Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T00:13:50.409Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Why rural Malian women want to be candidates for local office: changes in social and political life and the arrival of a gender quota

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 November 2019

Cathryn Evangeline Johnson
Cathryn Evangeline Johnson*
Affiliation:
Indiana UniversityDepartment of Political Science, 210 Woodburn Hall, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
*
Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Why would rural Malian women express interest in political participation? Mali implemented a gender quota during the 2016 local elections. In a rural village where I conducted immersive research, the majority of women I interviewed following the 2016 poll expressed interest in running for local office in the future. Scholars of women's political participation theorise that quotas bring women to elected office and increase women's political participation. These theoretical perspectives cannot fully explain why women in rural Mali would express enthusiastic interest in political participation. These women participate extensively in savings and credit associations. Drawing on data generated through engagement with women in their daily lives, I explore how economic advancement can shape women's participatory aspirations. Examining longer-term changes in the local political economy of this rural village provides a deeper understanding of why women responded positively to a new institutional opening for political participation.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 57 , Issue 3 , September 2019 , pp. 393 - 413
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

The Social Science Research Council and Indiana University's Ostrom Workshop funded this research. I thank the residents of Sumayadugu who graciously took time to participate in this project. Aili Mari Tripp, N'do Cisse, Sarah Monson, and two anonymous reviewers provided helpful feedback.

