Women Voters Research Articles

Shaping of the Woman Constituency in Indian Elections: Evidence from the NES Data

This article studies the patterns of women’s vote in the Lok Sabha elections in India in 2024. It draws upon the National Election Studies (NES) data of 2024 and of previous years to address three key questions related to women’s vote in Indian elections. The first is about the extent of Indian women’s political participation in the wake of increased turnout of women voters and the closing of the gender gap. The second question is about the extent of women’s support to the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) as their favoured party. In the absence of conclusive evidence on gender-wise patterns of vote, there have been several tentative and speculative analyses regarding the increasing support of women voters to the BJP both at the regional and national elections, especially since 2014. The article uses the unique window of the NES data sets to understand and decipher women’s support for the BJP and other political parties on a timeline. Finally, from within the confines of the empirical evidence provided by the NES data sets, it also tries to address a rather nuanced question of the arrival of women’s agency in the electoral democracy in India. With the help of the NES data sets, it tries to understand whether women vote mainly as women, prioritizing their gendered identities over other kinds of identities, and whether their voting patterns indicate the arrival of an autonomous women’s constituency in Indian democracy.

Orientasi Politik Pemilih Perempuan pada Pemilu Tahun 2019 di Kabupaten Kepulauan Seribu Provinsi DKI Jakarta

The purpose of this study is to explain the extent of the influence of socioeconomic status and political participation on the political orientation of women voters in the 2019 General Election in the Thousand Islands Regency, DKI Jakarta Province. The method used in this study is a quantitative approach, namely with one of the characteristics commonly found in quantitative research with causality, which tries to explain the question "why" to examine the cause of an empirical event or phenomenon. The results showed that employment, involvement in community organizations, and participation in elections partially had a significant effect on the political orientation of women voters, while income, education, and involvement in political parties did not. These findings highlight the importance of considering the various aspects that affect voter participation in each region, although the study also highlights limitations, such as the geographical characteristics of the archipelago and weather factors that affect data collection

The Influence of Religious and Ethical Values on Mitigating Money Politics Among Women in Aceh

Money politics continues to pose a significant challenge in Aceh, notably among populations less acquainted with political processes and facing urgent economic needs. This study aims to explore the influence of religious and ethical values in countering money politics among Acehnese women. Employing a qualitative phenomenological approach, this research gathers primary data through interviews and supplements it with secondary data from existing literature. The findings reveal that although financial and material incentives are compelling, they do not invariably secure women's votes. Adherence to religious teachings, ethical considerations, and personal life philosophies significantly influence their decision-making processes. Although women in Aceh are highly susceptible to money politics, they are more likely to decline such offers compared to men, primarily due to their strong religious and moral convictions. To combat money politics effectively, strategies should emphasize political education and economic empowerment, reinforced by robust religious and ethical instruction, aiming to cultivate a more equitable and healthier democratic environment in Aceh.

“Gender wars” and populist politics in South Korea

The 2022 South Korean presidential election campaign saw populist politicians, especially conservative parties, leverage gender conflicts and misogyny to attract young male swing voters. But there has been limited scholarly attention to the connection between gender and populist politics, particularly in South Korea, with research primarily focused on women's voting patterns, their political party representation, and on populist politics in the US, Europe, and Latin America. Existing research identifies that common strategies employed by populist politicians include anti-feminist discourses, reference to crises in masculinity, and appeals to emotion and affect. This paper examines how South Korean populist politics has utilized gender conflicts since democratization, considering the evolution of ‘gender wars’ in the South Korean context. It specifically delves into the strategies employed by conservative populist politicians from the People Power Party (PPP) during the 2022 election campaigns. These strategies, although similar to those of right-wing populists in Europe and the US, emphasized three key issues unique to South Korea: compulsory military service, low fertility rates, and the dismantling of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. This South Korean case contributes significantly to academic discussions about populist politics and gender, contextualized within the local political, social, and cultural context.

