Gender, Social Recognition, and Political Influence

The Robert A. Young Lecture in Political Science
Gender, Social Recognition, and Political Influence

Speaker: Dr. Cesi Cruz,
Assistant Professor, UCLA

Monday, February 27
2:30 pm
SSC 5220

What determines women’s political influence? While the literature on political
engagement focuses on individual traits, attitudes, and participation, we argue
that how these factors translate to political influence is fundamentally a social
process that requires recognition from the broader community, with important
implications for understanding women’s political engagement. Using new data
on networks of political influence in Philippine villages, we show that even after
controlling for socioeconomic status or political participation, women are still
markedly less likely to be recognized as influential.

Furthermore, we show that engagement in politics through traditional means
running for office, participating in councils, or joining parties–are only
associated with political influence for men. The determinants of influence are
more complex for women: embeddedness in the community and participation in
community activities are more important than traditional modes of political
participation.

Presented by the Department of Political Science
Supported by the Social Science Student Council