Political Underrepresentation Research Articles

The Absence of an Institutional Framework as a Key for Understanding the Political Under-Representation of Women in Colombia

The Absence of an Institutional Framework as a Key for Understanding the Political Under-Representation of Women in Colombia

A STUDY ON THE CAUSES OF SEPARATE STATE DEMAND IN NORTH EAST INDIAN STATE OF TRIPURA

This article explores the socio-political dynamics and historical context leading to the demand for a separate state of Tipraland within Tripura, India, focusing on the indigenous Tiprasa peoples' aspirations for autonomy and cultural preservation. Originating from the establishment of the Indigenous People's Front of Twipra (IPFT) in 2009, the demand for Tipraland reflects a culmination of historical grievances, including the failure of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) to meet the indigenous community's needs, demographic shifts due to refugee influx from neighboring Bangladesh, and the erosion of indigenous cultural and linguistic identity. The article analyzes how these factors have contributed to a sense of alienation and marginalization among the Tiprasa people, further fueled by land alienation, linguistic hegemony, and political underrepresentation. It discusses the recent political developments under the leadership of Bubagra Prodyot Kishore Manikya and the formation of the TIPRA Motha party, highlighting their significant role in revitalizing the demand for a more inclusive Greater Tipraland. The study concludes with recommendations for the Government of India to address the complex interplay of refugee integration, indigenous rights, and regional autonomy to ensure the socio-political and economic wellbeing of the indigenous populations within a cohesive national framework. Through this analysis, the article contributes to the broader discourse on indigenous rights, migration, and state formation in northeast India, emphasizing the need for inclusive policies that recognize the unique challenges and aspirations of indigenous communities.

Limited supply: Youth underrepresentation in the Canadian House of Commons

Much of the research on youth representation focuses on the final stage of electoral recruitment: young peoples' presence in legislatures. We expand this scope using a supply and demand framework to document the representation of young people not only in parliament but also in the candidate stage that proceeds it. Drawing on an extensive dataset of more than 3000 candidates in Canadian federal elections from 2008 to 2021, we show that young peoples’ numerical underrepresentation is not primarily a function of voter discrimination but rather a result of the small number of young candidates who come forward. We find that limited youth representation in the candidate pool translates into low representation rates in parliament. These results suggest that efforts to ameliorate youth underrepresentation in politics must be attentive to supply-side issues, including party gatekeeping, resource constraints, political ambition, and the motivations for running for office.

Navigating the Labyrinth: Struggles and Triumphs of the Indian Women’s Movement

The paper highlights the dynamic nature of Indian feminism, emphasizing its diverse interpretations, intersectional approach, and unwavering commitment to achieving gender justice. It underscores the need for continued dialogue, critical analysis of successes and failures, and sustained efforts to dismantle the entrenched structures that perpetuate gendered inequalities. By exploring the ongoing struggles and celebrating the hard-won victories, this paper aims at inviting a deeper understanding of this ever-evolving movement and its crucial role in shaping India's future. Feminism in India is a vibrant, complex tapestry woven across centuries, marked by both remarkable progress and tenacious struggles. Rooted in colonial critiques and anti-patriarchal movements, Indian feminism has evolved into a multifaceted platform challenging gender inequalities across numerous fronts: economic disparity, political underrepresentation, social discrimination, and culture-specific injustices like dowry deaths and female infanticide. Its key achievements include constitutional guarantees of equality, landmark legislation like the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, and growing representation in education and the workforce. However, the fight for a truly equitable society remains an ongoing battle. Challenges like entrenched patriarchal norms, religious fundamentalism, and systemic injustices against marginalized communities, especially Dalit women and those in rural areas, continue to impede progress.

Founding Narratives and Men's Political Ambition: Experimental Evidence from US Civics Lessons

AbstractOne oft-cited reason for women's political underrepresentation is that women express less political ambition than men. We reframe the puzzle of women's ambition deficit, asking why men have an ambition surplus. Drawing on the concept of symbolic representation, we theorize that political symbols convey to men their capacity for exceptional political leadership. We test our expectations with a US-based survey experiment in which respondents watch one of three ‘two-minute civics lessons’. Men who watched a video featuring the accomplishments of the Founding Fathers reported significantly more political ambition than men assigned to the control group. Additional studies indicate that the effects are specific to the Founding Fathers (as compared to early American statesmen). Men are also more likely than women to identify the Founding Fathers as inspiring figures and to feel pride when considering them. Our findings suggest how history is told contributes to men's persistent political overrepresentation.

