EXPLORING BACKLASH AFTER QUOTA: ELITES USE MORAL PANIC AS SOFT REPRESSION AGAINST WOMEN POLITICIANS

The implementation of electoral gender quotas worldwide has been a key strategy to increase women's representation in legislative bodies. Scholars argue that these quotas can have significant and broad attitudinal and behavioral effects across society. However, the nascent literature on the symbolic effects of quotas paints a conflicting picture. In some cases, significant backlash effects have emerged after the implementation of quotas, normalizing new forms of oppression against women. In this dissertation, I argue that elites use conservative moral rhetoric and media to engineer a moral panic around women's entry into politics after quota implementation, accusing women politicians of violating conservative moral values, undermining traditional gender hierarchies, and endangering social order. The moral panic generates fear and indignation, motivating the public against women's political participation and undermining the success of quota policies while justifying the elite's resistance to progressive changes.

Focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa, this study combines observational and experimental data to provide a comprehensive understanding of this mechanism at both macro and micro levels. Chapter 1 shows that women's descriptive representation induced by quotas is accompanied by a significant increase in the conservative moral language in news coverage of women politicians, with women politicians in reserved-seat countries more likely to face backlash. Chapter 2 demonstrates that exposure to conservative moral rhetoric in news is associated with higher levels of bias against women politicians, with women more likely to be affected by the rhetoric than men. The findings of Chapter 3 are consistent, suggesting that exposure to conservative moral language causes women to have higher levels of bias against the political capabilities of women, with evidence of backlash among participants who endorse individualizing moral foundations in terms of gender equality and beliefs about the issue competence of women politicians.

Overall, the study contributes to the literature on the backlash against women politicians following the implementation of gender quotas by identifying moral panic as a mechanism of resistance used by elites. The findings emphasize the need for policymakers and gender equality advocates to address cultural mechanisms of resistance against women's political empowerment to ensure the success of quota policies. The dissertation also provides a framework for future research to investigate similar mechanisms of resistance in other contexts and regions.