Gendered Candidate Persistency Across National and Local Elections

 

Huang, Yu-Siang

National Taiwan University

Prepared for discussion at the APSA CGOTS Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, September 5, 2024

Discussion:

Discussant:

Karl Ho

University of Texas at Dallas

  • Does gender influence the likelihood of candidates running for future elections after an electoral defeat?

  • Does this effect differ between national and local elections?

Research Question

  • Female candidates are less likely to persist in national elections following defeat compared to local elections.

  • Male candidates exhibit no significant difference in persistence rates between national and local elections.

 Core Hypothesis

  • Female candidates are less likely to persist in national elections following defeat compared to local elections.

  • Male candidates exhibit no significant difference in persistence rates between national and local elections.

Key findings

  • ​Impact of Party Gatekeeping: At the national level, party nomination processes and financial barriers disproportionately affect women.

  • Supportive Local Networks: At the local level, personal networks and reduced financial stakes make it easier for female candidates to continue running, even after a loss.

Key findings

  • Strengths

    • Nuanced Findings: The paper identifies distinct gender dynamics across national and local elections in Taiwan, highlighting an important intersection between gender and electoral level.

    • Broader Implications: The findings have relevance beyond Taiwan, with clear applications to other countries with similar political systems, making the research potentially generalizable.

Remarks

  • Strengths

    • Limitations Acknowledged: The paper is transparent about its limitations, including sample size issues and the need for further research on specific mechanisms. This reflects a strong understanding of research design and methodology.

Remarks

  • Sample Size Limitation:

    Problem: small sample sizes for national-level elections, which affects the precision of results, particularly regarding the gender gap in persistence (H1).

  • Suggestion: Consider exploring alternative methods to bolster statistical power, such as extending the study period to include more electoral cycles or make it a comparative study (e.g. South Korea, US)
     

Issues

  • Mechanisms driving these outcomes? s

    • Party gatekeeping, financial barriers, and personal networks.

    • Suggestion: Mixed methods with qualitative (author suggests interviews) Add a case study will make it stronger
       

Issues

  • Broader Theoretical Integration:

    • The study could be more explicitly connected to broader theories of political ambition, gender and politics, and electoral behavior

Issues