1st Edition
Gendered Electoral Financing Money, Power and Representation in Comparative Perspective
Illustrated by in-depth empirical research from six country studies, Gendered Electoral Financing: Money, Power and Representation in Comparative Perspective is the first cross-regional examination of the nexus between money, gender and political recruitment across the world.
Money is assumingly one of the greatest barriers to women in the political recruitment process. The financial disadvantage of women is expected to constitute an obstacle for women’s entry into politics everywhere and especially in developing countries where women’s socio-economic status is disproportionately low relative to men’s. This line of reasoning has caused a global upswing in both candidate- and party-directed financial schemes introduced to enhance gender balance in political office. This book develops a typology of different kinds of gendered electoral financing schemes and builds theories about its causes and consequences. By comparing how gendered electoral financing affects political recruitment processes in both established and emerging democracies, the authors identify whether and how the funding mechanisms incentivize a shift in political behavior.
Gendered Electoral Financing is a timely, informative and well-written book that does an excellent job of explaining, in language accessible to students and researchers alike, the cost of elections, gender imbalance in political office and the effects of financial incentive mechanisms to increase women’s representation in politics.
Foreword
Gender-targeted Public Funding
Magnus Öhman
PART 1. PARTY DIRECTED GENDERED ELECTORAL FINANCING
1 Introduction
Introducing the Concept of Gendered Electoral Financing
Ragnhild L. Muriaas, Vibeke Wang, Rainbow Murray
2 France
Parity Sanctions and Campaign Financing in France: Increased Numbers, Little Concrete Gender Transformation
Catherine Achin, Sandrine Lévêque, Anja Durovic, Eléonore Lépinard, Amy Mazur
3 Ireland
Gendering candidate selection: incentivising parties through State funding
Fiona Buckley, Rachel Gregory
4 Cabo Verde
Legislated Candidate Quotas with Reward for Compliance in Cabo Verde: Victory for No One?
Aleida C. Borges, Ragnhild L. Muriaas, Vibeke Wang
PART 2: CANDIDATE DIRECTED GENDERED ELECTORAL FINANCING
5 United States
For Us By Us: Women’s Training Organizations in the American Political Process
Matthew K. Gichohi
6 Malawi
Relieving Women’s Costs of Standing for Election: Malawi’s 50/50 Campaigns
Vibeke Wang, Happy Kayuni, Asiyati Chiweza, Samantha Soyiyo
7 Ghana
‘Some Money Has to Be Going…..’: Discounted Filing Fees to Bring More Women into Parliament in Ghana
Gretchen Bauer, Akosua K. Darkwah
8 Conclusion
Does Money Talk: An Initial Qualitative Comparative Analysis
Amy Mazur, Ragnhild L. Muriaas
Biography
Ragnhild L. Muriaas is Professor in Comparative Politics at the University of Bergen, Norway. Her key research interest is explaining variation in the inclusionary aspects of regimes. She has led international research projects and published extensively on topics related to representation, political decentralization, traditional authorities and gender equality in Cabo Verde, Malawi, Uganda, South Africa and Zambia. Her works appears in Comparative Political Studies, Democratization, International Political Science Review and Political Studies.
Vibeke Wang is a Senior Researcher at Chr. Michelsen Institute and a coordinator of rights and gender research at the institute. Wang’s research concerns questions of politics and gender with a focus on political representation and recruitment, law reform and policy outcomes in the Global South. She has extensive field research experience and has published widely, including in journals such as Comparative Political Studies, Politics & Gender, Political Studies, among others.
Rainbow Murray is Professor of Politics at Queen Mary University of London and a visiting research fellow at CEVIPOF (Sciences Po, Paris). Her primary research interests lie in political representation, gender and politics, candidate selection, French and comparative politics, political parties, parliaments and elections. She has published widely in books and journals including the American Political Science Review, Politics & Gender, Political Research Quarterly and the European Journal of Political Research.
"This book fills a gap. Financial incentives to empower women in politics is a new trend in tandem with or as an alternative to gender quotas. Gendered Electoral Financing tells us when and how this new strategy is successful."—Drude Dahlerup, Professor, Stockholm University
