Gender and Party Discipline: Evidence from Africa’s Emerging Party Systems

Are men and women legislators equally loyal to their parties? We theorize that parties select candidates based on gendered criteria, leading the (s)election of more disciplined women. Moreover, we argue expectations about proper behavior limit legislators’ ability act independently from parties. Using surveys over 800 parliamentarians across 17 African legislatures, find report significantly higher levels party discipline than do copartisans. From this survey data new legislative speech data, also support for our proposed causal mechanisms. Further, among parliamentarians, is negatively correlated with prioritization womens rights. A qualitative case study Namibian Parliament illustrates findings. discuss implications results women’s effectiveness, substantive representation interests in policy making, continued democratization emerging systems.