Underrepresentation Of Women In Politics Research Articles

How Does Primary Election Manipulation Affect the Selection of Women Candidates? Evidence from Malawi

How does manipulation of primary elections affect the selection of women candidates for parliament? The underrepresentation of women in politics is a well-researched global phenomenon. However, as most work focuses on general elections, we overlook the disadvantages that women face in the selection process. Specifically, primary elections often provide ample room for manipulation. We argue that manipulation skews electoral contests in favor of candidates with material and inter-personal resources, who are more likely to be men. We collect unique data via on-the-ground observation of 119 primary election rounds (featuring 316 aspirants) in Malawi’s 2019 parliamentary election and interview candidates to shed light on hitherto uninvestigated internal party primaries. We show that while women running in free and fair primaries were more likely to win nominations than men, their chances were substantially reduced where primaries were flawed. The quantitative findings are corroborated by qualitative accounts of the gendered effect of primary-day manipulation in party primaries. The results have implications for debates on descriptive representation, electoral integrity, and political parties.

Systemic and Sociocultural Factors Impeding Women’s Political Participation and Leadership Development: A Sociological Inquiry

In pursuing a deeper understanding of the persistent underrepresentation of women in politics and leadership positions, this article adopts a sociological lens to probe the intricate network of systemic barriers and sociocultural norms that continue to impede women’s full participation in the political arena. Gender stereotypes play a critical role in shaping public perception and expectations of leaders, with prevailing biases often favoring masculine traits and devaluing the leadership capabilities of women. Equally, the disproportionate burden of family responsibilities that women frequently shoulder imposes time and energy constraints, thus limiting their capacity to engage fully in political activities and campaigns. Beyond the confines of household obligations, the political culture and infrastructure itself are often unsympathetic to women, with institutional discrimination manifesting in various forms, from gendered political party practices to the lack of supportive networks for aspiring female politicians. The study unearths the subtle yet pervasive ways in which these sociopolitical structures and cultural attitudes intertwine, creating a formidable barrier to women’s political empowerment and leadership ascension. By illuminating these interconnections, the article seeks to advance the dialogue on what specific measures and systemic changes must be undertaken to dismantle these hurdles and pave the path toward gender parity in political leadership.

The Underrepresentation of Women in Politics: A Literature Review on Gender Bias in Political Recruitment Processes

The Underrepresentation of Women in Politics: A Literature Review on Gender Bias in Political Recruitment Processes

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.

Objectification and the Candidate: Examining the Effects of Objectification Paired with Candidate Coverage on Candidate Evaluations and Gender Bias

In an experiment conducted during the 2016 presidential primary season, participants viewed an article about a speech attributed to either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. Men who read the Clinton article alongside an ad featuring an objectified woman (deemed paired objectification) rated Clinton as significantly less competent than when the article was accompanied by a neutral ad. No effect of paired objectification was found among women nor among participants who read the Sanders article. These results support existing calls to reduce media sexual objectification of women, highlighting its potential role in the underrepresentation of women in politics.

Beyond Quota, Towards Women’s Representation In Indonesia: Quo Vadis?

This paper scrutinizes the effect of gender quota on women’s representation in the political landscape of Indonesia. By using the institutional analysis approach, the logic behind lethargic increases, even though such quota has failed to meet in Indonesia, is highlighted in the paper. This study further discusses the complex roles of various political and non-political actors that later affect the representation of women, including the political party, elected government and legislatures, and Commission for General Election (KPU). The institutional shift of gender quota implementation in Indonesian politics creates a tendency of disorientation of the main purpose of creating gender quota. As regulatory changes on the gender quota since its first implementation, this study examines the journey of quota and women representation in Indonesia which include the case of underrepresentation of women in politics and the controversy of women policy, as part of the initial virtue of implementing gender quota.

Gender differences and similarities in news media effects on political candidate evaluations: a meta-analysis

AbstractHow do different types of media coverage shape—and potentially bias—voter evaluations of women and men politicians? Theoretically reviewing 50 experimental studies and statistically synthesizing 671 evaluation outcomes from more than 23,000 participants, this meta-analytic review shows that gender bias in media-induced voter evaluations is conditional rather than universal. Our findings suggest that voters respond similarly to most media messages about women and men candidates. When gender-differentiated media effects are found, for instance, based on trait, appearance, or family coverage of politicians, this is mostly harmful for women candidates as it reaffirms gender stereotypical beliefs and lowers their viability ratings and vote preferences. Shedding light on the conditional nature of media-driven voter bias, this study adds to a better understanding of how the mediation of gender stereotypes sustains the underrepresentation of women in politics.

