Gender Quotas, Women’s Political Participation, and Leadership

Session Submission Type: In-Person Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Gender quota laws are perhaps the most important political reform enacted across the globe in the latter half of the previous century. Nevertheless, women continue to be underrepresented in politics across the world to this day. What are the effects of electoral reforms on gender gap in democratic participation? Does women’s equal presence confer legitimacy to political decision-making processes when women are elected through gender quotas? Does variation in reservation policy affect the evaluation of women candidates? What effect do gender quotas have on the quality of public service provision? The papers on this panel address these questions related to women’s political leadership and participation across different parts of the world: Chile, the United States, Pakistan, and India. Callis, Tunon and Teele use a rare feature of Chile’s electoral system to understand the gender gap in participation and political preferences in mid-twentieth century Chile. Clayton, O’Brien and Piscopo study the legitimacy-conferring effects of women elected with and without quotas in the United States. Cheema, Khan and Mohmand investigate whether the institutional design of reservations in Pakistan influences the type of women who come to power. Karekurve-Ramachandra and Lee examine the effect of randomly implemented electoral quotas for women in India on public goods provision. The panel assembles scholars studying women’s political participation and leadership across the world using novel data and diverse political settings.

Sub Unit

• Division 31: Women, Gender, and Politics Research

Chair

• Mala Htun University of New Mexico

Discussants

• Soledad Artiz Prillaman Stanford University

• Rachel E. Brule Boston University

Individual Presentations

• Electoral Reforms and the Gender Gap: Evidence from Post-Suffrage Chile - Anna Firestone Callis, University of California, Berkeley; Guadalupe Tuñón, Princeton University; Dawn L. Teele, Johns Hopkins University

• Electoral Gender Quotas and Democratic Legitimacy - Amanda Clayton, Vanderbilt University; Diana Z. O'Brien, Rice University; Jennifer M. Piscopo, Occidental College

• Reservation Policy Design & Evaluation of Women Candidates: Evidence from Pakistan - Ali Cheema, Lahore University of Management Sciences; Shandana Khan Mohmand, Institute of Development Studies; Sarah Khan, Yale University

• Can Gender Quotas Improve Public Service Provision? Evidence from India - Alexander Lee, University of Rochester; Varun Karekurve-Ramachandra, University of Rochester