Funding demands and gender in political recruitment: What parties do in Cabo Verde and Ghana
| Author | Vibeke Wang,Ragnhild L Muriaas,Gretchen Bauer |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/01925121211049096 |
| Published date | 01 January 2023 |
| Date | 01 January 2023 |
https://doi.org/10.1177/01925121211049096
International Political Science Review
2023, Vol. 44(1) 77 –90
© The Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/01925121211049096
journals.sagepub.com/home/ips
Funding demands and gender in
political recruitment: What parties
do in Cabo Verde and Ghana
Vibeke Wang
Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI), Norway
Ragnhild L Muriaas
Department of Comparative Politics, University of Bergen, Norway
Gretchen Bauer
University of Delaware, USA
Abstract
How do political parties in low- and high-cost institutional contexts respond to funding inequalities as a
source of gender imbalance for those seeking elected office? We rely on a ‘most similar’ logic to answer this
question and develop two categories of cost intensity comprised of three institutions – electoral system,
candidate selection model and public funding. Our findings show that parties in both contexts see funding as
a source of inequality, but that the obstacles women face are more salient to parties in a high-cost (Ghana)
than a low-cost (Cabo Verde) context. Only in Ghana have parties adopted funding measures that directly
target women.
Keywords
Gendered electoral financing, candidate selection, political parties, electoral systems, Africa
Introduction
Why are some institutional contexts more costly for those seeking elected office and what strate-
gies do political parties use to minimize gendered effects of self-funding in contexts of both low
and high costs? The financial cost of standing for political office matters as it affects who wins
and who loses in the political recruitment process and who, ultimately, is elected. In the gender
and politics scholarship, the double disadvantage of being a woman and having less access to
and fewer economic resources than men is identified as having serious implications for women’s
Corresponding author:
Vibeke Wang, Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) P.O.Box 6033 Bedriftssenteret, Bergen, NO-5892, Norway.
Email: vibeke.wang@cmi.no
1049096IPS0010.1177/01925121211049096International Political Science ReviewWang et al.
research-article2021
Special Issue Article
To continue reading
Request your trial