When women hold local office: Women’s representation and political engagement amid conflict and climate shocks across Africa

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dc.creatorKosec, Katrina
dc.creatorKyle, Jordan
dc.creatorTakeshima, Hiroyuki
dc.date2023-12-31
dc.date2024-01-05T20:40:49Z
dc.date2024-01-05T20:40:49Z
dc.date.accessioned2026-06-27T15:41:17Z
dc.descriptionOne argument in favor of quotas for women’s representation in political office is that female politicians can break down gender barriers more broadly, inspiring individual women to participate politically. In many African countries, where gender gaps in political participation are large, identifying effective strategies to reduce gender imbalances is critical. Recurring climate and conflict shocks are making this task more urgent, to ensure that women’s voices are included when designing responses to those shocks and as it is possible that climate and conflict shocks could widen participation gaps. Using data from 13 African countries on women’s representation in subnational political offices as well as survey data on individual political participation, we find, first, that women’s representation in local office is associated with higher political participation by individual women (but not by men) in this context. Second, using geo-referenced data on shocks, we show that violent conflict shocks in particular lower political participation for everyone, although the effects are stronger for men compared to women in the 12-month frame that we consider here. Third, we find that, when women leaders hold local political office, the negative effects of conflict shocks on political participation are mitigated for women. These analyses offer important new insights into the relationship between women’s political representation and women’s individual political activity within the context of shocks.
dc.formatapplication/pdf
dc.identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/137259
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/123456789/111751
dc.languageen
dc.publisherInternational Food Policy Research Institute
dc.relationhttps://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136475
dc.relationhttps://doi.org/10.1111/1477-9552.12564
dc.relationhttps://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134214
dc.relationhttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/145848
dc.relationhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2023.107894
dc.rightsOpen Access
dc.sourceKosec, Katrina; Kyle, Jordan; and Takeshima, Hiroyuki. 2023. When women hold local office: Women’s representation and political engagement amid conflict and climate shocks across Africa. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2230. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/137259
dc.subjectgender
dc.subjectwomen
dc.subjectwomen's participation
dc.subjectpolitical systems
dc.subjectconflicts
dc.subjectshock
dc.subjectclimate
dc.subjectfragility
dc.titleWhen women hold local office: Women’s representation and political engagement amid conflict and climate shocks across Africa
dc.typeWorking Paper

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Instituto Internacional de Investigación sobre Políticas Alimentarias (IFPRI)