Democracy and Gender Equality

This article examines the relationship between democracy and gender equality. In particular, it contrasts the impact of long-term stocks of democracy with the contemporary level of democracy and the participation of women in democracy. It contends that democracy should be thought of as a historical phenomenon with consequences that develop over many years and decades and that women’s participation should be included as an important component of democracy. The main argument is that long-term democracy together with women’s suffrage should provide new opportunities for women to promote their interests through mobilization and elections. A cross-national time-series statistical analysis finds that countries with greater stocks of democracy and longer experience of women’s suffrage have a higher proportion of the population that is female, a greater ratio of female life expectancy to male life expectancy, lower fertility rates, and higher rates of female labor force participation.

Caroline BeerEmail:

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Caroline Beer   is Associate Professor of political science at the University of Vermont. She is author of Electoral Competition and Institutional Change in Mexico, published by the University of Notre Dame Press, 2003. Her research has also been published in journals such as the American Political Science Review, Comparative Politics, International Studies Quarterly, Comparative Political Studies, and Latin American Politics and Society.