Democratization and Women’s and Men’s Well-being, Differential Temporal Rate of Changes

• In Event: 3183 - Section on Global and Transnational Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 05. Cross-National Comparisons

Abstract

Democratization and Women’s and Men’s Well-being, Differential Temporal Rate of Changes
Barbara Wejnert
Transnational Studies, University at Buffalo, SUNY
Abstract
Assessing the impact of democratization in the world and across world’s regions on a broad range of measures of well-being, the conducted studies increase an understanding of democratization in four ways. First, while supporting prior findings that democratization improves societal well-being, this study demonstrates that these effects are contingent upon the interaction of three factors: (i) economic development of a country, (ii) level of democratic growth, (iii) and a person’s gender. Second, using multilevel longitudinal models to analyze the impact of democracy on society across the world and regions of the well-developed, semi-developed and low-developed countries, the study uncovers that, when assessed across the world and in highly developed, highly democratic countries, democracy is a robust predictor of increases in women’s and men’s well-being. The positive impact of democracy fades when comparative analyses of semi-developed and low-developed countries are included. Third, the benefits of democratization are conditioned by citizen’s gender. Women, who have a greater variety of social roles, often the dual role of being producers and mothers, and have a more tenuous employment status than men, thereby face a plethora of new problems during democratization. In contrast to men women’s economic opportunities, schooling, and health and life expectancy decline during democratization in all but the most developed countries. And fourth, differential effects of democratization on women and men are a function of a temporal rate of change. In less developed countries it takes the passing of half generation to see any positive impact from democracy on the well-being of women.

Author

• Barbara Wejnert, State University of New York-Buffalo