Women, Governance, and Changing Gender Norms in MENA and South Asia

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel explores several aspects of relationship between gender norms, government policies, and the participation of women in government. The panel brings together a set papers with theoretical and methodological synergies from the diverse contexts of Morocco, Qatar, and India. Each paper captures a different snapshot of the changes taking place in these traditional societies, where women are newly emerging political actors, through examining individual-level attitudes and behaviors related to gender. More specifically, both the Barnett paper and the Tóth and Brulé paper are concerned with individual-level impact of government institutions and policies on gender norms. Barnett does this by looking at the impact of government-sponsored support for women’s rights on perceptions and attitudes toward gender equality, while the Tóth and Brulé paper evaluates the effect of quotas for caste and gender on individual-level experiences of public goods and discrimination. In addition, the Shockley and the Chauchard, Brulé, and Heinze papers are similarly concerned not just with the presence of women in government but with measuring attitudes and behaviors related to what women actually do in government. They share a mutual interest in understanding whether or not women in positions of political authority are relegated to stereotypical roles, as explored in the Shockley paper, or lacking in de facto power as discussed by Chauchard, Brulé, and Heinze.

Methodologically, the papers in this panel offer complementary examples of fieldwork-based data collection and experimental methodologies to examine behavioral and/or attitudinal outcomes at the individual-level. All four papers draw on original data that are either among the newest and richest available on this topic in their respective contexts, as in the cases of India and Morocco, or some of the only relevant survey data available at all, as in the case of Qatar. Furthermore, all of the projects use various forms of experimental methods to enhance the ability of the authors to make inferences about individual-level attitudes and behaviors. Barnett draws on insights from an original lab experiment, Shockley uses a conjoint survey experiment, and Tóth and Brule use a natural experiment. Finally, the Chauchard, Brulé, and Heinze paper uses a combination of experimental approaches to measure important behavioral outcomes. Panel attendees will have the opportunity to see the application of a wide range of rigorous techniques to examine the impact of women’s participation in governance and legal change on material outcomes and changing gender norms.

The panel also brings together a diverse group of scholars to engage in meaningful conversation about the topic of gender norms and governance more generally. Mala Htun, of University of New Mexico, will chair the panel and bring to it valuable expertise and perspective from her research on global trends in feminism and women’s rights. Since the papers on the panel deal with two different regions (the Middle East and North Africa and South Asia), two discussants were selected so that all papers will receive feedback from individuals with strong understanding of the relevant contexts. Lisa Blaydes, of Stanford University, will discuss papers on Morocco and Qatar. She adds to the panel a wealth of contextual and theoretical understanding of the Middle East, including on governance and political behavior under authoritarianism. Francesca R. Jensenius, of the University of Oslo, will discuss the two papers on the case of India. She brings extensive expertise on issues of gender and caste in India as well as the impact of quotas. These distinguished discussants and chair join a diverse set of presenters representing institutions in the United States, the UAE, and the Netherlands. Together, members of this panel are well-situated to produce fruitful discussion about the latest research on governance and gender and to advance our knowledge of how to build and sustain equitable governance.

Sub Unit

• Division 12: Comparative Politics of Developing Countries

Cosponsors

• Division 31: Women and Politics Research

• Division 57: Middle East and North Africa Politics

Individual Presentations

• Relegated to Women’s Affairs? Gender Roles and Candidate Preferences in Qatar - Bethany Shockley, American University of Sharjah

• Women’s Rights and Support for Gender Equality: Evidence from Morocco - Carolyn Barnett, Princeton University

• Powerful or Proxies: Political Influence Among India's Local Representatives - Simon Chauchard, Leiden University; Rachel E. Brule, Boston University; Alyssa Heinze, University of California, Berkeley

• The Political Economy of Gender & Caste in Contemporary India - Aliz Toth, Stanford University; Rachel E. Brule, Boston University

Chair

• Mala Htun University of New Mexico

Discussants

• Lisa Blaydes Stanford University

• Francesca R. Jensenius University of Oslo