References

REFERENCES

Abu-Lughod, L. 2013. Do Muslim Women Need Saving? Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Ahearn, L. 2001. ‘Language and agency’, Annual Review of Anthropology 30: 109–37.Google Scholar
Andrews, M. 2013. The Limits of Institutional Reform in Development: changing rules for realistic solutions. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Balch, G. 1974. ‘Multiple indicators in survey research: the concept ‘sense of political efficacy’’, Political Methodology 1, 2: 1–43.Google Scholar
Bardhan, P. 2002. ‘Decentralization of governance and development’, Journal of Economic Perspectives 16, 4: 185–205.Google Scholar
Barnes, T. & Burchard, S.. 2013. ‘‘Engendering’ politics: the impact of descriptive representation on women's political engagement in Sub Saharan Africa’, Comparative Political Studies 46, 7: 767–90.Google Scholar
Bauer, G. & Burnet, J.. 2013. ‘Gender quotas, democracy and women's representation in Africa: some insights from democratic Botswana and autocratic Rwanda’, Women's Studies International Forum 41: 103–12.Google Scholar
Beaman, L., Chattopadhyay, R., Duflo, E., Pande, R. & Topalova, P.. 2009. ‘Powerful women: does exposure reduce bias?’, Quarterly Journal of Economics 124, 4: 1497–540.Google Scholar
Bleck, J. 2015. Education and Empowered Citizenship in Mali. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Bleck, J. & Michelitch, K.. 2017. ‘Capturing the airwaves, capturing the nation? A field experiment on state-run media effects in the wake of a coup’, Journal of Politics 79, 3: 873–89.Google Scholar
Bleck, J. & Michelitch, K.. 2018. ‘Is women's empowerment associated with political knowledge and opinions? Evidence from rural Mali’, World Development 106: 299–323.Google Scholar
Bush, S. 2011. ‘International politics and the spread of quotas for women in legislatures’, International Organization 65, 1: 103–37.Google Scholar
Campbell, A., Converse, P., Miller, W. & Stokes, D.. 1960. The American Voter. New York, NY: Wiley.Google Scholar
Clayton, A. 2015. ‘Female leadership, electoral gender quotas and women's political engagement: evidence from a randomized policy experiment’, Comparative Political Studies 48, 3: 333–69.Google Scholar
Craven-Matthews, C. & Englebert, P.. 2018. ‘A Potemkin state in the Sahel? The empirical and the fictional in Malian state reconstruction’, African Security 11, 1: 1–31.Google Scholar
Dicko, N. 2015. ‘Mali: Loi instituant le quota en faveur des femmes: L'ombre de la communauté musulmane a plané sur le vote’. <https://maliactu.net/mali-loi-instituant-le-quota-en-faveur-des-femmes-lombre-de-la-communaute-musulmane-a-plane-sur-le-vote/>, accessed 16.1.19.,+accessed+16.1.19.>Google Scholar
Dickovick, J. & Beatty Riedl, R.. 2014. ‘African decentralization in comparative perspective’, in Dickovick, J. and Wunsch, J., eds. Decentralization in Africa: the paradox of state strength. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 249–76.Google Scholar
Fujii, L. 2018. Interviewing in Social Science Research: a relational approach. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gottlieb, J. 2015. The logic of party collusion in a democracy: evidence from Mali’. World Politics 67, 1: 1–36.Google Scholar
Gottlieb, J. 2016. ‘Why might information exacerbate the gender gap in civic participation? Evidence from Mali’, World Development 86: 95–110.Google Scholar
Gugerty, M. 2007. ‘You can't save alone: commitment in rotating savings and credit associations in Kenya’, Economic Development and Cultural Change 55, 2: 251–82.Google Scholar
Hughes, M., Krook, M. & Paxton, P.. 2015. ‘Transnational women's activism and the global diffusion of gender quotas’, International Studies Quarterly 59, 2: 357–72.Google Scholar
Interparliamentary Union. 2019. Women in National Parliaments, <http://archive.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm>, accessed 16.1.19.,+accessed+16.1.19.>Google Scholar
Kabeer, N. 1999. ‘Resources, agency, achievement: reflections on the measurement of women's empowerment’, Development and Change 30, 3: 435–64.Google Scholar
Kabeer, N. 2012. ‘Empowerment, citizenship and gender justice: a contribution to locally grounded theories of change in women's lives’. Ethics and Social Welfare 6, 3: 216–32.Google Scholar
Kaboré, A., Sibone, E., Abari, M. & Issa, B.. 2014. Governance at the Grassroots: an analysis of local government structures in the Sahel regions of Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali. Agence Corade: Catholic Relief Services. <http://www.crs.org/our-work-overseas/research-publications/governance-grassroots>, accessed 31.10.2015.,+accessed+31.10.2015.>Google Scholar
Kang, A. 2015. Bargaining for Women's Rights: activism in an aspiring Muslim democracy. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Kang, A. & Tripp, A.. 2018. ‘Coalitions matter: citizenship, women, and quota adoption in Africa’, Perspectives on Politics 16, 1: 73–91.Google Scholar
Kittilson, M. 2005. ‘In support of gender quotas: setting new standards, bringing visible gains’, Politics and Gender 1, 4: 638–45.Google Scholar
Koné, Y. 2012. ‘Lessons from Mali's Arab Spring: Why Democracy Must Work for the Poor’, Christian Aid Occasional Paper Number 8, September 2012, <http://www.christianaid.org.uk/images/lessons-from-mali.pdf>, accessed 25.11. 2012.,+accessed+25.11.+2012.>Google Scholar
Manor, J. 1999. The Political Economy of Democratic Decentralization. Washington, DC: The World Bank.Google Scholar
Nussbaum, M. 2003. ‘Capabilities as Fundamental Entitlements: Sen and social justice’, Feminist Economics 9, 2–3: 33–59.Google Scholar
Ortner, S. 1996. Making Gender: the politics and erotics of culture. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Sen, A. 1999. Development as Freedom. New York, NY: Anchor Books.Google Scholar
Schaffer, F. 2014. ‘Thin descriptions: the limits of survey research on the meaning of democracy’, Polity 46, 3: 303–30.Google Scholar
Schulz, D. 2003. ‘Political factions, ideological fictions: the controversy over family law reform in democratic Mali’, Islamic Law and Society 10, 1: 132–64.Google Scholar
Schulz, D. 2007. ‘Evoking moral community, fragmenting Muslim discourse: sermon audio-recordings and the reconfiguration of public debate in Mali’, Journal for Islamic Studies 27: 39–72.Google Scholar
Schwindt-Bayer, L. 2006. ‘Still supermadres? Gender and the policy priorities of Latin American legislators’, American Journal of Political Science 50, 3: 570–85.Google Scholar
Soares, B. 2009. ‘The attempt to reform family law in Mali’, Die Welt des Islams 49: 398–428.Google Scholar
Sy, O. 2010. ‘L’état de la décentralization au Mali et l'implication des collectivités decentraliseés dans le dialogue sur les politiques de developpement’, Governance in Africa archive.<http://base.afrique-gouvernance.net/docs/coop_collect_locales.pdf>, accessed 31.3.2016.,+accessed+31.3.2016.>Google Scholar
Tripp, A. 2016. ‘Women's mobilisation for legislative political representation in Africa’, Review of African Political Economy 43, 149: 382–99.Google Scholar
Tripp, A. & Kang, A.. 2008. ‘The global impact of quotas: on the fast track to increased female legislative representation’, Comparative Political Studies 41, 3: 338–61.Google Scholar
Wilfahrt, M. 2018. ‘The politics of local government performance: elite cohesion and cross-village constraints in decentralized Senegal’, World Development 103: 149–61.Google Scholar
Wing, S. 2008. Constructing Democracy in Transitioning Societies of Africa: constitutionalism and deliberation in Mali. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Wing, S. 2012. ‘Women's rights and family law reform in francophone Africa’, in Lust, E.M. and Ndegwa, S.N., eds. Governing Africa's Changing Societies: dynamics of reform. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 145–76.Google Scholar
Wing, S. & Kassibo, B.. 2014. ‘Mali: incentives and challenges for decentralization’, in Dickovick, J. and Wunsch, J., eds. Decentralization in Africa: the paradox of state strength. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 113–36.Google Scholar
Wolbrecht, C. & Campbell, D.. 2007. ‘Leading by example: female members of parliament as political role models’, American Journal of Political Science 52, 4: 921–39.Google Scholar