The end of the all-male party? Voter preferences for gender representation in political parties

ABSTRACT While parties have a large role in influencing the representation of women, much less is known of how voters perceive parties’ efforts to promote female candidates. Existing evidence from the literature suggests that, on an aggregate level, voters value female candidates at least to the same extent as male candidates. Meanwhile, evidence points both towards a general under-representation of women in politics as well as large differences between left-leaning and right-leaning parties when it comes to selecting female lead candidates and members of parliament (MPs). This study investigates voters’ preferences for gender representation inside political parties. Using a single vignette survey experiment in five European countries, I show that voters have strong preferences for equal descriptive representation of men and women in political parties and prefer women as lead candidates. Women have larger preferences for equal representation than men, while ideological differences are comparatively small.

Negotiating Access and Privilege: Politics of Female Participation and Representation in Nigeria

The underrepresentation of women in politics and factors that constrain their participation are core concerns for many scholars. This qualitative research goes beyond that to examine how women politicians negotiate those constraints in Nigeria. It provides a platform for women to articulate their experiences in a society where politics is masculinized and women’s subordination to male authority is considered a virtue. The study outlines how women have strategized pathways through patriarchal structures by deploying their femininity. It makes valuable contributions to the literature by accentuating the resilience of women in contexts where electoral dynamics undermine their participation and make access to the political space a privilege.

Personalism or party platform? Gender quotas and women's representation under different electoral system orientations.

Underrepresentation of women in politics is a matter of great concern to social scientists, citizens, and policymakers alike. Despite effort over the past decade to ameliorate it with gender quotas of different types, scientific research provides a mixed picture on the extent to which quotas can close these gender gaps under different conditions. We approach this puzzle by focusing on the orientation of electoral systems—candidate-centered vs. platform-centered—as a context that conditions the effect of quotas on representation. Our analyses of 76 countries’ electoral rules and legislatures show that contrary to expectations, it is in candidate-oriented systems that quotas facilitate stronger effect on women’s representation. Even after considering proportional representation, district magnitude, human development, or labor-force participation as alternative explanations, we show that quotas foster greater increases in gender representation in candidate-oriented systems. The broader implications are that in electoral systems that tend to have larger gender gaps, quotas have a substantial contribution to equal representation.

Women’s Participation in Governance and Political Processes in Kenya: Threats and Proposed Remedies

The most recent studies on women’s political participation demonstrate that women are consistently denied adequate space and a level playing field to participate in politics and governance, especially in many global south countries, unlike their male counterparts. These studies’ most dominant claim is that these contexts’ patriarchal cultural norms mainly limit women’s central involvement in such nations’ political processes. Based on this impediment system, it follows that these environments become more unpropitious, hostile, and insecure for women in politics, which opens up and perpetuates possibilities for all manner of harm to them. Because of such threats, several scholars, religious leaders, and women activists decry the underrepresentation of women in politics, which in their understanding, has contributed to prolonged systemic discrimination through a legacy of insufficient woman-centric legislation and policy interventions. There is a consensus-based claim among the majority of these actors that this kind of inadequacy continues unabated due to a siloed thinking that inhibits a joined-up approach in tackling such discrimination. This paper seeks to further explore this claim through a broad stroke integrated review of literature that deals with women’s political participation in Kenya, where the concept of traditional gender role beliefs provides a vital backdrop for conducting it. Based on this concept’s valuable terms of reference, it is concluded that women need to be accorded a more enabling environment to participate in politics and, in this way, ensure that their ascension to leadership positions in governance becomes tenable. It is anticipated that such an assumption will increase legislation, policy and other interventions geared towards safeguarding women’s general participation in politics. In light of such conclusion, it is proposed that groundswell support is needed to ensure that the creation of a conducive environment for women to be involved in politics is realized, and in this way, their disenfranchisement based on their limited participation in politics is tackled.

