Does civil war violence stimulate women's participation in politics? Examining election candidacies in post war Nepal

How does wartime violence shape women's representation in post-civil war politics? Some scholars argue that civil war violence alters the gender roles in society, empowering women in post-war politics. Others suggest that experience with civil war violence may deter women's participation in politics as women are often victimized during wars and are perceived as less capable of preventing violence than men in countries vulnerable to political violence. We test the generalizability of the findings with micro-level data from Nepal. We find that civil war violence does not stimulate the proportion of women candidates in districts where civil war violence was high in Nepal. However, civil war violence appears to increase the proportion of women winning elections. Nonetheless, the stimulative effect of violence on women's success in electoral politics appears to diminish over time.