Issues and Challenges Associated with Women Empowerment in Present-Day Society

Women empowerment is a critical aspect of societal progress, yet women continue to face numerous challenges hindering their advancement. This article explores the present-day issues and obstacles that impede women's empowerment, encompassing economic disparities, limited access to education and healthcare, gender-based violence, and political underrepresentation. The article also examines the impact of cultural norms, online harassment, unpaid care work, and intersectionality on women's empowerment. By recognizing and addressing these challenges, society can work towards fostering gender equality and creating an inclusive environment that empowers women to realize their full potential.

Political Underrepresentation Among Public Benefits Recipients: Evidence from Linked Administrative Data

People receiving government assistance have personal stakes in the political process and intimate knowledge of policy implementation. However, data limitations have made it hard to measure voting among those receiving assistance across various programs. Using linked administrative data from a large county in Pennsylvania, merged with the Pennsylvania voter file, we calculate voting rates among benefits recipients. We find that people receiving means-tested benefits (cash assistance, food assistance, health insurance, disability benefits, childcare, and housing) vote at just over half the rate of other county residents (45% compared with 84% in 2020). In the 2020 election, public benefits recipients comprised over 20% of the voting-eligible population but only 12% of voters. To the extent that benefits recipients are more supportive of generous welfare policy than nonrecipients and more familiar with administrative burdens programs impose, this underrepresentation may obscure popular preferences for social welfare provision and shape politicians’ attentiveness to program design.

From online trolls to ‘Slut Shaming’: understanding the role of incivility and gender abuse in local government

ABSTRACT Fair political representation is an important goal of democratic governments, yet Australia lags behind many democracies in women’s representation in elected politics. Attacks against women in public spaces through harassment and verbal abuse have long constrained women’s ease in physical spaces and, in the digital age, this has extended into online spheres. This paper examines the impact of on- and offline incivility on women’s experiences in local politics. It focuses on Australia’s southern state of Victoria and its 79 local government municipalities. We conduct two surveys of men and women elected representatives (N1 = 222, N2 = 205) to determine their experiences during the campaigning period and first year on council. We follow up with in-depth interviews with women who have experienced gender harassment (n = 10) to further understand its impacts. We offer new insights in to a ‘push factor’ that contribute to women leaving elected local government and their political underrepresentation.

EXPLAINING THE RISE OF ALTERNATIVE FÜR DEUTSCHLAND (AFD) IN GERMANY WITH FAILED PROMISES OF UNIFICATION

The purpose of this paper is to explain the rise of a far-right political party, Alternative Für Deutschland (AfD), particularly in the eastern part of Germany, in relation to the failed promises of Unification in 1990. Despite the fact that a plethora of literature has primarily focused on the social consequences of immigration and populist rhetoric for the rise of the AfD in German politics since 2013, the paper critically questions why the AfD has a particularly stronghold in Germany's Neuen Länder (New States). The paper suggests, based on a political economy analysis that incorporates Durkheim's theory of anomie, that the gradual withdrawal of early euphoria in German Unification and its transformation into economic grievance and political distrust under neoliberalism has created anomic tensions in society, a condition that far-right politics can exploit. In other words, while German unification created euphoric expectations for the future, these expectations were not met under neoliberal conditions. It is, therefore, concluded that the persistence of unequal economic power between East and West Germany, as well as political underrepresentation of Eastern Germans, has exacerbated anomic tensions. As a result, the rise of the AfD is not a pathological issue, but rather can be explained in terms of unmet social demands among Germans.

The colours of lawmaking: ethno-racial descriptive representation in Mexico

ABSTRACT A growing body of empirical research in Latin America reveals a correlation between skin colour and disadvantages in income, health, education, and employment. The impact of skin colour in the political sphere, however, remains severely understudied. Is there any evidence to suggest racialised political underrepresentation in Latin America? To analyse the status of ethno-racial representation in Mexico, this paper uses the Classification Algorithm for Skin Colour (CASCo) to collect skin colour data of the (3,000) members of the last six legislatures of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies. The findings suggest that, while legislatures tend to be relatively diverse, positions of legislative leadership are unproportionally restricted to legislators with light skin colour. This article not only provides much-needed empirical data on the political impact of skin colour in Latin America, but it reveals the sociocultural complexities of the political underrepresentation of racialised groups in Mexico.

