Kendall D. Funk, Magda Hinojosa, and Jennifer M. Piscopo. 2019. “Women to the Rescue: The Gendered Effects of Public Discontent on Legislative Nominations in Latin America.” Party Politics. DOI: 1354068819856614
Political parties act as gatekeepers, meaning that improvements in the representation of women depend on parties' willingness to nominate women candidates. Previous research suggests that party characteristics and gender quotas largely explain women's nominations, but overlooks the political context in which parties operate. This study highlights the gendered outcomes that occur when parties make nomination decisions in times of public discontent, namely increasing political distrust and increasing perceived corruption. We theorize that parties hold similar biases to voters: gender stereotypes that regard women as more trustworthy and honest should advantage women as political trust falls and perceptions of corruption rise. We hypothesize that parties nominate larger percentages of women in these circumstances. Using two waves of data from over 100 political parties in 18 Latin American countries, we find that parties nominate more women when a large proportion of the public distrusts the national legislature, providing support for the theory.
Magda Hinojosa, Jill Carle, and Gina Woodall. 2018. “Speaking as a Woman: Descriptive Presentation and Representation in Costa Rica's Legislative Assembly.” Journal of Women, Politics & Policy. 39 (4): 407-429
Using a content analysis of all floor speeches from 2001-2007, we systematically analyze how female and male legislators in the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly descriptively represent their constituents. Female legislators can descriptively represent women by “speaking as” women, i.e. by using words or phrases that invoke their own gender. We refer to this form of descriptive representation as descriptive presentation. We find significant differences in how men and women and representatives of parties of the left and right undertake descriptive presentation. Additionally, we find that female legislators “speak as” women even when they are not discussing women’s issues.
Kendall D. Funk, Magda Hinojosa, and Jennifer M. Piscopo. 2017. “Still Left Behind? Women’s Representation, Political Parties, and the Pink Tide.” Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State, & Society. 24(4): 399-424.
We test whether women’s representation benefited from the left’s dominance in Latin America during the “pink tide.” We find that left governments did not strengthen quota laws more than right governments. Further, after controlling for confounding factors, we find that left parties did not nominate or elect more women. Rather, we find the decision environment shapes parties’ choices about women candidates: when citizens distrust political parties, parties nominate more women, but when citizens evaluate the economy poorly, and when parties face many challengers, they nominate more men.Thus, the decision environments in which parties operate overshadow the effects of ideology.
Magda Hinojosa, Kim L. Fridkin, and Miki Caul Kittilson. 2017. "The Impact of Descriptive Representation on 'Persistent' Gender Gaps: Political Engagement and Political Trust in Uruguay." Politics, Groups, and Identities. 5 (3): 435-453.
Persistent gender gaps in political engagement, which have been observed across the globe, continue to puzzle researchers. Given that the heightened legislative presence of a previously under-represented group has the potential to boost political involvement among citizens, this paper addresses the question of how women’s increased descriptive representation can shape political engagement and trust in the democratic process. The adoption of a gender quota in Uruguay allowed us to prognosticate a rise in women’s descriptive representation following the October 2014 elections. Our two-wave panel survey polled 1200 Uruguayan citizens immediately prior to the elections when the gender quota was first applied and shortly thereafter. Our results reveal that “persistent” gender gaps are not insurmountable. After the election, women are more likely to trust in political institutions than men, and previous gender gaps in political interest, understanding of the issues, and trust in elections dissipate.
Magda Hinojosa and Jill Carle. 2016. “From Miss World to World Leader: Beauty Queens, Paths to Power, and Political Representations.” Journal of Women, Politics & Policy. 37(1): 24-46.
This article argues that participation in beauty pageants can serve as a path to power for women. This previously unidentified route to political office is unique to women, builds on representational elements of beauty pageants, and provides girls and women with skills necessary to political achievement. We analyze how this path to power is different from celebrity politicians, which has recently received much academic attention. We use examples from Venezuela, Jamaica, the United States, and France to illustrate this path to power and differentiate between two types of beauty queens turned politicians.
Sarah Shair-Rosenfield and Magda Hinojosa. 2014. “Does Female Incumbency Reduce Gender Bias in Elections: Evidence from Chile.” Political Research Quarterly. 67(4): 837-850.
The incumbency advantage is typically thought to constrain female political representation, but can female incumbency provide a signal to parties that reduces strategic gender bias? We argue that once women prove they can win elections parties will revise their strategic evaluations of their value as candidates. We test this using an original dataset of 21 Chilean elections between 1989 and 2012. We use a Heckman selection model to assess re-election rates by incumbent candidate gender, conditional on the re-nomination of incumbents. We find that female incumbents are just as likely to be re-nominated and re-elected as their male counterparts.
Magda Hinojosa. 2012. “Increasing Women’s Representation in Politics.” Americas Quarterly. 6(3): 89-97.
Dilma Rousseff. Laura Chinchilla. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Michelle Bachelet. These women’s successes should not divert our attention from the sizeable gender imbalance in politics that exists across the region. Slightly more than half of all Latin American citizens are female, but women occupy only one of every seven seats in legislatures—and only one of every 20 mayoral posts in the region. In fact, the existence of a presidenta appears to tell us little about how women fare politically in her country. [This is an excerpt from the article; because it was prepared for a policy magazine, there is no abstract.]
Magda Hinojosa and Ana Vijil Gurdián. 2012. “An Alternate Path to Power? Women’s Political Representation in Nicaragua.” Latin American Politics & Society. 54(4): 61-88.
Political alternate positions (otherwise known as substitutes) can have important effects on women’s abilities to enter politics. Using the case of Nicaragua, this study assesses whether these alternate positions are being used to increase women’s political representation or as a tool to undermine women’s advancement into positions of power. By examining patterns of women’s representation as candidates in the 1996, 2001, and 2006 elections for the National Assembly and as elected officeholders (as both alternates for those assembly members and titleholders), the article analyzes how various political parties are utilizing these alternate positions. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, this study finds no evidence that these alternate positions are used to undermine women’s political progress.
Magda Hinojosa and Susan Franceschet. 2012. “Separate but Not Equal: The Effects of Municipal Electoral Change on Female Representation in Chile.” Political Research Quarterly. 65(4): 757-769.
Chile altered its electoral rules for municipal elections in 2002. The new rules separated mayoral and council member elections, and while the latter continue to use proportional representation, mayors are now chosen based on plurality. These changes serve as a natural test of the effects of electoral rules on women’s political representation. The Chilean case demonstrates: 1) that electoral reform is gendered, 2) that women’s representation is shaped by both formal and informal rules, and 3) that electoral rules have different effects on mayoral and council member positions demonstrating that the “glass ceiling” for executive positions is harder to crack.
Magda Hinojosa. 2009. “"Whatever the Party Asks of Me": Candidate Selection and Women’s Political Representation in Chile’s UDI.” Politics & Gender. 5(3): 377-407.
The most conservative party in Chile, the Unión Demócrata Independiente, has nominated and elected more women to local level office than any of the other major parties in the country. In this article, I argue that the candidate selection processes used by this party explain how it has proposed more women candidates for municipal office than parties with defined ideological commitments to increasing women’s representation. The party’s use of candidate selection procedures that are both exclusive and centralized allow women to avoid important obstacles on the path to obtaining candidacies. The case of the Unión Demócrata Independiente is important first, because it allows us to understand how a party without a commitment to increasing women’s participation can nonetheless do so, and second, because it lays bare the causal mechanisms of candidate selection procedures and increases our understanding of the effects that these processes have on female representation.