CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2021
| Author | Stupko, Marina |
|---|---|
| Title | Traditionalism: its meaning and impact on discrimination against women in politics |
| Summary | Gender inequality in politics is often viewed in terms of institutional factors, such as electoral and party systems, which may favor female politicians or, conversely, exacerbate women's underrepresentation. However, this does not answer the question of the root cause of gender discrimination. What creates the preconditions for a negative attitude of voters towards women in politics? What makes it stay resilient even as the government makes efforts to reduce gender disparity? In this paper, I examine the relationship between various phenomena that are often associated with traditionalist worldviews (high levels of religiosity, preference for a strong authoritarian leader, and homophobia) and voters' attitudes toward female politicians. I also analyze the degree of traditionalism of politics at the state level (for example, through assessing the legal status of same-sex relationships) and how it forms a social background that favors gender discrimination at the individual level. I also compare their influence with the effect of socio-economic factors. I find that cultural factors in general play a greater role than socioeconomic ones. The attitude of the government towards gender roles is of the greatest importance, as it creates conditions for the open manifestation of sexism, including in relation to women in politics and other spheres of public life. Individual traditionalist views are also associated with negative perceptions about women's ability to be political leaders. The influence of socio-economic aspects is noticeable only if they are directly related to a person's lifestyle (age, income, employment status). However, it was unexpected to discover factors such as GDP per capita, the level of crime and corruption in society do not have any effect on the manifestation of attitudes to women in politics. |
| Supervisor | Eva Fodor |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2021/stupko_marina.pdf |
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