Do Female MPs Provide Fewer Clientelistic Services? Evidence from North Africa

• In Event: Gender in Authoritarian and Hybrid Regimes

Abstract

Literature from developed democracies suggests that female state legislators provide more casework than men, as a result of structural marginalization, which requires female legislators to work harder to maintain electoral support. In contrast, research in authoritarian settings suggests that female parliamentarians will provide fewer services since they enjoy less dense networks with regime incumbents, who control resources needed to provide clientelism and are most often men. Women may also provide less clientelism to the extent that they associate it with corruption and regard it as inconsistent with their representative role. To test these propositions, this paper draws on original data from surveys of 200 Moroccan and Algerian parliamentarians conducted in 2007, supplemented by data from Tunisia and Jordan. The findings show that women provide less casework than their male counterparts. The gender gap in service provision narrows as district magnitude decreases. The results have implications for gender and governance research and suggest that the type of electoral system and quota influences the extent to which women provide services.

Author

• Lindsay J. Benstead, Portland State University