Processing Role Models: Experiment on Mediators of the Female Role Model Effect

• In Event: Does Women's Presence Matter? Symbolic and Role Model Effects

Abstract

While women in power seem to have a role-model effect on young women, the conditions under which the effect is influential in changing norms have been largely unexplored in the literature. To better understand these conditions, this uses an experimental design to randomly assign subjects to participate in focus group discussions with either friends or family members, with the goal of understanding which type of peer group may facilitate (or not) the role model effect. In this difference-in-difference design, half of the focus groups (in both family and peer groups) discussed female representation in Tanzania (including reserved seats for women in parliament) and their own neighborhood. The other half discussed general questions of politics. The follow-up survey asked about their aspirations for themselves and their young female children or relatives, and a number of other cultural norms, including some that are more specific to Tanzania. By comparing the differing effects of the family groups to the friend groups, we can better understand how young women process examples of women in power.
The experiment was conducted in the summer of 2019 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Each of 348 focus groups was randomly assigned into one of four conditions, factorially. Subjects were asked to refer friends or family members for recruitment to participate in the focus groups. All of the primary subjects were females between the ages of 18 and 35 years old. After the focus groups, all participants completed a survey that included measures of propensity for political participation, investment in girl children, and several standard measures of gender norms and bargaining power. The resulting data has 1343 observations, of which 348 are primary respondents, the remainder were secondary respondents, referred by the primary respondents to fill her focus group. Factor analysis was used to create indices from these responses for their respective hypotheses. The subsequent difference-in-differences analysis compares the relative effect of each type of social group on the effect discussion of female role models.

Author

• Elizabeth McGuire, Brigham Young University