Abstract
Traditional gender roles, gendered political institutions and resource inequities disincentivise women’s participation in formal politics. This article analyses the Brazilian case – where women comprise 9.2 per cent of federal legislators elected since 1994 – to illustrate the centrality of resources in shaping candidate emergence. I examine how entrepreneurial elections, which incentivise intra-party competition and expensive campaigns, have sustained white men’s dominance in Brazilian political institutions and deterred white and Afro-Brazilian women’s political ambition. Using the latest data on campaign finance in Brazilian legislative elections, I explain how recent campaign finance reforms and a series of injustices provoking women’s emotive power yielded important resources catalysing the candidacies of women, especially Black women. The findings suggest that defraying campaign costs offers a potent mechanism for levelling the playing field, and remind us that women’s political ambition is shaped by their ‘relationally embedded’ risk assessment, constrained in no small part by the masculinised ethos of party politics.
Published Version
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