Examining Women’s Experiences on the Campaign Trail: Campaign Ethnographies in English Local Elections 2022 & a Parliamentary By-Election. A Pilot Study for TWICEASGOOD

Abstract

Local elections are an important feature of the electoral calendar. The provide an opportunity for voters to express preferences for local leaders, to hold incumbent councils and councilors accountable and they can also serve as referendums on the national government. To be a candidate in a local election requires a great deal of commitment, long hours of campaigning, contesting a local party selection process and negotiating often fractious local politics. During the campaign leading up to the 2022 English local elections, we conducted a pilot study for our European Commission funded project on women’s political leadership. Our objective was to establish whether quick campaign ethnographies (e.g., shadowing candidates, observing campaign events) was feasible, identify challenges and opportunities and assessing whether candidates would engage with our research. This report summarises our methods and initial key findings. We are grateful to our participants as through their engagement we were able to meet our objectives. Additionally, they also lead us to a deeper understanding of the campaign process which we would not have achieved without their participation.