Peranan Perwakilan Substantif Ahli Parlimen Wanita dalam Parlimen Malaysia ke-13

This study analysed the substantive role of women parliamentarians in the House of Representatives of the 13th Malaysian Parliament from 2013 to 2017. Previous studies conducted in Western countries have shown that women parliamentarians are more responsive to women’s interests compared to male parliamentarians. However, women participation in the policy-making as legislators are low and has not achieved the quota that has been set up in Malaysia. The number of women parliamentarians do not reflect the number of women voters that are higher than the male voters. The aim of this study is to analyse the extent to which the role of women Parliamentarians represents women’s issues using Hanna Pitkin’s theory of representation and Anne Philips’s politics of presence. This study uses a qualitative approach through content analysis to examine the Parliament Hansard and interviews with the women parliementarians. The result indicates that the women Parliamentarians formed 10.36% of members in the House of Representatives but they raised the women’s issues higher than the male parliamentarians did. This shows that the women parliamentarians were able to impact policy-making even with a small number in Malaysia.

How Gap Measures Determine Results: The Case of Proportional Systems and the Gender Mobilization Gap

Abstract How scholars conceptualize and measure the gender gap in mobilization can have profound consequences for substantive conclusions. Scholars typically refer to a difference between women and men's turnout (difference-in-proportions measure) or a fraction of women voters among all voters (proportion measure). Using the case of proportional representation (PR) reform in Norway, I demonstrate that, in the context of low men's turnout, the proportion measure indicates that PR narrows the gap, while the difference-in-proportion measure indicates that it widens the gap. This is because mobilizing fewer women than men widens the difference between women and men's turnout, but may constitute a greater proportional increase in women's mobilization compared to men when only a few men (and even fewer women) vote. These findings bring together seemingly opposing arguments in the PR-gap debate and have wide implications for the study of ‘gaps’ within and beyond gender scholarship.

Feminism: A Fight for Equality

Feminism has been given importance and has evolved since the 1900’s. This paper aims to explore the themes, debates, and traits of feminism throughout the years. Feminism is a movement that fights for gender equality and has changed a lot over time. This article looks at the history of feminism, starting with the fight for women's voting rights in the 19th century and going through different stages up to today's diverse approaches. The research highlights important moments and changes in feminist thinking. The article also looks at current challenges for the feminist movement, internal disagreements, and the combination of gender with other identities such as race and class. Through a review of academic literature, historical records, and modern sources, this study gives a complete overview of feminism's past achievements and current struggles and offers ideas for its future direction and potential growth.

How Do Women Vote: What Women Post About Home Birth Versus Hospital Birth on Popular Social Media Platforms.

The rates of home birth have been increasing; reliance on social media as a source of medical advice and support for patients has also been increasing. This is the first study that directly evaluates birthing people's perceptions, attitudes, and advice about planned home births expressed in public posts and comments on two popular social media platforms - Reddit and TikTok. Posts on each platform were searched from January 2017 through July 2022 using the terms "home birth" and "home vs. hospital birth". Included posts were from the United States written in English, with at least 10 comments and 10 upvotes or likes. Up to five themes were collected per post or comment and were categorized as supportive, opposing, or neutral. The Institutional Review Board (IRB) determined that the project did not include human subjects. Collectively, 777 posts and 47,452 comments wereevaluated for inclusion; 257 posts and 2,408 comments met the inclusion criteria for analysis. In posts, 69% supported, 20% opposed, and 11% were neutral toward home birth (n = 257). Similarly, in comments, 53% supported, 28% opposed, and 19% were neutral (n = 2,408). Supportive themes included concerns about the safety of hospital delivery and reassurance about home birth safety, enhanced patient control with home deliveries, positive personal stories reinforcing home birth, concerns about excessive interventions in hospital birth, and advice about preparing for home birth. Opposing themes included concerns about risks of home birth, negligence of those attempting it, reassurance that hospital birth does offer women control, greater financial costs of home birth and that medical interventions can be lifesaving. These results can help physicians recognize some of the women's concerns about hospital births and what information they may find on social media guiding them as they formulate their birth plans. Overall, this information helps with the goal of balancing patient safety with the need to respect patient autonomy.

