Does the Inclusion of Women in African Legislatures Encourage Women's Political Participation?
Author | : Rosemarie Frances Clouston |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 134 |
Release | : 2012 |
ISBN-10 | : OCLC:867152045 |
ISBN-13 | : |
Rating | : 4/5 (45 Downloads) |
Download or read book Does the Inclusion of Women in African Legislatures Encourage Women's Political Participation? written by Rosemarie Frances Clouston and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using Afrobarometer survey data from up to 20 African countries over four time periods spanning nearly a decade and country-level data from a variety of sources, this study tests the hypotheses that: (1) Quota laws requiring minimum proportions of women in African legislatures are positively correlated with women's political activity; and (2) Women are more engaged in politics in countries with greater proportions of women in their legislatures regardless of whether their country has a quota law. It finds that women are more likely to engage in certain political activities (i.e., attend a community meeting and vote) when they live in a country with a quota. However, the actual proportion of a country's legislature comprised of women does not have statistically significant implications for women's political engagement. This study provides limited support for countries in sub-Saharan Africa to adopt some form of quotas as a means of broadening their democracies to better include women's voices. However, because of the limited data available, this study primarily suggests the need for sub-Saharan African countries to compile and release more gender-disaggregated data on voter registration, voting and other political actions.