Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: García-Peñalosa, C.
Author-Email: cecilia.garcia-penalosa@univ-amu.fr 
Author-Workplace-Name: GREQAM, Centre de la Vieille Charité
Author-Name: Konte, M.
Author-Email: konte@merit.unu.edu
Author-Workplace-Name: UNU-MERIT
Title: Why are women less democratic than men? Evidence from Sub-Saharan African
	 countries
Abstract: A substantial literature has examined the determinants of support for 
	 democracy and although existing work has found a gender gap in 
	 democratic attitudes, there have been no attempts to explain it. In this 
	 paper we try to understand why females are less supportive of democracy 
	 than males in a number of countries. Using data for 20 Sub-Saharan 
	 African countries, we test whether the gap is due to individual 
	 differences in policy priorities or to country-wide characteristics. We 
	 find that controlling for individual policy priorities does not offset 
	 the gender gap, but those women who are interested in politics are more 
	 democratic than men. Furthermore, our results indicate that the gap 
	 disappears in countries with high levels of human development and 
	 political rights.
Classification-JEL: D01, J16, J17, O38
Keywords: support for democracy, gender gap, policy priorities, institutions,
	 microeconomic behavior, gender economics
Series: UNU-MERIT Working Papers
Creation-Date: 20140131
Number: 2014-010
File-URL: https://unu-merit.nl/publications/wppdf/2014/wp2014-010.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 490 Kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2014010