The Gendered [Socio-]Economic Determinants of Political Behavior

• In Event: Rethinking the Role of Resources in Women’s Political Participation

Abstract

Globally, there is a gender gap in political engagement. In Nigeria, the world’s largest Black economy, women’s engagement in economic life, particularly in entrepreneurship, has steadily increased while political engagement has been stagnant and declining. Why are Nigerian women on average, seemingly economically empowered, yet politically disempowered? My paper investigates this paradox by analyzing the relationship between women's economic empowerment and political behavior. I explore how enabling social networks joined to high levels of economic success encourage more costly types of political behavior such as running for political office. My findings suggest that in environments that favor male networks of wealth and influence, money speaks, but powerful political networks speak louder. Thus, the political implication of such distribution of social power is gendered such that even if women are economically empowered via businesses or other avenues, this does not necessarily enable political empowerment. Within this framework, I develop a typology of political behavior that demonstrates how economic power and social power work in tandem to either enable or constrain political expression. I also examine how these conditions fuel different pathways to political empowerment for diverse communities. Empirically, I employ participant observation with economic empowerment organizations led by Nigerian women, focus groups with entrepreneurs, semi-structured interviews with market association leaders, political aspirants and civil servants, and survey data analysis. The project draws additional insights from transnational, Black, and African feminist literature to understand power as it manifests in diverse contexts.

Author

• Pamela Nwakanma, Harvard University