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Latin American Attitudes toward Women in Politics: The Influence of Elite Cues, Female Advancement, and Individual Characteristics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2013

JANA MORGAN  and
MELISSA BUICE
JANA MORGAN*
Affiliation:
University of Tennessee
MELISSA BUICE*
Affiliation:
University of Missouri
*
Jana Morgan is Associate Professor, University of Tennessee (Jana.K.Morgan@gmail.com).
Melissa Buice is Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Missouri.
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Abstract

This article outlines three theoretical arguments—socialization, status discontent, and elite cues—that generate competing predictions about the way context shapes gender attitudes. Using hierarchical analysis, we assess the power of these arguments in Latin America, a region that manifests considerable variation on our central explanatory variables and thus offers important theoretical leverage. We find men's gender attitudes to be highly contingent on elite cues and susceptible to backlash effects in response to women's economic advancement. Also, where women lack national representation, distrust of government promotes support for female leadership as an alternative to the discredited (male) establishment. The analysis supports existing individual-level explanations of gender attitudes and demonstrates a connection between diffuse democratic values and gender egalitarianism. The findings suggest that recent advances for female politicians in Latin America may be susceptible to reversal, and they illuminate strategies for strengthening women's equality in the region.

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Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 107 , Issue 4 , November 2013 , pp. 644 - 662
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2013 

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