From Westminster System to Proportional Representation: The Dynamics of the Gender Gap in Political Involvement in New Zealand
24 Pages Posted: 1 Aug 2011 Last revised: 20 Aug 2011
Date Written: 2011
Abstract
We advance the argument that electoral institutions shape inequalities in political involvement. We expect electoral rules and the more proportional outcomes they produce to have stronger effects for women’s political participation as compared to men’s. New Zealand’s wholesale change in electoral system offers a ‘natural experiment’ to trace the dynamics of political involvement pre- and post- electoral reform. We examine differences between men’s and women’s political involvement before and after the electoral reform, using surveys from the New Zealand Election Study (NZES) from 1990 to 2008. We find that the gender gap in political interest and campaign contributions has shrunk significantly since the adoption of MMP in New Zealand. Changes in the other indicators of political involvement have been less dramatic, but gender gaps in these areas were minimal even prior to the electoral reform. We also show that parties have contacted women more than men since the adoption of MMP, underscoring the importance of party mobilization as the link between the reform and women’s greater political involvement.
Keywords: gender, political particiipation, electoral systems
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation