Gender inequality in political representation: A worldwide comparative analysis

We examine the determinants of cross-national variation in the share of parliamentary seats held by women in 1998. The findings of prior research on this issue have differed sharply. Studies focusing on the most affluent longstanding democracies have emphasized the importance of political factors, whereas three of the four studies to include less developed nations found that only socioeconomic and/or cultural factors matter. Our analysis uses improved variable measures, a more complete set of variables, and a larger sample of countries than has heretofore been examined. We find that political socioeconomic, and cultural factors are each important. Specifically electoral system structure left party government, the timing of women's suffage, the share of women in professional occupations, and cultural attitudes toward the rob of women in politics each play a rob in accounting for variation in the degree of gender inequality in political representation around the world.