Unlocking Women's Electoral Participation: Exploring the Impact of Education on Voter Participation in the General Elections of 2018 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan)

This research paper investigates the multifaceted relationship between education and women's participation in electoral processes as voters. Through a comprehensive synthesis of existing literature, empirical studies, and theoretical frameworks, the study aims to unravel the intricate mechanisms by which education shapes women's engagement in elections. Furthermore, the research explores the mediating role of contextual factors including socio-economic development, gender norms, and political institutions in moderating the impact of education on women's voter turnout. By shedding light on these dynamics, the paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between education, socio-political contexts, and women's electoral behavior. This research holds implications for policy interventions aimed at promoting gender equality and fostering inclusive democratic practices worldwide.

Fertility Fails to Predict Voter Preference for the 2020 Election: A Pre-Registered Replication of Navarrete et al. (2010).

As part of the Systematizing Confidence in Open Research and Evidence (SCORE) program, the present study reassesses the claim made in Navarrete et al. (2010) Study 1, that women's voter preference for male candidates who demonstrate cues of strong genetic fitness increases across the reproductive cycle as a function of conception risk. We report an attempt to conceptually replicate these findings, modifying the outcome variables for voter preference to reflect the 2020 election rather than the 2008 election, while maintaining fidelity to the original study by including Barack Obama as a candidate. Contrary to the original findings, conception risk did not predict greater voter support for Obama as a younger, more attractive alternative to Donald J. Trump, nor was conception risk a significant factor in other matchups we presented to participants. Candidate intelligence and participant psychopathy scores on the Dark Triad were found to be factors in preference for Obama/Biden or Trump, respectively. We discuss these results in the context of evolutionary and political psychology, suggesting the need for further research that takes political factors into account.

We see symbols but not saviors: Women's representation and the political attitudes of working‐class women

AbstractHow does women's representation in politics affect working‐class women's attitudes toward political processes? Despite their increasing presence in the workforce, many women continue to concentrate in occupational sectors characterized by high economic vulnerability and low social status. This dynamic has important implications for the politics of representation. Previous studies suggest that women politicians positively affect women voters' political attitudes, but women's representation in politics is likely to have differing impacts on the political attitudes of working‐class and professional women. This study demonstrates that women's representation has a large class impact among women voters. In particular, using cross‐national data from 31 OECD countries as well as panel survey data from the British Election Study, we show that in countries with a higher degree of women's representation, there is more skepticism among women in low‐skill sectors toward voting and leadership than among those in white‐collar sectors. This is because there exist higher standards of accountability and relatability for women representatives among women voters. Given such high expectations, there is greater room for dissatisfaction among working‐class women than among their white‐collar counterparts when they constantly experience occupational segregation despite a high share of women in politics. In these settings, by contrast, women voters with high‐skill jobs are more likely to believe that voting and leadership matter, as they can better associate themselves with women political elites. Since men voters do not have strong expectations for relatability and accountability for public officeholders, the class impact of women's representation is weak among men. These findings have important implications for the symbolic representation of marginalized groups and democratic accountability.

Kobiety a wybory parlamentarne w Polsce w 2023 r.

The article is an attempt to define the most important factors that decided about record participation of women in the 2023 parliamentary elections in Poland (73.7 percent of eligible women voters). The authors concluded that the main reasons for women’s record turnout in elections were: opposition to the anti-women policies of the Law and Justice (PIS), the political party that had been in power since 2015; political mobilization of women by non-governmental organizations, and above all, proturnout initiatives and campaigns, as well as addressing the issue of women’s rights by political parties, both in election programs and during the election campaign. The main research method was the analysis of various sources (reports, political programs, articles, opinions) available through the internet.

