The Effects of Political Institutions on Women’s Political Representation

• DOI: 10.1177/1065912912449698
• Published date: 01 June 2013
• Date: 01 June 2013
• Author: Jennifer Rosen
• Subject Matter: Articles

Political Research Quarterly

66(2) 306 –321

© 2011 University of Utah

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DOI: 10.1177/1065912912449698

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Women have secured the legal rights needed to partici-

pate in politics in all but a handful of countries; however,

their representation in national politics lags far behind

their proportion in society. In mid-2011 women held 19.6

percent of single/lower house parliamentary seats inter-

nationally, 23 of the 189 highest ranking United Nations

diplomatic posts, and just 14 women held elected posts as

heads of state. The circumstance in many countries has

mirrored the slow progression of women’s parliamentary

representation globally (12 percent in 1985, 16.4 percent

in 2005). From 1992 to 2011, women’s parliamentary

representation in Brazil increased from 7.4 to 8.6 percent,

in India from 6.9 to 10.8 percent, in Russia from 8.7 to 14

percent, and in the United States from 11 percent to a

scarcely more impressive 16.8 percent. On the other hand,

countries such as Argentina, Costa Rica, Tanzania, and

South Africa have seen women’s parliamentary represen-

tation nearly triple over the last two decades. In fact,

Rwanda’s 2008 parliamentary elections resulted in the

world’s first national legislative body with a female major-

ity (56.3 percent). While women’s political advancement

outside the industrialized world has accelerated in recent

years, research either has been limited to Western democ-

racies or has presented contradictory conclusions regard-

ing how key causal mechanisms operate in the context of

less developed countries.

A rich tradition of scholars have analyzed political, socio-

economic, and cultural factors to explain the substantial

cross-national variations in women’s representation, gener-

ally finding that level of development does not play

a significant role in these explanations. This makes sense if

you consider that, as of early 2012, Rwanda, Cuba,

Seychelles, South Africa, and Nicaragua ranked among the

top ten countries by percentage of women in lower/single

houses of parliament, while women in countries such as

Britain, France, the United States, and Japan occupied rela-

tively low proportions of parliamentary seats (ranking 54th,

70th, 78th, and 106th respectively). I argue, however, that

level of development- when measured using economic and

social proxies- interacts with key causal variables, shifting

their importance and possibly even direction once a given

level is reached. In 1998 Richard Matland introduced the

concept of a development threshold, a minimum level of

development that is required in order for the mechanisms

found to be important by previous researchers to positively

affect women’s political representation. To test Matland’s

449698PRQXXX10.1177/1065912912

449698Political Research QuarterlyRosen

1Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

Corresponding Author:

Jennifer Rosen, Northwestern University, Department of Sociology,

1810 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, IL 60208.

Email: jenniferrosen2014@u.northwestern.edu

The Effects of Political Institutions on

Women’s Political Representation:

A Comparative Analysis of 168

Countries from 1992 to 2010

Jennifer Rosen1

Abstract

Women’s political representation exhibits substantial cross-national variation. While mechanisms shaping these

variations are well understood for Western democracies, there is little consensus on how these same factors operate in

less developed countries. Effects of two political institutions—electoral systems and gender quotas—are tested across

168 countries from 1992 to 2010. Findings indicate that key causal factors interact with a country’s socioeconomic

development, shifting their importance and possibly even direction at various development thresholds. Generalizing

broadly across countries, therefore, does not adequately represent the effects of these political institutions. Rather,

different institutional changes are advised to increase women’s presence in national governments.

Keywords

women and politics, development, quotas, electoral systems, political representation

Rosen 307

hypothesis I highlight two political variables—electoral sys-

tems and national gender quotas. In-depth examination of

these variables offers particular significance because, as

political institutions, they are more easily manipulated than

ideological or socioeconomic factors to achieve the goal of

gender parity in national politics. Results support Matland’s

basic insight of a development threshold, indicating that

broad cross-national generalizations fail to adequately repre-

sent the effects of these political institutions.

