Are men and women legislators equally loyal to their parties? This study argues that gendered candidate selection and social expectations produce more disciplined women legislators and limit their independence from party leadership.

🔎 How the Study Was Done

• Survey responses from more than 800 parliamentarians across 17 African legislatures.
• A new corpus of legislative speeches used to measure behavior and test mechanisms.
• A qualitative case study of the Namibian Parliament to illustrate processes in context.

📊 What the Data Show

• Women report significantly higher levels of party discipline than their male copartisans.
• Evidence from both the survey and legislative speech data supports the proposed causal mechanisms linking selection and social constraints to discipline.
• Among women parliamentarians, higher party discipline is negatively correlated with prioritization of women’s rights.
• The Namibian case study provides concrete examples of how these dynamics play out inside a legislature.

🧭 Why This Happens

• Parties apply gendered criteria when recruiting and selecting candidates, leading to the selection and election of women who are, on average, more disciplined.
• Gendered expectations about appropriate behavior for women in public office constrain opportunities for independent action, reinforcing party control.

⚖️ Why It Matters

• These patterns have implications for women’s legislative effectiveness and for the substantive representation of women’s interests in policymaking.
• The findings also affect understanding of party development and democratization in emerging party systems across Africa.