Women’s political empowerment and political efficacy: A cross-national analysis of rounds 7-11 of the ESS

• In Event: Student Forum Roundtables Session
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Roundtable 19: Culture and Civic Participation

Abstract

Women’s political empowerment refers to the process of increasing capacity for women to exercise choice, agency, and participation in societal decision-making. Political efficacy refers to beliefs that political and social change is possible and that individuals can contribute to political and social change. In particular, internal political efficacy is understood as perceived political competence and external political efficacy as perceived system responsiveness. Examining whether women’s political empowerment shapes political efficacy is important because political efficacy reflects how individuals experience and interpret democratic inclusion. This study examines whether and how women’s political empowerment relates to political efficacy using the V-Dem Women’s Political Empowerment Index and individual-level data from Rounds 7–11 of the European Social Survey across 34 countries. Our analyses show that higher levels of women’s political empowerment are associated with lower internal political efficacy, while no statistically significant relationship is observed with external efficacy. Disaggregating the index reveals heterogeneous patterns: civil liberties and civil society participation are negatively associated with internal efficacy, whereas women’s political representation is positively associated. None of the empowerment dimensions show significant associations with external efficacy. Interaction results further suggest that women’s political empowerment may reshape perceptions of political competence and responsiveness in gendered ways, with broader empowerment gains linked to comparatively lower perceived internal influence among women. These findings indicate that institutional advances may heighten women’s political awareness without uniformly strengthening perceived influence.

Author

• Joanne Ong, York University