BARGAINING POSITIONS OF WOMEN & FEMALE CANDIDATES IN POLITICAL CONTESTATION

After 25 years of reform and several elections, the 30% quota for women's representation as legislators - both at the national level (DPR RI), as well as at the regional level (Provincial DPRD) and Regency/City DPRD, can be said to have never been fulfilled. In the 2019 election, women's representation in the DPR RI only reached 20.8% or 120 people out of the 575 members of the DPR RI. This fact, of course, raises questions. The fact that several elections have taken place and the level of women's representation in parliament (central/regional DPR) has not yet reached the ideal minimum level (30%) is an interesting phenomenon and needs to be explained. Through this study, the researcher/author tries to analyze and explain this phenomenon from the perspective of Classical Sociology , namely from a Marxist, Durkheimian and Weberian perspective. By analyzing the problem using a sociological approach, it is intended to provide a theoretical and empirical picture of " what " and " why " the phenomenon of women's low bargaining power ( gaining ) in the political arena still occurs. It is hoped that the results of this study can provide constructive input for more equal contemporary political dynamics, especially for increasing women's representation in the field of practical politics . The method used in this research is the Qualitative Descriptive Method with the research objective to examine the central theme of women's representation in legislative institutions. The results of the research show that there is the phenomenon of women's votes, then there is the phenomenon of female legislative candidates, the existence of political parties and female legislative candidates, as well as the existence of problems in the political arena ( Political Barriers ) .

‘The first, but not the last’: women’s descriptive and substantive representation in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election

The 2021 Scottish Parliament election delivered the most diverse range of MSPs in Holyrood’s history, including a record number of women. We situate the 2021 election within its wider context, evaluating dynamics of party feminisation over time. Drawing on original candidate data and analysis of party manifestos across the main Scottish parties, we assess parties’ substantive appeals to women voters; the integration of different groups of women as candidates, MSPs and leaders; and the adoption and implementation of gender quotas. We find evidence of descriptive and substantive party feminisation in Scotland over time—including increases in both the amount and diversity of party manifesto pledges directed at women voters; improvements in the number and diversity of women selected and elected; and the increasing diffusion of, and inter-party competition over, gender quota measures. Yet we also find that progress has been uneven across parties and that some groups of women continue to be descriptively and substantively under-represented in Scottish politics.

‘The voice of the true British housewife’: the politics of housewifery at Labour’s women’s conferences, 1945–1959

ABSTRACT Drawing on the records of Labour’s annual women’s conference, this article analyses why, how and with what effects women activists in the Labour Party claimed to represent ‘the housewife’ in post-war Britain. Building on longstanding traditions on the left, Labour women saw a politics of housewifery as the most effective means of advancing the interests of working-class women in post-war Britain, and asserted the housewife's need for state intervention, good quality housing, and generous welfare provision. They also recognised that the housewife’s concerns extended far beyond her own home, and were keen to promote her interests in different arenas, including paid work. Yet the success of groups like the British Housewives League meant that Labour women found it increasingly difficult to pursue a left-wing politics of the housewife. In opposition, they began to adopt the language of consumerism, losing sight of the emphasis on gender which had made their politics distinctive. This article thus shows that housewifery was a malleable and contested identity in the post-war period, valuable to those on the left as well as non-partisan women and those on the right. It also provides a new perspective on longstanding debates over the Labour Party’s failure to appeal to women voters.

The Democratic Majority and the 2016 American Presidential Election: Feminist Political Behavior Across Multiple Axes of Identity

Scholarship on women voters using an intersectional lens has shown feminists and women of color within the Democratic Party to be a powerful force in electoral politics—specifically, Black and Latina women—are the most reliable voters. Combined, they represent the majority of women voters in the Democratic Party, and they have shown themselves to be a sizeable voting bloc in the last two American presidential election cycles. Using data from the 2016 American National Election Studies (ANES), we demonstrate important differences in support for the Democratic candidate (Hillary Clinton) between feminists and women of color—Black and Latina—underscoring the need to study gender, race, and ethnicity simultaneously (versus independently) when they are co-constitutive identity categories. By examining women and the groups the Clinton campaign appealed most to—feminists, Black, and Latina women—we add to the scholarship in political science that followed this unique election and demonstrate the importance of feminist identity for vote choice and various modes of political behavior for women voters. Knowing and understanding how women respond through affect and how this affect can result in political behaviors will help determine what it takes for future historic first candidates to emerge successful.