How gender shapes the experience of running for office: A comparative study of women and men candidates from Bolivia's local and national elections (2020−2021)

Are the experiences of running for political office affected by the candidate's gender? In order to address why there might be gender imbalances in the election of political representatives, it is imperative to study the process by which they are selected and elected. Latin America is an important region to study because women's representation increased significantly over the past decades due to quota laws. These laws have been introduced as a solution for women's political underrepresentation. However, despite improving women's descriptive representation by increasing the number of women candidates, it is not clear if quotas have an effect on the selection and campaign experiences of women running for office. Drawing from 36 interviews with women and men candidates for national (with quotas) and local (without quotas) elections in Bolivia, this paper offers evidence of gender’s prevalence in defining how women and men candidates approach and experience the electoral process differently. Regarding candidates' selection, the presence of quotas increases the demand for women, enhancing the value of their particular background. Yet, parties still retain a gate-keeping role over women's candidacies. When they are not forced to nominate women, they tend to select men and prefer women with trajectories similar to their male counterparts. Moreover, quota laws do not reduce voters' gender bias. Women still walk a thin line between the negative and positive consequences of their gender. On the one hand, because they are women, candidates are perceived as transparent and capable of redistributing goods and administrating the economy. On the other hand, contrary to men, women's leadership is constantly questioned. And, as this paper reveals, they even face backlash that stems from other women's wrongdoings.

Why do Post-Civil War Countries Fast-Track Gender Quotas? The Case of Nepal

The rise in women’s legislative representation is globally evident. Both developed and developing countries have implemented gender quotas to address women’s political underrepresentation. But in recent decades, postwar developing countries have been at the forefront of quota adoption. This article examines why postwar developing countries fast-track1 the adoption of gender quotas after the civil war. By analyzing the case of Nepal, this study shows that war-induced gender disruption and women’s deep-rooted and persistent activism combined with the support of the international community enabled Nepali women to enter new political spaces after the war. Moreover, it illustrates that international influences alone may not be sufficient to promote gender quotas in postwar societies without a mobilization by the national women’s movement.

Dirty politics and political care in local politics: gendered barriers to moral boundary crossing in Dehradun, India

ABSTRACT ‘Politics is dirty’ is a truism, a taken-for-granted reality in much of the world, particularly in India. Its implications are likewise seen as inescapable. Scholarship examining women’s political underrepresentation often cites the ‘dirty’ nature of democratic politics as a key disincentive for women to participate. While not disputing that politics is, in some respects, ‘dirty’, I question the mechanisms through which it is said to hinder women’s political representation. Drawing upon ethnographic research with female party workers and elected municipal councillors in Dehradun, North India, I analyse how ‘dirty politics’ positions women as ‘out of place’ within the political realm. While both men and women engage in acts of political care, men can more easily transgress the boundaries between them, straddling both ‘dirty politics’ and a ‘politics of care’. This production of the ‘political’ as a realm unsuitable for women or mismatched with their activities, is one factor contributing to the underrepresentation of women in politics in South Asia, and beyond.

Women and Political Inequality in Japan: Gender Imbalanced Democracy

Women and Political Inequality in Japan: Gender-Imbalanced Democracy explores the causes of female political underrepresentation in Japan. As the author rightly notes, this puzzle has become increasingly perplexing as Japan’s comparative performance in terms of female representation in national legislatures has continued to decline, with Japan falling from 79th out of 177 countries in 1997 in terms of female representation to 165th out of 193 countries in 2019, according to the Inter-parliamentary Union (5, 183). That is, while many countries have taken on the UN’s call to increase female representation (in all sectors), Japan’s actions as well as its inaction in some areas have led to comparative decline as the lowest ranking OECD country in terms female representation (5). As the book’s subtitle implies, and its introductory chapter argues, the significance of the lack of progress is that gender inequality in the political realm impedes democracy. Eto asserts, ‘improving women’s legislative status will strengthen Japan’s democracy by transforming it into a more open and inclusive sphere of politics’ (11).

Gendered times: how gendered contexts shape campaign messages of female candidates

Abstract We develop and test a theory of gendered political times, which argues that the gendered political climate during an election shapes the extent to which female candidates emphasize feminine or masculine traits in campaign messages. We measure gendered electoral contexts through rigorous analyses of public opinion data and news media content of the top issues during an election, and we complement these data with an analysis of the gendered traits candidates emphasize in campaign messages during U.S. congressional election cycles from 2000 through 2018. Our results suggest that feminine electoral contexts do not necessarily lead female candidates, or male candidates, to rely on feminine traits. We find that masculine electoral contexts lead female candidates to rely more heavily on feminine traits. Our results have important implications for understanding the forces that shape the way candidates develop strategic campaign messages, and the factors that ultimately influence women’s under-representation in politics.

