13:15 - 15:30
Friday-Panel
Chair/s:
J. Andrew Harris
Discussant/s:
Ana Weeks, Lukas Haffert
Meeting Room B

Alba Huidobro
Gender and political selection: Experimental evidence about how party leaders appoint their teams

Jan Berz
Female Front-Runner Entry and the Gender Gap in Voter Turnout. Findings from a Differences-in-Differences Design

Javier Martínez-Cantó, Tània Verge
The gender politics of access to party office

J. Andrew Harris, Rabia Malik
A Booth of One’s Own: Pakistani Elections and the Effectiveness of Female-Only Polling Stations
A Booth of One’s Own: Pakistani Elections and the Effectiveness of Female-Only Polling Stations
J. Andrew Harris 2, Rabia Malik 1
1 University of Essex
2 New York University Abu Dhabi

How does gender segregation at the polling place shape political participation? Gender-specific polling stations are common in an increasing number of developing countries. While common arguments in favor of gender-segregated polling stations assert that they facilitate female electoral participation, no empirical evidence exists supporting this assertion. Evaluating the effectiveness of female-only polling stations is crucial for understanding how to reduce gender gaps in political participation. However, quantifying the effect of administrative decisions like gender-segregation is empirically challenging since most countries have either gender-segregated or mixed stations, but rarely both. We address this question using new data from the 2018 Pakistani General Election, which used both female-only, male-only, and gender-mixed polling stations across the country. This administrative feature allows us to match different types of stations within the same neighborhoods to identify the effects of female-only stations on female turnout and voting behavior, while holding constant other factors that might vary geographically and affect gender-specific turnout.