Gender (in)equality and electoral violence : A cross-national study in sub-Saharan Africa, 1990-2008

Abstract: This paper examines to what extent gender equality correlates with electoral violence, through a quantitative study of 220 elections that have taken place in sub-Saharan African countries between 1990 and 2008. As such, it has a two-folded purpose. First, to contribute empirically to research about the causes of electoral violence by introducing a new variable. Second, to put to test previous research that argues in favour of a correlation between gender equality and peace. Accordingly, this paper hypothesises that higher levels of gender equality correlate with lower levels of electoral violence. In support of previous research, an initial bivariate regression demonstrates a strong negative relationship between the two variables of interest. The association is only slightly weakened in the sequencing multivariate regression, when controlling for democracy, ethnic fractionalisation, majoritarian electoral systems, GDP per capita, whether an incumbent is running for office, ongoing civil war, and whether the election is the first to take place after a war. The main finding of this thesis is that there is a robust negative correlation between gender equality and electoral violence, which is affected by other variables but not dependent on them.