Speakers: Laurits Florang Aarslew, postdoc and Merete Bech Seeberg, Associate Professor, Department of Polotical Science, Aarhus university

Abstract: How do campaign strategies affect voters' assessments of candidates depending on candidate gender? Whereas the gendered effects of campaigning have been explored in Western contexts, we know very little about the interactions between voters and women candidates in Africa, where election campaigns are often valence- based and clientelism prevails. Are women candidates more dependent on signaling credibility and viability through wealth distribution than men? Or do voters expect different standards, including less corrupt behaviour, from women, leaving women candidates better off if they pursue non-clientelist strategies? First, we use explorative interviews with parliamentary candidates and voters in Malawi to understand the range of campaign strategies and their accessibility. Second, we use a conjoint survey experiment among Malawian voters to examine how different types of campaign strategies, both clientelist (e.g., handouts and community services) and non-clientelist (e.g., spending time in the constituency or holding rallies) shape voters’ evaluations of men and women candidates on key dimensions such as electoral viability, trust/corruptibility, and competence. The study is paramount to identifying obstacles to women’s advancement in politics in the global south as we attempt to answer whether some of the most common - and cost-heavy - campaign strategies have the expected effect on voters, and if these effects differ across candidate gender.

If you are not a CEPDISC fellow and wish to join pleace contact maj.carlsen@ps.au.dk