Participação feminina na política brasileira

Este artigo possui como objetivo analisar a participação política feminina e qual a importância para que o Estado Democrático de Direito, positivado na Constituição Federal, seja concretizado. Logo após, buscou-se enumerar algumas barreiras encontradas pelas mulheres que as impedem de chegar aos postos de poder e participar amplamente da política formal, embora sejam participativas historicamente da política informal, através de luta para terem seus direitos efetivados. Analisou-se também o modelo jurídico de proteção à participação feminina na política, bem como os parâmetros internacionais e constitucionais de garantia desse direito, buscando saber se realmente são efetivos. Por fim, procurou-se constatar a sub-representatividade feminina na política após as eleições de 2018 e quais são as deficiências do modelo. Conclui-se que o quadro de desigualdade de gênero na política ainda persiste, embora haja ações afirmativas que busquem a isonomia.

GENDER BALANCE IN POLITICS: THE ITALIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT’S JUDGMENT Nº 4 OF 2010

The aim of this study is to briefly analyse the under-representation of women in politics with a specific reference to Italy in the light of the Italian Constitutional Court Judgment nº 4 of 2010. Therefore, some concepts are of major importance to better understand the framework. in order to achieve gender balance on the basis of political representation in practice, parity must be enforced, and it may occur either for the parties themselves or by the law. Keywords: Woman in politics. Italian Constitution. Gender Balance.

Gender, Race and Political Ambition: The Case of Ontario School Board Elections

AbstractThe political underrepresentation of women and racial minorities in Canadian politics is well documented. One political arena that has yet to be examined in this respect, however, is school boards. Using data from a candidate survey conducted during the course of the 2018 Ontario school board elections, as well as demographic data collected on the entire population of school board candidates, we explore the unique characteristics of school board elections. The research note begins by describing the gender and racial composition of candidates and trustees in Canada's most populous province. It then considers the ways in which school board elections may serve as a launchpad to higher office for either of these two traditionally underrepresented groups, as we explore the features of progressive political ambition, recruitment into school board campaigns and the relative electoral success of racialized candidates and women in this local office. While women do very well in school board elections, they are significantly less likely than their male counterparts to have the desire to move up to provincial or federal politics. Meanwhile, racialized candidates contest school board election in significant numbers and report similar levels of progressive ambition relative to their white counterparts, but they fare exceptionally poorly in school board elections.

Pierwsza dama w internetowych memach obrazkowych na wybranych przykładach

<p>Badanie dyskursu pojawiającego się w memach jest istotne, ponieważ pokazuje, jakie tematy szczególnie absorbują opinię publiczną. Podstawą dla prowadzonych rozważań będą wyniki analizy ilościowej oraz jakościowej, która została przeprowadzona na ponad 200 memach opublikowanych na portalu Demotywatory.pl. Badania empiryczne oparto na analizie zawartości typu frekwencyjno-tematycznego, a wykorzystanym narzędziem badawczym był program SPSS. Punktem odniesienia teoretycznego uczyniono model zintegrowanego wyjaśniania przyczyn nierówności płci w polityce, który pozwala spojrzeć na materiał badawczy z perspektywy uwzględniającej elementy polityki równościowej. Zrealizowane na potrzeby niniejszego artykułu analizy umożliwiły weryfikację hipotezy badawczej: Przyczyny kulturowe nierówności płci w polityce, w tym zwłaszcza stereotypizacja, to główny element widoczny w obrazie polskiej pierwszej damy, wykreowanym w memach poddanych analizie.</p><p><br />Artykuł podzielono na trzy części. We wprowadzeniu znalazły się podstawowe ustalenia teoretyczne dotyczące aktywności politycznej kobiet oraz memów internetowych. Ponadto szczegółowo przedstawiono metodologię przeprowadzonych badań (metoda badawcza, hipoteza oraz pytania badawcze). Zasadnicza część to prezentacja wyników badań ilościowych i jakościowych wybranych memów internetowych. Celem prowadzonych badań było sprawdzenie tego, jaki obraz pierwszej damy wykreowano w badanych memach. Pokazano różnice i podobieństwa w obrazowaniu pierwszej damy Polski i innych krajów świata. Poszukiwano odpowiedzi na wiele pytań: na co najbardziej zwracają uwagę twórcy memów, jeśli chodzi o obraz żony prezydenta, czy w badanych memach można dostrzec obecność stereotypów płciowych, w jakich okresach zainteresowanie pierwszą damą jest największe i czy na przestrzeni lat coś się w tym zakresie zmieniło? Trzeci fragment to zakończenie, w którym podsumowano rezultaty badań oraz potwierdzono hipotezę badawczą. Obraz pierwszej damy uwidoczniony w analizowanych memach to przykład stereotypowego przedstawiania obrazu kobiety obecnej w sferze polityki, co wpisuje się w przyczyny kulturowe niedoreprezentowania kobiet w polityce, które wskazano w zintegrowanym modelu wyjaśniania przyczyn nierówności płci w polityce.</p>