Gendered Political Communication: A Study of the Coverage of Women Politicians in the Bangladeshi Press

This paper explores the processes of gender construction in political communication as reflected in the Bangladeshi media. It examines the coverage of female candidates during the 2018 general elections in four national Bengali-language newspapers using framing analysis and discourse analysis. It also includes interviews of nine women Members of Parliament to understand their response to the media coverage they do or do not receive in the national press, their own approaches to the media, and suggestions towards making the press more gender-sensitive in its political coverage. Based on the concept of gendered mediation, analysis of the media and interviews of women parliamentarians revealed that women politicians were framed in relation to male mentors; as new, inexperienced and potentially incompetent; and as representatives of women voters only. The findings suggest that the media should promote women more positively in politics by raising awareness of the presence, strength and efforts of women politicians, by covering in depth and evaluating their efforts, accomplishments and impact. Social Science Review, Vol. 39(3), Dec 2022 Page 55-72

Bans on women's voting: An intersection of caste, gender, and class in Punjab, Pakistan

Pakistan ranks lowest in women's vote-casting turnout on the global gender gap index in South Asia. Political participation of women is consistently low and there is a quite obvious gender gap in voting throughout Pakistan's constituencies. One of the most important reasons behind this gap in voter turnout is the informal bans on women to cast their votes. This qualitative study unpacks the interplay of caste, patriarchy, and normative stances of Pakistani society to understand bans on women's vote-casting rights. The researchers argue that caste pride intersects gender and class in a dominantly patriarchal socio-political environment and prevents women to cast their votes. In the light of findings, the study also suggests a few constructive measures for authorities to sort out this burning issue in Punjab.

Part of the gender gap in voting for Democrats arises because a higher proportion of women than men voters are Black

Women voted for the Democratic candidate more than men did in each US presidential election since 1980. We show that part of the gender gap stems from the fact that a higher proportion of women than men voters are Black, and Black voters overwhelmingly choose Democratic candidates. Past research shows that Black men have especially high rates of death, incarceration, and disenfranchisement due to criminal convictions. These disparities reduce the share of men voters who are Black. We show that the gender difference in racial composition explains 24% of the gender gap in voting Democratic. The gender gap in voting Democratic is especially large among those who are never-married, and, among them, the differing racial composition of men and women voters is more impactful than in the population at large, explaining 43% of the gender gap. We consider an alternative hypothesis that income differences between single men and women explain the gender gap in voting, but our analysis leads us to reject it. Although unmarried women are poorer than unmarried men, and lower-income voters vote slightly more Democratic, the latter difference is too small for income to explain much of the gender gap in voting. In short, the large gender gap among unmarried voters is not a reflection of the lower incomes of women's households but does reflect the fact that women voters are disproportionately Black. We used the General Social Survey as the data source for the analysis, then replicated results with the American National Election Survey data.

Statue of Dr. Aletta Henriëtte Jacobs (1854-1929): Physician, Activist, and an Inspiration.

Dr Aletta Henriette Jacobs (9 February 1854 to 10 August 1929) was a Dutch physician and advocate of modern-day women's rights, being among the first female clinicians and to formally enrol at a Dutch university. She bolstered the Dutch and international women's movements and pioneered as the first woman to develop a clinic based on contraceptive principles in 1882 internationally. Her legacy has become paramount in the progression of modern-day feminism, where her vigour for equality and diversity has stipulated campaigns to demand women's voting rights, deregulate acts of prostitution, improve working conditions for women, and promote world peace through her work.