Female political participation and barriers that women face in politics: lessons from post-soviet Kazakstan and Belarus
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Date
2016
Authors
Satymbekova, Raikhan
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Nazarbayev University School of Sciences and Humanities
Abstract
Women’s participation in politics has increased across the globe in the last 50 years, and this
trend is not limited to Western democracies. For example, post-Soviet Belarus and
Kazakhstan, both presidential autocracies and signatories to the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), have seen women’s
political participation increase in recent years. However, there are more women in politics in
Belarus than in Kazakhstan. What can explain this variation? Comparing the number of
women in the parliaments of Belarus and Kazakhstan over time, I find that the demand for
domestic or international support, the extent to which a country is politically and socially
linked with other states in the world, and presidential goals jointly influence female political
participation. An increase in women in parliament are not evidence of promoting
democratization and democratic representation, but rather deliberate authoritarian strategies
to bolster regime resilience and presidential power. Importantly, these findings help advance
our understanding of female political participation beyond the western world and beyond the
democratization paradigm.
Description
Keywords
politics, female political participation