Interviews

Kadiatou, gardener, market seller, farmer, Sumayadugu, 17.2. 2017.Google Scholar
Idrissa, literacy instructor, farmer, Sumayadugu, 4.10.2016.Google Scholar
Amadou, primary school teacher, farmer, Sumayadugu, 28.9.2016.Google Scholar
Drissa, farmer, Sumayadugu, 4.10.2016.Google Scholar
Siddiki, farmer, Sumayadugu, 27.1.2017.Google Scholar
The Imam of Sumayadugu, 11.3.2017.Google Scholar
Hamid, farmer, Sumayadugu, 28.2.2017.Google Scholar
Ibrahim, nurse, Sumayadugu, 4.2. 2017.Google Scholar
Jelika, gardener, market seller, Sumayadugu, 19.2. 2017.Google Scholar
Mawa, market seller, gardener, farmer, Sumayadugu, 26.2. 2017.Google Scholar
Assetou, health worker, gardener, Sumayadugu, 28.2. 2017.Google Scholar
Salimatou, fried pastry seller, Sumayadugu, 6.3. 2017.Google Scholar
Bibata, gardener, market seller, Sumayadugu, 12.3. 2017.Google Scholar
Amina, health worker, Sumayadugu, 4.3. 2017.Google Scholar
Ramatou, gardener, vegetable seller, Sumayadugu, 5.2. 2017.Google Scholar
Alimatou, primary school teacher, Sumayadugu, 8.3. 2017.Google Scholar
Chef, village chief, Sumayadugu, 11.3. 2017.Google Scholar
Moussa, NGO worker, Sumayadugu, 3.10. 2016.Google Scholar
Salimata, market seller, Sumayadugu, 25.2. 2017.Google Scholar
Adèle, Central government civil service employee, Sumayadugu, 15.9. 2016.Google Scholar
Masaratou, market seller, Sumayadugu, 26.9. 2016.Google Scholar
Haja, market seller, gardener, farmer, Sumayadugu, 6.3. 2017.Google Scholar
Kadi, gardener, soap seller, farmer, Sumayadugu, 21.2. 2017.Google Scholar
Mariam, retired, Sumayadugu, 26.2. 2017.Google Scholar