On Friday November 18th, Amanda B. Edgell gave a presentation for the Social Change & Development in Africa Working Group titled, “Vying for a Man Seat: Constituency Magnitude and Mainstream Female Candidature in Uganda and Kenya.” The talk assessed the effects of gender quotas on female representation in the legislatures in Uganda and Kenya, finding that these quotas ultimately limit the expansion of female representation.
Uganda and Kenya have unique institutional rules surrounding their gender quotas and Edgell is using these two cases for theory development and the testing of cases for the broader effects of institutional set-ups on gender quotas and gendered outcomes of elections. The data used in this paper comes from interviews with elites and civil society organizational members and data from the 2006, 2011 and 2016 Ugandan elections and the 2013 Kenyan election. The seats elected to both of these legislatures consist of mainstream constituencies, where one MP is elected to each constituency, and super-districts occupying the territory of one or more of these mainstream constituencies and which are reserved exclusively for women.
Edgell finds that the more mainstream constituencies within each super-district, the more likely women are to run and win in mainstream constituencies. This happens, she explains, because the smaller relative size of multiple mainstream constituencies within one super-district makes them more attractive for female aspirants and there is increased demand for candidates who represent a broader cross-section of the population, including women. The research also suggests that gender quotas essentially impose ceiling effects, particularly if the quotas do not promote changes in how parties and potential aspirants view female candidature. This is in part due to the fact that women holding reserved seats are less likely to break out of that role and vie for mainstream constituencies and that, since super-districts are inherently larger than most constituencies, women have a harder time engaging in meaningful and comprehensive development projects that will tie them as candidates to particular constituents.