Mobilizing the Underrepresented: Electoral Systems and Gender Inequality in Political Participation

Transitioning municipal electoral systems from plurality to proportional representation in Norway, reduced gender inequality in voter turnout. This effect was even more significant in municipalities with greater electoral competition (higher overall voter turnout).

•  In 1919, the fraction of female voters increased by 38% (SE = 3) in the municipalities that were required to switch from plurality to proportional representation electoral systems.
•  For the municipalities that opted to transition from plurality to proportional representation electoral systems prior to 1919, female voter turnout remained consistent, with a 0.01-point increase between 1916 and 1919 – from 0.42 to 0.43.
•  The switch from plurality to proportional representation in 1919 increased the fraction of female voters by an average of 0.096 percentage points for the reformed municipalities, compared to the municipalities in which the reform did not occur.
• The 1919 effect of transitioning to proportional representation were most pronounced under two conditions: 1) in competitive municipalities and 2) where women’s networks are present.
• The existence of women’s networks was measured by the presence of local organizations mobilized during the suffrage movement.

This study provides evidence that switching from a plurality to a proportional representation electoral system can decrease gender inequality in electoral participation . These findings suggest how socio-political conditions and the presence of political networks impact voting disparities among marginalized groups. Proportional representation in electoral systems can encourage the mobilization of underrepresented groups and subsequently increase gender equality in modern-day electoral participation

The author isolated the causal effect of transitioning to a proportional representation system on voter participation by studying 296 Norwegian municipalities that transitioned electoral systems during between the 1916 and 1919 elections.

To examine whether the shift from plurality to proportional representation had a positive impact on women’s percentage of the vote, the author compared the 1916 voter records to the 1919 voter records of the 296 transitioning Norwegian municipalities. Additional regression analyses compared voter turnout among the 296 transitioning municipalities to 392 Norwegian municipalities that previously transitioned to proportional representation before the 1916 election. The design aimed to compare (1) the change in gender disparities in electoral participation before and after the 1919 reform in the reformed municipalities with (2) the equivalent change in the municipalities that did not alter their electoral system (i.e., the municipalities that had introduced proportional representation before 1913).