Publications
Democratization and Gender Politics in Africa, with Martha Johnson
This book chapter considers the relationship between democracy and women’s political representation in sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on existing studies, it demonstrates that political openings facilitated autonomous women’s mobilization in Africa, which helped improve women’s representation in legislative and executive office. However, this pattern occurred primarily in countries that adopted quotas, even if they remained relatively authoritarian or embraced an illiberal form of democracy. While women’s mobilization, particularly in post-conflict situations, contributed to quota adoption, elections were not required. By contrast, although the chapter emphasizes quotas’ limitations, in their absence, elections may not suffice to ensure women’s representation. Women in African politics face biases among party leaders that make it difficult to secure party nominations and support, socio-economic limitations that make it difficult for them to qualify for public office and finance their campaigns, and cultural discrimination that makes campaigning difficult, even risky. Ensuring women’s success in competitive elections requires attention all three constraints. Finally, the chapter calls for additional research on the substantive impact of women’s presence in political office, as well as the role of women in local elected bodies, the bureaucracy, and the judiciary.
Cite: Johnson, M., Phillips, M. (2019). Gender politics. In Routledge Handbook of Democratization in Africa, edited by Gabrielle Lynch and Peter VonDoep. London: Routledge Press
This book chapter considers the relationship between democracy and women’s political representation in sub-Saharan Africa. Drawing on existing studies, it demonstrates that political openings facilitated autonomous women’s mobilization in Africa, which helped improve women’s representation in legislative and executive office. However, this pattern occurred primarily in countries that adopted quotas, even if they remained relatively authoritarian or embraced an illiberal form of democracy. While women’s mobilization, particularly in post-conflict situations, contributed to quota adoption, elections were not required. By contrast, although the chapter emphasizes quotas’ limitations, in their absence, elections may not suffice to ensure women’s representation. Women in African politics face biases among party leaders that make it difficult to secure party nominations and support, socio-economic limitations that make it difficult for them to qualify for public office and finance their campaigns, and cultural discrimination that makes campaigning difficult, even risky. Ensuring women’s success in competitive elections requires attention all three constraints. Finally, the chapter calls for additional research on the substantive impact of women’s presence in political office, as well as the role of women in local elected bodies, the bureaucracy, and the judiciary.
Cite: Johnson, M., Phillips, M. (2019). Gender politics. In Routledge Handbook of Democratization in Africa, edited by Gabrielle Lynch and Peter VonDoep. London: Routledge Press
Work in Progress |
Women and Power in Africa: Aspiring, Campaigning, and Governing in New Democracies. Edited Volume. with Arriola, Johnson, and Phillips.
The book presents innovative methods and unique case studies to answer the persistent questions about how African women access and deploy political power. In doing so, it builds on and tests predominate theories on women’s political participation, many of which were originally generated in the Global North and may not hold in the context of Africa’s new democracies. The book covers 7 different countries across the continent to analyze the three critical stages in accessing political power.
Party Building and Politician Defection in Zambia, with Arriola, Choi, Davis, Rakner.
We examine the party affiliation preferences of parliamentary candidates in Zambia. We find that candidates who are business owners with multiple organizational linkages are not only the most likely to be recruited by parties, but they are also the most likely to defect between parties. Despite such weak partisan attachments, we also find that candidates prefer to join strong national parties with developed organizational structures for leadership selection.
Women’s Household Bargaining Power and Abortion Policy Preferences: Evidence from Zambian Politicians. with Arriola, Choi, Davis, Rakner.
In this paper, we argue that the support of women politicians in developing countries is likely to be conditioned by their household bargaining power vis-à-vis their male partners. Women with weaker intra-household bargaining positions should be more likely to support liberalizing reform because it enables them to exercise greater reproductive control without the consent of their partners. We corroborate this expectation through a survey experiment with an informational treatment conducted among more than 600 national and local politicians in Zambia, a country with high rates of maternal mortality due to unsafe abortion. We find a significant divergence among women politicians. While women parliamentarians fail to respond to the informational treatment, treated women ward councilors are 35 percentage points less likely to oppose the liberalizing proposal.
The book presents innovative methods and unique case studies to answer the persistent questions about how African women access and deploy political power. In doing so, it builds on and tests predominate theories on women’s political participation, many of which were originally generated in the Global North and may not hold in the context of Africa’s new democracies. The book covers 7 different countries across the continent to analyze the three critical stages in accessing political power.
Party Building and Politician Defection in Zambia, with Arriola, Choi, Davis, Rakner.
We examine the party affiliation preferences of parliamentary candidates in Zambia. We find that candidates who are business owners with multiple organizational linkages are not only the most likely to be recruited by parties, but they are also the most likely to defect between parties. Despite such weak partisan attachments, we also find that candidates prefer to join strong national parties with developed organizational structures for leadership selection.
Women’s Household Bargaining Power and Abortion Policy Preferences: Evidence from Zambian Politicians. with Arriola, Choi, Davis, Rakner.
In this paper, we argue that the support of women politicians in developing countries is likely to be conditioned by their household bargaining power vis-à-vis their male partners. Women with weaker intra-household bargaining positions should be more likely to support liberalizing reform because it enables them to exercise greater reproductive control without the consent of their partners. We corroborate this expectation through a survey experiment with an informational treatment conducted among more than 600 national and local politicians in Zambia, a country with high rates of maternal mortality due to unsafe abortion. We find a significant divergence among women politicians. While women parliamentarians fail to respond to the informational treatment, treated women ward councilors are 35 percentage points less likely to oppose the liberalizing proposal.