I assemble an original cross-national time-series data

set for 168 countries from 1992 to 2010. Although I build

models that comprehensively analyze cross-national

variations in women’s political representation, this is not

my primary goal. Instead, I provide rigorous empirical

evidence to support Matland’s hypothesis of a develop-

ment threshold, revealing how the causal processes of

particular political institutions vary across countries

depending on their level of socioeconomic development.

I demonstrate this in two ways. First, I replicate aspects

of previous studies, but focus considerable attention on

the ways in which electoral systems and national quotas

differ by including interaction terms with level of devel-

opment. Subsequently, I treat development as a scope

condition, where countries are analyzed separately

according to level of socioeconomic development. I con-

clude by arguing that, while most women in politics

researchers have generalized their findings across entire

populations of countries, the same mechanisms that increase

the percentage of women in parliaments in developed

countries do not have an equivalent effect in less developed

countries and vice versa. This empirical analysis provides

evidence to suggest that the majority of existing model s

need to be reframed to account for the heterogeneity intro-

duced by level of development. By presenting novel

analysis from an original data set, I am also able to engage

the contradictory findings of the few studies that specifi-

cally examine the causal mechanisms of women’s politi-

cal representation in less developed countries.

The political advancement of women has broader

implications beyond the formal significance of justice

and equality. Achieving gender balance in national gov-

ernments can measurably improve the quality of policy

making, both in relation to women’s specific needs and

to the policy-making process more generally (Carroll

2001; Celis et al. 2008; Dahlerup 2010; Lovenduski and

Norris 2004; Phillips 1995; Tolleson-Rinehart 2001).

Women’s political visibility is also theorized to have a

symbolic effect, potentially increasing women’s status

and reducing societal gender inequalities more broadly

(Hughes 2009; Paxton 1997; Paxton and Hughes 2007).

In fact, some scholars argue that gender parity in poli-

tics is among the most important changes required to

produce a system of gender equality in society (Chafetz

1990; Moore and Shackman 1996). Given these consid-

erable implications, it is important to ask which, if any,

institutional mechanisms support increases in women’s

national political representation.

Political Institutions across

Development Thresholds

Research examining cross-national variations in women’s

political representation has proliferated over the past few

decades (Hughes 2009; Kenworthy and Malami 1999;

Krook 2010; Matland 1998; Moore and Shackman 1996;

Paxton 1997; Paxton and Hughes 2007; Paxton and

Kunovich 2003, 2005; Reynolds 1999; Rule 1987;

Viterna, Fallon, and Beckfield 2008). However, with a

few important exceptions (Hughes 2009; Kenworthy and

Malami 1999; Krook 2010; Matland 1998; Viterna,

Fallon, and Beckfield 2008), quantitative results rarely

differentiate between mechanisms at play across levels of

development. In fact, despite their universalizing asser-

tions, statistical results can suffer from regional biases

(often privileging Western democracies) rather than

describing global trends (Krook 2010). Consequently,

while the mechanisms shaping women’s representation in

Western, industrialized countries are generally agreed

upon, there is little consensus regarding how these same

factors operate in the context of less developed countries

(Hughes 2009; Krook 2010). Below, I consider what we

do and do not know about the impact of key causal

mechanisms across development thresholds.

Women’s Political Representation: Does

Development Matter?

Cross-national analytic models have produced disparate

and oftentimes contradicting conclusions when applied to

less developed countries (Hughes 2009). Socioeconomic

development affects resource availability and personal

opportunities and directly affects a population’s well-

being. Many believe that as the standard of living improves,

women’s roles revolve less around tasks necessary for

daily survival (i.e., collecting water), which enables

greater independence and involvement in the public sphere

(Krook 2010; Paxton and Kunovich 2005). As such, a

developed economy can create more opportunities for

women to acquire the qualifications needed to serve in top

government posts. Conversely, others argue that women

tend to enter politics during times of crisis, so that as eco-

nomic distress becomes more severe women get involved

in politics to advocate for changes that will ameliorate

their immediate situations (Del Campo 2005). Clearly, that

Rwanda and Sweden rank 1st and 2nd in women’s parlia-

mentary representation, respectively, suggests that one