Elections

Abstract

Proportional electoral systems tend to be more beneficial for women's descriptive representation than majority systems. However, within proportional systems the gender equality of election outcomes differs, highlighting the importance of studying the actual use of electoral provisions in proportional representation (PR) systems. Therefore, we investigate the determinants of voting for female candidates in Belgium's local elections. This case is particularly interesting given the equal number of men and women on the candidate lists due to quota regulations, the possibility to cast multiple preference votes (lowering competition), and the high visibility of these local elections and its candidates. At the individual level, we find that women are more likely than men to vote for several women, yet same-sex voting is more common among men. Politically sophisticated respondents vote more often for candidates of both sexes. Against our expectations, a left-wing orientation does not increase the likelihood of voting for women. At the electoral district level, a larger supply of women at the top list position increases the chance to vote for this top woman, but there is no spillover effect to women lower on the list. District magnitude affects the number of preference votes but, against expectations, not the likelihood of voting for women.

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The National Conference on “Gender and Electoral Reform: Making A Difference” in Malaysia was envisioned to look at current debates and obstacles as well as innovative strategies and alternative models in women’s representation in the Malaysian electoral process. This Conference introduced a panel of scholars and specialists to share their experiences and expertise, leading the discourse into the Malaysian context in hope of facilitating electoral reform together for a higher representation of women in politics.

This report covers the conference background and then explores the following areas: current debates, alternative models, the Malaysian context, experiences of politicians, barriers and strategies, and finally the conference recommendations.

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The research presented in this paper provides useful insights into how increasing women’s descriptive representation within a legislature affects citizens’ interest and engagement in the political process, or their symbolic representation. Uruguay’s first quota law was implemented in the 2014 elections, resulting in significant increases in the number of women serving in both houses of Uruguay’s Parliament. Surveying citizens before and after the elections, the research team found strong evidence that increases in women’s descriptive representation had a positive effect on citizens’ symbolic representation, and that this effect was stronger for women than for men. Before election day, women were significantly less likely than men to say they were interested in politics, less likely to state that they understood political issues in Uruguay, and less likely to report having trust in elections; after election day, these differences disappeared and women were as likely as men to be interested in politics, understand current political issues, and trust the electoral process.

This publication was produced by USAID in partnership with Arizona State University and the Institute of International Education as part of the Research and Innovation Grants Working Papers Series.

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The Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU) has cited violence as a leading factor discouraging young women from actively participating in politics.

Zimbabwe will hold general elections next year, and women participation is pivotal as they constitute 52% of the population.

In a recent report titled “Do middle class women defend democracy?” RAU noted that young women shied away from politics mainly because of violence, polarization, corruption and nepotism.

“The general consensus was that political participation is risky and violence is too frequently a part of the contest; and politics are strongly associated with corruption and nepotism,” read part of the report.

Other reasons given for poor participation of young women in politics were difficulties encountered in registering to vote.

“The young women want to participate but are failing to find spaces they are comfortable in to express themselves politically, and it is important for them to see that sitting out is also a political statement.

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Despite women comprising nearly half of the world’s population, they continue to be drastically underrepresented in political leadership positions around the world. In fact, most have little or no access to the very decision-making tables where the policies are made that govern their lives.

Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all model when it comes to designing and implementing successful women’s empowerment programs related to political participation. All too often the focus in this sphere centers on election data, such as turnout of women voters, how many women competed as candidates, and how many women obtained seats. However, the barriers to women’s progress in this field are complex, and successful interventions must take into account the holistic nature of the issue.

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Based on its experience conducting gender assessments of elections throughout the world, as well as a review of external research and analysis of women’s participation in elections, IRI has developed a framework for this assessment based on a three-part typology of barriers. Individual barriers impede women’s self-efficacy and empowerment. Government barriers include legislative and regulatory provisions that undermine—through omission or commission—women’s participation. Societal barriers include norms of patriarchy or misogyny that exclude women from participating fully in the public sphere. These three types of barriers can exist in isolation and have discrete effects on women’s political participation. However, they are more often mutually constitutive and reinforcing. For example, electoral rules that fail to explicitly protect women’s access to political and electoral processes often indicate deeply embedded social norms of patriarchy. Therefore, the barriers to women’s political participation in any society are often multidimensional, reflecting the complex interaction of cultural values and institutional rules. Consequently, overcoming these barriers necessitates not simply encouraging women to overcome them, or even changing laws and practices, but also transforming the gender norms that undergird them.

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In an effort to address the persistent gender gap at the highest levels of political office, this study investigates one of the stereotype-based social costs that women face as political candidates. Because power and power-seeking are central to the way masculinity is socially constructed and communality is central to the construction of femininity, intentionally seeking power is broadly seen as anti-communal and inconsistent with the societal rules for women’s behavior. The study aims to determine whether women political candidates who are seen to be seeking a political office as a means to gain power will be penalized for their seeming lack of communality. More specifically, the authors suggest that women’s power-seeking will evoke emotional reactions of contempt and disgust and therefore voters will be less likely to support their candidacy.

Findings

• Voters are less likely to vote for female politicians when they perceive them as power-seeking, though male politicians are not penalized.
• All things being equal, study participants were likely to perceive female politicians as being just about equally power-seeking as male politicians.
• When participants saw male politicians as power-seeking, they also saw them as having greater agency (i.e., being more assertive, stronger, and tougher) and greater competence, while this was not true for their perceptions of power-seeking female politicians. 
• When participants saw female politicians as power-seeking, they also saw them as having less communality (i.e., being unsupportive and uncaring), while this was not true for their perceptions of power-seeking male politicians.
• When female politicians were described as power-seeking, participants experienced feelings of moral outrage (i.e., contempt, anger, and/or disgust) towards them.
• Participant gender had no impact on any of the study outcomes – that is, women were just as likely as men to have negative reactions to power-seeking female politicians.
• In short, both a power-seeking image and expressed power-seeking intent can bias voters against female politicians.

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