requirement on females.

This is borne out by political females in history and mythology who all share the common trait of being beautiful and extremely powerful: Helen of Troy, Cleopatra and our own sea queen of Connaught, Gráinne Mhaol.

The study found that voters perceived the faces of male politicians as more competent and dominant relative to female politicians. But good looks were almost all that mattered when it came to predicting men’s votes for female candidates.

But that doesn’t mean that female politicians will always face an unspoken attractiveness test by voters. Data showed that exposure to female politicians in high ranks tends to reduce these stereotypes over time. With just 13% female representation in the Dáil, Irish society might hold on to this stereotype for a while longer.

With endless research showing that “gut instinct” is a major deciding factor when voters go to the polling stations this Friday, such unconscious factors as a mental “hot list” might come into play for what is beginning to look like the superficial, sexist and ageist Irish electorate.