Strange Case of Gender Quotas Symbolic Effect: Moral Values Can Explain Variation

• In Event: The Logic and Meaning of Gender

Abstract

Gender quotas have been adopted in more than 120 countries over the past few decades as a fast track approach to remedy the under-representation of women in politics. Scholars argue that higher descriptive representation of women has positive symbolic effect and therefore is expected to improve political participation and engagement of women as well as social attitudes about their effectiveness as political leaders. However, the relatively small body of literature has reported mixed results; in some countries increase in women's representation has been found to be associated with lower gender bias and improved beliefs about women's leadership abilities, while there is a lack of symbolic effect and even an escalating backlash against women in a number of other societies. So the question arises that what are the causes of observed variation among different countries with similar institutional structures? The present study explores this question by drawing on two theories of moral foundations and mediated intergroup contact and using observational data.

Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) postulates that moral values are built upon five psychological foundations labeled care and fairness, loyalty, authority and sanctity which are developed and endorsed to varying degrees within and across different cultures. The fist two (individualizing) foundations are mainly related to concern for individual rights and freedoms, fairness and avoidance of harm, and have been found to be linked with empathic motivation. The other three (binding) foundations are meant to strengthen groups and institutions and suppress individual selfishness. One of the main institutional channels for propagating moral discourse in a society is mass media. As people seldom directly come in contact with members of outgroups (here female political elite), public's perceptions about them and policies are largely shaped through mediated contact via mass media. Here, I argue that the symbolic effect of quota-induced increase in women's descriptive representation is mediated by the endorsement of different moral foundations (individualizing or binding) in news coverage of female politicians.

Given the difference between moral systems across countries, this relationship can explain variation in the impact of gender quotas on issues such as political engagement and participation. As greater presence of women in politics leads to an increase in news coverage of female politicians, people are more likely to be indirectly exposed to them through mass media. Therefore, I expect attitudes about women's leadership capabilities to be associated with the dominant moral rhetoric in the news media. I examine the association between the symbolic effect of increase in women's descriptive representation and the type of moral rhetoric in news coverage of female legislators utilizing observational data from Sub Saharan Africa.

Data on views towards women's leadership capability is obtained from Afrobarometer surveys which is collected from countries in Sub-Saharan Africa across seven waves from 1999 to 2017. Text data for measuring moral rhetoric is collected from national newspapers and online news media in the region using Nexis Uni in the same period. Information on gender quotas is extracted from International IDEA and data on women’s descriptive representation is collected from the Inter-Parliamentary Union archives. Preliminary analysis on implementation of gender quotas shows an increase in the number of female lawmakers leads to a growth in the number of news articles, hence increasing mediated exposure to women in positions of power. Furthermore, endorsement of different moral foundations in news coverage changes in response to higher presence of women in the parliament; endorsement of individualizing foundations in news coverage of female politicians is positively associated with more political participation and engagement among women

Author

• Myriam Shiran, University of Houston