Politisches Damengambit – Wahrnehmungen und subjektive Ursachen weiblicher Unterrepräsentanz im Landtag Mecklenburg- Vorpommerns

Why do women parliamentarians perceive the issue of female underrepresentation in parliaments and politics as a problem at all? This question arises directly from Hanna Fenichel Pitkins assessment that it remains unclear to what extent descriptive forms of representation can be considered purposeful or effective for political decision-making and representation processes . Building on discussions in democratic theory, our qualitative interview study among women parliamentarians of the eighth legislative period of the state parlia- ment of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (since 2021) addresses this question from a practical perspective . Based on the subjective causes for persistent female underrepresentation, which mainly refer to institutional and cultural aspects as well as the compatibility of family and job or mandate, four modes of argumentation for the phenomenon could be outlined: (1) formal-descriptive, (2) substantive-descriptive, (3) cultural-discursive as well as (4) no perception of the problem .

It's about the type of career: The political ambition gender gap among youth wing members

AbstractOne of the main supply‐side explanations for women's underrepresentation in politics is the gender gap in nascent political ambition. While this has been examined in terms of electoral ambition, the aspiration to pursue non‐electoral careers within parties has been overlooked. In our study, we therefore investigate whether both types of ambition – electoral and non‐electoral – vary among young women and men participating in a key entry point for political careers in Western democracies: party youth wings. To do so, we surveyed almost 2,000 members of six centre‐left and centre‐right youth wings in Australia, Italy and Spain. We find that while, as expected, women in youth wings display lower levels of electoral ambition, they are almost as likely as men to express non‐electoral ambition. Furthermore, and contrary to our expectations, we show that women in centre‐right youth wings are no less interested in pursuing electoral and non‐electoral political careers than women in centre‐left ones. Our study thus provides new insights into the gendered nature of political ambition, highlighting that women's lower interest in electoral office does not necessarily reflect reduced interest in a political career.

Women Mayors in Slovakia

In Slovakia, the evidence reports women underrepresentation in local politics. In this paper, the spatial insight to the numeric women representation in local governments at the position of the mayor (elected local authority) in Slovakia in recent 20 years is given. The aim of the paper is to identify the areas, where the representation of women mayors is the most evident and how it evolves in time. For better visibility of results on the map, local data for 2,924 local governments (municipalities) are aggregated to the district level (79 districts at LAU1) and the shares of women mayors on all mayors in a district are displayed for five election periods since 2002. Results confirm the increasing trend of women representation in local governments. Beside it, they unveil that the increase of the portion of women mayors is observed firstly in the south – center part and edge north-eastern part of Slovakia. These areas are characterized by high fragmentation of residential structure, low GDP per capita and higher ethnolinguistic fragmentation. Then the increase of women representation in local governments subsequently continued in south-eastern and south-western part of Slovakia.

Explaining women's political underrepresentation in democracies with high levels of corruption

AbstractMany democracies with high levels of corruption are also characterized by low levels of women's political representation. Do women candidates in democracies with high levels of corruption face overt voter discrimination? Do gender dynamics that are unique to highly corrupt, democratic contexts influence citizens’ willingness to vote for women? We answer these questions using two separate sets of experiments conducted in Ukraine: two vignette experiments and a conjoint analysis. In line with existing cross-sectional research on Ukraine, our experiments reveal little evidence of direct voter bias against women candidates. Our conjoint analysis also offers novel insights into the preferences of Ukrainian voters, showing that both men and women voters place a great deal of value in anti-corruption platforms, but voters are just as likely to support women and men candidates who say they will fight corruption. Our analysis suggests that women's political underrepresentation in highly corrupt contexts is driven more by barriers that prevent women from winning party nominations and running for office in the first place, rather than overt discrimination at the polls.

Gender bias in political candidate evaluation among voters: The role of party support and political gender attitudes

To explain women's underrepresentation in politics, supply-side factors receive much empirical support, emphasizing the low numbers of women on the ballot. Whether demand from voters also contributes to the problem is less clear, however, as both observational and experimental research shows that average voters are not less likely to vote for women candidates. We argue that voters actually do play a role, although not all voters to an equal extent. More precisely, we expect the gender bias in the electorate to be conditional upon partisanship and propose two mechanisms through which this materializes: political gender attitudes and/or gender stereotypes. Although the conditionality of voters' gender bias based upon partisanship is convincingly shown to exist in the US, much less is known about it in the European context, while its multi-party political systems lend themselves well for a more detailed differentiation between party families. We expect that right, and especially populist radical right, voters are biased in favor of men politicians, while left, and especially green left, voters are biased in favor of women politicians. We test our hypotheses with a large-scale vignette experiment (N = 13,489) in the Netherlands, and show that there is indeed a (slight) preference for women representatives among Green party voters, and a clear preference for men candidates among voters of populist radical right parties. Moderate left-wing or right-wing voters, however, show no gender bias. Thus, although right-wing populist parties have electoral incentives to be hesitant about promoting women politicians, most other parties face no electoral risk in putting forth women politicians.