Women’s Political Participation in a Transitioning Democracy

Youssef, Maro, Riverside CA

Investigators

Abstract

This award was provided as part of NSF’s Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Rhacel Parreñas at the University of Southern California (USC), this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist investigating the role of women in politics during a democratic transition. Existing research on women’s political participation during democratic transitions generally concludes that women participate in revolutions and the early years of democratic transitions but stop shortly after. The United States,in particular, supports women political candidates and politicians, which likely improves their ability to remain politically active. Women politicians who get elected during democratic transitions deserve to be studied because they provide a model of increasing women’s political participation—not through political appointments, but rather through elections. The researcher will employ and train junior researchers to conduct policy-relevant research and communicate the research’s findings through written and oral policy briefings. Research on women’s long-term political participation during political transitions has tended to subscribe to one of two major sets of assumptions. First, much research assumes that women do not gain political influence beyond revolutions and the initial years of democratic transition. In contrast, the literature that argues that women become influential in the long term tends to focus exclusively on post-civil war contexts. Second, there is a growing scholarly literature on coalitions. Yet, much of the literature focuses on places where political actors form coalitions under relatively stable political conditions. Third, there are scholarly and activist debates about the role and impact of assistance during democratic transitions. Findings from this research can shed light on women’s political participation during democratic transitions and on coalition work across party lines. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.