When Do Women Collaborate? Explaining Between-Chamber Variation

Abstract

“There is an impressive party discipline that dominates individual members who are part of that political party.” – Female Deputy, Jujuy, 2009 Party discipline is key to understanding legislative dynamics. In Chapter 2, I argued that women have incentives to collaborate more frequently than men with female colleagues to exert their influence on the legislative process. Nonetheless, not all women have the same opportunities to collaborate. In particular, some institutional contexts – such as the extreme party discipline described in the quote above – permit party leaders to constrain legislative behavior and disincentivize legislators from behaving independently of their political parties. In the case of Jujuy, a deputy describes one such environment in which political parties exercise absolute control over legislative behavior. “In the majority party, there are four or five who lead and direct the issues. The rest have to support them. They can present projects, but [party leaders] don't encourage it.” Given that women are typically absent from leadership, they likely wield very little influence in the chamber. Women may even be discouraged from introducing new issues to the legislative agenda or collaborating with female legislators in their own political parties. Instead, they are expected to toe the party line and provide unwavering support for party leaders. As the deputy from Jujuy sees it, “[Party leaders] end up eliminating the possibility for debates that enrich and cultivate different views – even debates within [their own parties].” Moreover, when political institutions give party leaders substantial control over legislators’ behavior, party leaders have very little tolerance for behavior that may be viewed as disloyal. In such environments, party leaders do not allow any disagreement from rank-and-file members. “Legislators can be very angry or even opposed to their part[ies], but the party discipline is very strong. There are legislators who are part of the majority party who have not opened their mouth[s]; they don't speak.” She indicates that legislators do not openly challenge party leaders. When legislators disagree with party leaders, their only option is to abstain from the discussion. In Chapter 2, I explained that strong party constraints of this nature limit women's legislative collaboration. Nonetheless, such uncompromising party discipline is not constant across all Argentine settings; rather, there is considerable variation both between and within legislative chambers.