A Feminine Advantage? Delineating the Effects of Feminine Trait and Feminine Issue Messages on Evaluations of Female Candidates

AbstractCurrent scholarship offers conflicting conclusions about whether female candidates have a feminine advantage or a disadvantage. Previous work does not consider whether voters respond similarly to all types of messages that might emphasize feminine stereotypes, such as feminine trait and feminine issue messages. I argue that voters will respond differently to trait-based feminine messages relative to issue-based feminine messages. I test the effects of trait-based and issue-based feminine messages through two survey experiments. The results consistently show that emphasizing feminine traits harms female candidates, whereas emphasizing feminine issues helps female candidates. I use role congruity theory to argue that feminine traits activate feminine stereotypes about women, and feminine issues do not activate these stereotypes. I also show that trait-based and issue-based feminine messages affect Democratic and Republican female candidates in very different ways. These results have implications for the ability of women to win elected office and reverse the pervasive underrepresentation of women in politics.

Candidate Gender and the Media Attention in the 2015 UK General Election

Some scholars have argued that lower levels of media attention given to female candidates, relative to male candidates, may contribute to the under-representation of women in politics. Yet, other research suggests female candidates may receive more coverage than male candidates. To advance our understanding of this issue, we introduce and analyse a novel dataset measuring the weekly quantity of newspaper coverage given to 72 different candidates across 34 of the most marginal constituencies in the 2015 UK General Election. The data span 31 local and 6 national newspapers. Statistical analyses and two pairs of quantitatively matched, qualitative comparisons suggest that female candidates received more newspaper coverage than male candidates, even after controlling for several alternative predictors of media attention including party, incumbency and time until election. Our findings have important implications for debates about gender equality in British politics.

Political Leadership in the Media: Gender Bias in Leader Stereotypes during Campaign and Routine Times

This article studies gender differences in media portrayals of political leadership, starting with the expectation that male politicians are evaluated more often on traits belonging to the male leader stereotype, and that female politicians have no such advantage. These gender differences are expected to be especially pronounced during non-campaign periods. To test these expectations, a large-scale automated content analysis of all Dutch national newspapers from September 2006 to September 2012 was conducted. The results show that male politicians received more media coverage on leadership traits in general, although the male and female leader stereotypes explain most of the variation in gender bias between leadership traits. These gender effects are found during seldom-studied routine periods but not during campaigns. As leadership trait coverage has electoral consequences, this gender-differentiated coverage likely contributes to the under-representation of women in politics.

Women and risk-taking behaviour in local public finance

ABSTRACTThis study examines how female representation in local elected (mayor and legislature) and administrative (mid-level manager) positions influences municipal financial decision-making in 764 Japanese city-level governments. Findings show that female representation in local councils is positively correlated with risk-averse behaviour in financial decisions, as female representation on the legislature is negatively associated with issuing municipal bonds and with local investment in public corporations. Female representation in executive (mayor and vice-mayor) and mid-level administrative managerial positions has no apparent effects on local financial decisions. This study tests existing explanations of relationships between female managerial representation and fiscal behaviour in an Asian developed setting characterized by considerable underrepresentation of women in politics.

<b>Mujeres, política y subrepresentación. Un estudio sobre la correlación entre cualidad de la democracia, ideología y mujeres en los parlamentos

The underrepresentation of women in politics is a reality spread to a greater or lesser extent throughout the world. One of the requirements for gender parity is representative parity. This work has two objectives: 1- Analyze if the underrepresentation of women is lower or higher in countries of higher democratic quality; 2- Analyze if the interest by ideology interferes in the representation of the women. So we compared the United Nations data on the sexual stratification of occupiers in the parliaments of the world, with the ranking of democracy and a frequency of Google Trends for the topic feminism. Our results show that countries with higher democratic quality are the ones that have more women occupying places in the parliaments and also, more democratic countries are those that show more interest by the feminism topic. Thus the quality of democracy as well as ideology is important variables in the composition of female representation.