From Thin to Thick Representation: How a Female President Shapes Female Parliamentary Behavior
Peer reviewed, Journal article
Published version
Permanent lenke
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3053008Utgivelsesdato
2021Metadata
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Originalversjon
Wahman, M., Frantzeskakis, N., & Yildirim, T. M. (2021). From thin to thick representation: how a female president shapes female parliamentary behavior. American Political Science Review, 115(2), 360-378. 10.1017/S000305542100006XSammendrag
How does the symbolic power of a female president affect female parliamentary behavior? Whereas female descriptive representation has increased around the world, women parliamentarians still face significant discrimination and stereotyping, inhibiting their ability to have a real voice and offer “thick” representation to women voters. We leverage the case of Malawi, a case where the presidency changed hands from a man to a woman through a truly exogenous shock, to study the effect of a female president on female parliamentary behavior. Drawing on unique parliamentary transcripts data, we argue and show that women MPs under a female president become empowered and less confined to stereotypical gendered issue-ownership patterns, leading to a significant increase in female MP speech making. Our results directly address theories of symbolic representation by focusing particularly on intraelite role-model effects.