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The Effects of Political Institutions on Women's Political Representation

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The Effects of Political Institutions on Women's Political Representation PRQXXX10.1177/1065912912 449698Political Research QuarterlyRosen Political Research Quarterly 66(2) 306 –321 The Effects of Political Institutions on © 2011 University of Utah Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Women’s Political Representation: DOI: 10.1177/1065912912449698 A Comparative Analysis of 168 prq.sagepub.com Countries from 1992 to 2010 Jennifer Rosen1 Abstract Women’s political representation exhibits substantial cross-national variation. While mechanisms shaping these variations are well understood for Western democracies, there is little consensus on how these same factors operate in less developed countries. Effects of two political institutions—electoral systems and gender quotas—are tested across 168 countries from 1992 to 2010. Findings indicate that key causal factors interact with a country’s socioeconomic development, shifting their importance and possibly even direction at various development thresholds. Generalizing broadly across countries, therefore, does not adequately represent the effects of these political institutions. Rather, different institutional changes are advised to increase women’s presence in national governments. Keywords women and politics, development, quotas, electoral systems, political representation Women have secured the legal rights needed to partici- A rich tradition of scholars have analyzed political, socio- pate in politics in all but a handful of countries; however, economic, and cultural factors to explain the substantial their representation in national politics lags far behind cross-national variations in women’s representation, gener- their proportion in society. In mid-2011 women held 19.6 ally finding that level of development does not play percent of single/lower house parliamentary seats inter- a significant role in these explanations. This makes sense if nationally, 23 of the 189 highest ranking United Nations you consider that, as of early 2012, Rwanda, Cuba, diplomatic posts, and just 14 women held elected posts as Seychelles, South Africa, and Nicaragua ranked among the heads of state. The circumstance in many countries has top ten countries by percentage of women in lower/single mirrored the slow progression of women’s parliamentary houses of parliament, while women in countries such as representation globally (12 percent in 1985, 16.4 percent Britain, France, the United States, and Japan occupied rela- in 2005). From 1992 to 2011, women’s parliamentary tively low proportions of parliamentary seats (ranking 54th, representation in Brazil increased from 7.4 to 8.6 percent, 70th, 78th, and 106th respectively). I argue, however, that in India from 6.9 to 10.8 percent, in Russia from 8.7 to 14 level of development- when measured using economic and percent, and in the United States from 11 percent to a social proxies- interacts with key causal variables, shifting scarcely more impressive 16.8 percent. On the other hand, their importance and possibly even direction once a given countries such as Argentina, Costa Rica, Tanzania, and level is reached. In 1998 Richard Matland introduced the South Africa have seen women’s parliamentary represen- concept of a development threshold, a minimum level of tation nearly triple over the last two decades. In fact, development that is required in order for the mechanisms Rwanda’s 2008 parliamentary elections resulted in the found to be important by previous researchers to positively world’s first national legislative body with a female major- affect women’s political representation. To test Matland’s ity (56.3 percent). While women’s political advancement outside the industrialized world has accelerated in recent 1Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA years, research either has been limited to Western democ- Corresponding Author: racies or has presented contradictory conclusions regard- Jennifer Rosen, Northwestern University, Department of Sociology, ing how key causal mechanisms operate in the context of 1810 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, IL 60208. less developed countries. Email: [email protected] Rosen 307 hypothesis I highlight two political variables—electoral sys- 1990; Moore and Shackman 1996). Given these consid- tems and national gender quotas. In-depth examination of erable implications, it is important to ask which, if any, these variables offers particular significance because, as institutional mechanisms support increases in women’s political institutions, they are more easily manipulated than national political representation. ideological or socioeconomic factors to achieve the goal of gender parity in national politics. Results support Matland’s basic insight of a development threshold, indicating that Political Institutions across broad cross-national generalizations fail to adequately repre- Development Thresholds sent the effects of these political institutions. Research examining cross-national variations in women’s I assemble an original cross-national time-series data political representation has proliferated over the past few set for 168 countries from 1992 to 2010. Although I build decades (Hughes 2009; Kenworthy and Malami 1999; models that comprehensively analyze cross-national Krook 2010; Matland 1998; Moore and Shackman 1996; variations in women’s political representation, this is not Paxton 1997; Paxton and Hughes 2007; Paxton and my primary goal. Instead, I provide rigorous empirical Kunovich 2003, 2005; Reynolds 1999; Rule 1987; evidence to support Matland’s hypothesis of a develop- Viterna, Fallon, and Beckfield 2008). However, with a ment threshold, revealing how the causal processes of few important exceptions (Hughes 2009; Kenworthy and particular political institutions vary across countries Malami 1999; Krook 2010; Matland 1998; Viterna, depending on their level of socioeconomic development. Fallon, and Beckfield 2008), quantitative results rarely I demonstrate this in two ways. First, I replicate aspects differentiate between mechanisms at play across levels of of previous studies, but focus considerable attention on development. In fact, despite their universalizing asser- the ways in which electoral systems and national quotas tions, statistical results can suffer from regional biases differ by including interaction terms with level of devel- (often privileging Western democracies) rather than opment. Subsequently, I treat development as a scope describing global trends (Krook 2010). Consequently, condition, where countries are analyzed separately while the mechanisms shaping women’s representation in according to level of socioeconomic development. I con- Western, industrialized countries are generally agreed clude by arguing that, while most women in politics upon, there is little consensus regarding how these same researchers have generalized their findings across entire factors operate in the context of less developed countries populations of countries, the same mechanisms that increase (Hughes 2009; Krook 2010). Below, I consider what we the percentage of women in parliaments in developed do and do not know about the impact of key causal countries do not have an equivalent effect in less developed mechanisms across development thresholds. countries and vice versa. This empirical analysis provides evidence to suggest that the majority of existing models need to be reframed to account for the heterogeneity intro- Women’s Political Representation: Does duced by level of development. By presenting novel Development Matter? analysis from an original data set, I am also able to engage Cross-national analytic models have produced disparate the contradictory findings of the few studies that specifi- and oftentimes contradicting conclusions when applied to cally examine the causal mechanisms of women’s politi- less developed countries (Hughes 2009). Socioeconomic cal representation in less developed countries. development affects resource availability and personal The political advancement of women has broader opportunities and directly affects a population’s well- implications beyond the formal significance of justice being. Many believe that as the standard of living improves, and equality. Achieving gender balance in national gov- women’s roles revolve less around tasks necessary for ernments can measurably improve the quality of policy daily survival (i.e., collecting water), which enables making, both in relation to women’s specific needs and greater independence and involvement in the public sphere to the policy-making process more generally (Carroll (Krook 2010; Paxton and Kunovich 2005). As such, a 2001; Celis et al. 2008; Dahlerup 2010; Lovenduski and developed economy can create more opportunities for Norris 2004; Phillips 1995; Tolleson-Rinehart 2001). women to acquire the qualifications needed to serve in top Women’s political visibility is also theorized to have a government posts. Conversely, others argue that women symbolic effect, potentially increasing women’s status tend to enter politics during times of crisis, so that as eco- and reducing societal gender inequalities more broadly nomic distress becomes more severe women get involved (Hughes 2009; Paxton 1997; Paxton and Hughes 2007). in politics to advocate for changes that will ameliorate In fact, some scholars argue that gender parity in poli- their immediate situations (Del Campo 2005). Clearly, that tics is among the most important changes required to Rwanda and Sweden rank 1st and 2nd in women’s parlia- produce a system of gender equality in society (Chafetz mentary representation,
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