Women and Power in Authoritarian Cabinets in Africa

• In Event: Who Stands Between Women and Political Office in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Are women ministers tokens or power pla¬yers in authoritarian cabinets in Africa? Under what conditions do women hold positions of influence in the executive cabinets in authoritarian states? This paper develops a theory of authoritarian cabinets that focuses on regime type to explain the power status of women ministers. First, we argue that power players occupy prestigious ministerial portfolios such as defense, finance, interior, and foreign affairs and that women are more likely hold these portfolios in party regimes than in personal regimes. Second, we expect the tenure of women ministers to vary based on both power status and regime type. In party regimes, token ministers have short tenures and power players have long tenures in their portfolios. Conversely, in personal regimes, token ministers have long tenures while power players have short tenures in their portfolios. We test these hypotheses using a new data set on more than 6,000 ministers in 37 African dictatorships between 1976 and 2010. By examining the gender dynamics of authoritarian cabinets, we shed new light on whether and how dictators use women as tokens or wielders of influence.

Authors

• Alice Kang, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

• Alex Kroeger, Texas State University