Female Leadership and Effects from African Droughts

Introduction

Fem-LEAD challenges present scholarship by proposing a new link between climate change and gender: What if weather-related disasters, such as droughts, risk hurting recent advances of women as political leaders in African countries?

Objectives

Focusing on droughts, public opinion, and political representation, its objective is to gain theoretical and empirical insights into the links between weather-related disasters and women’s political standing. I pose two major questions:

1. Q1: How and why do droughts affect the citizen demand for female politicians?
2. Q2: How and why do droughts affect the supply of female candidates and the presence of elected women?

Methodology

I develop and test theoretical expectations in two directions:

Citizens’ Demand for Female Leaders (Q1)

This vein is investigated through three rigorous methods:

• I analyze observational data where geocoded information on droughts is connected to survey respondents across Africa and over time.
• Exploring mechanisms, I focus on South African drought-affected communities, using in-depth interviews.
• To test causal mechanisms, I implement creative survey experiments with information treatments on droughts and candidate preferences.

Electoral Arena (Q2)

I focus on droughts and local elections across African countries, especially on South Africa, with a unique complete register of candidates and representatives across wards for two decades.

• I also interview party gatekeepers.
• Finally, I look at aggregated trends across countries.

Feasibility and Impact

I build on my long publication record and local network in the field. Having conducted pilot studies, the inquiry of Q1 is feasible yet novel.

Having access to high-quality data – that no one has analyzed – the study of Q2 promises groundbreaking findings.

Conclusion

Fem-LEAD will result in a new theoretical framework and rich empirical insights. By investigating this link, I contribute with a new perspective to the literatures on gender, climate changes, and electoral effects of disasters.