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Gender Politics in the Dominican Republic: Advances for Women, Ambivalence from Men

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2008

Jana Morgan ,
Rosario Espinal  and
Jonathan Hartlyn
Jana Morgan
Affiliation:
University of Tennessee
Rosario Espinal
Affiliation:
Temple University
Jonathan Hartlyn
Affiliation:
University of North Carolinaat Chapel Hill
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Abstract

A considerable body of research has analyzed the influence of the women's movement, changes in women's political representation, and policies promoting women's interests in the developing world. However, we know comparatively less about the degree to which the attitudes and behaviors of the mass public mirror these national patterns. This article explores the evolution of gender differences in citizens' political interest, civic engagement, and support for women in politics in the Dominican Republic over 1994–2004, a period important for the country's democratization as well as one of significant changes in gender-related discourse and policies. We find evidence of a shift from a traditional gender gap to a modern gender gap, but the explanations for changes in women's views are distinct from those of men. We find that sociostructural factors, particularly age and education, and cues from political elites have significantly different effects on men versus women. Women's levels of political interest and support for equality in political participation are more fixed in their youth, whereas men's levels evolve through middle age. The evidence also indicates that reducing the gender gap in political interest would significantly narrow gender differences in civic activism. Most notably, men appear to be more easily swayed by elite cues that favor or oppose women's political participation; women's support for equal participation is much less susceptible to reversals in elite support. The consolidation of advances in gender equity thus depends significantly on contextual factors such as elite discourse.

Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , March 2008 , pp. 35 - 63
Copyright
Copyright © The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2008

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