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Democracy and Gender Equality

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Abstract

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.

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Notes

  1. According to its most recent report, however, Freedom House does incorporate gender equality as a very minor subset of civil liberties (Freedom in the World 2007).

  2. The life expectancy ratio is calculated using interpolated data. Data are interpolated using Stata’s ipolate function.

  3. The schooling data are interpolated using Stata’s ipolate function.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Political Science, University of Vermont, Old Mill Room 533, 94 University Place, Burlington, VT, 05405-0114, USA

    Caroline Beer

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  1. Caroline Beer
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Correspondence to Caroline Beer.

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Beer, C. Democracy and Gender Equality. St Comp Int Dev 44, 212–227 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12116-009-9043-2

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