Women and Power in Africa Aspiring, Campaigning, and Governing

Women and Power in Africa: Aspiring, Campaigning, and Governing examines women's experiences in African politics as aspirants to public office, as candidates in election campaigns, and as elected representatives. Part I evaluates women's efforts to become party candidates in four African countries: Benin, Ghana, Malawi, and Zambia. The chapters draw on a variety of methods, including extensive interviews with women candidates, to describe and assess the barriers confronted when women seek to enter politics. The chapters help explain why women remain underrepresented as candidates for office, particularly in countries without gender-based quotas, by emphasizing the impact of financial constraints, fears of violence, and resistance among party leaders. Part II turns to women's experiences as candidates during elections in Kenya and Ghana. One chapter provides an in-depth account of a woman's presidential bid in Kenya, demonstrating how gendered ethnicity undermined her candidacy, and another chapter presents a novel evaluation of the media's coverage of women candidates in Ghana. Part III turns to women as legislators in Namibia, Uganda, and Burkina Faso, asking whether women engage in substantive representation on gendered policy issues once in office. The chapters challenge the assumption that a critical mass of women is necessary or sufficient to achieve substantive representation. Taken together, the book's chapters problematize existing hypotheses regarding women in political power, drawing on understudied countries and variety of empirical methods. By following political pathways from entry to governance, the book uncovers how gendered experiences early in the political process shape what is possible for women once they attain political power.

Oxford Studies in African Politics and International Relations is a series for scholars and students working on African politics and International Relations and related disciplines. Volumes concentrate on contemporary developments in African political science, political economy, and International Relations, such as electoral politics, democratization, decentralization, the political impact of natural resources, the dynamics and consequences of conflict, and the nature of the continent's engagement with the East and West. Comparative and mixed methods work is particularly encouraged. Case studies are welcomed but should demonstrate the broader theoretical and empirical implications of the study and its wider relevance to contemporary debates. The series focuses on sub-Saharan Africa, although proposals that explain how the region engages with North Africa and other parts of the world are of interest.

Series Editors: Nic Cheeseman, Professor of Democracy and International Development, University of Birmingham; and Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, Professor of the International Politics of Africa, University of Oxford.

Leonardo Arriola, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for African Studies, University of California, Berkeley,Martha Johnson, Associate Professor of Political Science, Public Policy and Political Science Department Head, Mills College,Melanie Phillips, PhD Candidate
in the Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley

Leonardo R. Arriola is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. His research has been published in journals such as the American Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, and World Politics. He is author of Multiethnic Coalitions in
Africa (Cambridge University Press), which received a best book award from APSA's African Politics section and an honorable mention for the Gregory Luebbert Prize from APSA's Comparative Politics section. He is co-editor of Africa Spectrum, an interdisciplinary journal of African studies, and an
elected member of the board of directors of the African Studies Association (ASA).


Martha Johnson received her PhD in Political Science from the University of California-Berkeley. She current serves as Department Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science at Mills College. Her research examines the politics of bureaucratic capacity in Africa, as well as women in politics,
with a geographical focus on Francophone states. A former Fulbright scholar, she has conducted research in and written on Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Benin. Her work has been published in American Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Africa Today, Journal of Modern African
Studies, Development Policy Review, and Development and Change.


Melanie L. Phillips is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on the intra-party dynamics of candidate selection in new democracies where political parties control selection. She holds a Master's in Political Science
from UC Berkeley and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from the University of California, San Diego, where she was a McNair Scholar. Her dissertation research has been funded by the National Science Foundation as well as the Institute of International Studies and the Center for African
Studies at UC Berkeley.

1. Individuals and Institutions: Situating African Women's Political Experiences, Leonardo R. Arriola, Martha C. Johnson, and Melanie L. Phillips
Part I. Securing a Spot on the Ballot: How Women Enter Electoral Politics
2. Same Rules, Higher Costs: Women's Pathways to Candidacy in Zambia, Leonardo R. Arriola, Melanie L. Phillips, and Lise Rakner
3. Party Primaries and Women's Representation in Ghana: More Women Candidates with More Inclusive Primaries?, Gretchen Bauer and Akosua K. Darkwah
4. Deeper Decentralization, Fewer Women? Decentralization and Women's Candidacies for Local Office in Benin and Malawi, Martha C. Johnson, Ragnhild Muriaas, Amanda Clayton, and Amanda Lea Robinson
Part II. Winning the Election: How Women Campaign
5. With Hands Tied: A Women Presidential Candidate's Pursuit of Programmatic Politics in Kenya, Matthew Gichohi
6. Covering Women Candidates in Ghana: How Media Training and Reporter Awareness Reduce Gender Bias, Amanda Coffie and Peace A. Medie
Part III. Representing Women: How Women Legislate
7. Electoral Systems and the Process of Substantive Representation: Lessons from Namibia and Uganda, Amanda Clayton
8. Women's Substantive Representation in African Parliaments: The Case of Burkina Faso, Alice Kang and Rachel Fisher
9. Conclusion: An Agenda for Research and Policy, Leonardo R. Arriola, Martha C. Johnson, and Melanie L. Phillips