Same Rules, Higher Costs

Mapping Intimacies ◽

10.1093/oso/9780192898074.003.0002 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 39-60

Author(s):

Leonardo R. Arriola ◽

Melanie L. Phillips ◽

Lise Rakner

Keyword(s):

Political Leaders ◽

Women Candidates ◽

Women’S Experiences ◽

Women's Experiences ◽

Initial Entry

Chapter 2 examines whether women face fundamentally different challenges as they seek to become political leaders in Zambia. The chapter demonstrates that women largely use the same strategies as men to succeed in politics but face distinct costs due to their gender. The chapter provides a nuanced assessment of how women’s experiences differ from men’s across distinct political stages, from initial entry into politics to actual campaigning. The chapter shows, contrary to existing theories, that women candidates report the same sources of encouragement and equivalent qualifications as men. Women are also found to pursue the same partisan strategies as men when seeking a spot on the ballot. The chapter shows, for example, that women are as likely as men to use bribes during the nomination process. However, the chapter also reveals that women candidates are significantly less likely than men to give public speeches or participate in rallies during campaigning.

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Women and Power in Africa

10.1093/oso/9780192898074.001.0001 ◽

2021 ◽

Keyword(s):

Political Power ◽

Critical Mass ◽

Political Process ◽

Substantive Representation ◽

African Countries ◽

Women Candidates ◽

Women’S Experiences ◽

Women's Experiences ◽

Gender Based ◽

The Impact

This book examines women’s experiences in African politics as aspirants to public office, as candidates in election campaigns, and as elected representatives. Part I evaluates women’s efforts to become party candidates in four African countries: Benin, Ghana, Malawi, and Zambia. The chapters draw on a variety of methods, including extensive interviews with women candidates, to describe and assess the barriers confronted when women seek to enter politics. The chapters help explain why women remain underrepresented as candidates for office, particularly in countries without gender-based quotas, by emphasizing the impact of financial constraints, fears of violence, and resistance among party leaders. Part II turns to women’s experiences as candidates during elections in Kenya and Ghana. One chapter provides an in-depth account of a woman’s presidential bid in Kenya, demonstrating how gendered ethnicity undermined her candidacy, and another chapter presents a novel evaluation of the media’s coverage of women candidates in Ghana. Part III turns to women as legislators in Namibia, Uganda, and Burkina Faso, asking whether women engage in substantive representation on gendered policy issues once in office. The chapters challenge the assumption that a critical mass of women is necessary or sufficient to achieve substantive representation. Taken together, the book’s chapters problematize existing hypotheses regarding women in political power, drawing on understudied countries and a variety of empirical methods. By following political pathways from entry to governance, the book uncovers how gendered experiences early in the political process shape what is possible for women once they attain political power.

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