Digitalization and Gender Equality in Political Leadership in Sub-Saharan Africa

DigitalizationandGenderEqualityinPoliticalLeadershipinSub-SaharanAfrica DiegoB.P.GomesandCarineMeyimdjui WP/23/122 IMFWorkingPapersdescriberesearchinprogressbytheauthor(s)andarepublishedtoelicitcommentsandtoencouragedebate. TheviewsexpressedinIMFWorkingPapersarethoseoftheauthor(s)anddonotnecessarilyrepresenttheviewsoftheIMF,itsExecutiveBoard,orIMFmanagement. 2023 JUN ©2023InternationalMonetaryFundWP/23/122 IMFWorkingPaper Strategy,PolicyandReviewDepartment DigitalizationandGenderEqualityinPoliticalLeadershipinSub-SaharanAfricaPreparedbyDiegoB.P.GomesandCarineMeyimdjui* AuthorizedfordistributionbyJohannesWiegandJune2023 IMFWorkingPapersdescriberesearchinprogressbytheauthor(s)andarepublishedtoelicitcommentsandtoencouragedebate.TheviewsexpressedinIMFWorkingPapersarethoseoftheauthor(s)anddonotnecessarilyrepresenttheviewsoftheIMF,itsExecutiveBoard,orIMFmanagement. ABSTRACT:Weexaminetheimpactofdigitalizationonpeople’sperceptionsofwomenaspoliticalleadersin34Sub-SaharanAfricancountries.Wefindthatbeingasocialmediaorinternetuserislinkedtoahigherlikelihoodofpeoplesupportinggenderequalityinpoliticalleadership.However,theintensivemarginofusagedoesnotappeartobesignificant.Furthermore,women’sperceptionsofgenderequalityinpoliticalleadershiparemoresensitivetointernetandsocialmediausethanmen’s.ThepaperrecommendspoliciesforimprovingICTinfrastructureandinvestingintechnologicaleducation. RECOMMENDEDCITATION:DiegoB.P.GomesandCarineMeyimdjui,2023.“DigitalizationandGenderEqualityinPoliticalLeadershipinSub-SaharanAfrica”IMFWorkingPaper23/122 JELClassificationNumbers: D90,J16,O55 Keywords: gender;politicalleadership;digitalization;internet;socialmedia Author’sE-MailAddress: dgomes@imf.org;cmeyimdjui@imf.org *“Theauthor(s)wouldliketothank”footnote,asapplicable. WORKINGPAPERS DigitalizationandGenderEqualityinPoliticalLeadershipinSub-SaharanAfrica PreparedbyDiegoB.P.GomesandCarineMeyimdjui1 1TheauthorswouldliketothankRolandKpodarandYehenewEndegnanewforusefulcomments.ThisresearchispartoftheMacroeconomicResearchinLow-IncomeCountriesproject(ProjectID:60925)supportedbytheUK’sForeign,CommonwealthandDevelopmentOffice(FCDO).TheviewsexpressedinthispaperarethoseoftheauthorsanddonotnecessarilyrepresenttheviewsoftheInternationalMonetaryFund(IMF),orFCDO. Contents I.Introduction3 II.DataandFacts6 III.Regressions8 IV.MainResults9 V.RobustnessAnalysis11 VI.Conclusion13 AnnexI.DataDetails14 AnnexII.RegressionResults16 AnnexIII.RobustnessResults18 References23 I.Introduction Increasinggenderdiversityinpoliticalleadershipiscriticalnotonlyforfairnessandinclusion,butalsoforpotentialeconomicbenefits.1First,diversepoliticalleadershipcanbringavarietyofperspectivesandexperiencestopolicymakinganddecision-making,resultinginmoreinnovativeandeffectiveproblem-solvingsolutions.Thisisespeciallyimportantwhendealingwitheconomicissuesbecausedifferentleadersmayhavedifferentideasabouthowtopromoteeconomicgrowthanddevelopment.Forexample,Perkinsetal.(2013)foundthatinmoreethnicallydiversenations,havingafemalenationalleaderisassociatedwithhigherGDPgrowththanhavingamaleleader.Second,diversepoliticalleadershipcanimprovethepoliticalsystem’scredibilityandlegitimacy,whichcanbeimportantforfosteringeconomicconfidenceandattractinginvestment.Whenadiversegroupofleadersisperceivedtoberepresentingthepopulation’sinterests,itcanhelptobuildtrustandsupportforthegovernmentanditspolicies.Third,diversepoliticalleadershipcancontributetothecreationofamoreinclusiveandequitablesociety,whichinturncancontributetoeconomicdevelopment.Morepeopleparticipatinginthepoliticalprocessandhavingaccesstoleadershiproles,regardlessoftheirbackground,canleadtogreaterprosperityandopportunityforallmembersofsociety.Thisisespeciallyimportantformarginalizedgroups,particularlywomen,whomayfaceeconomicbarriersandwouldbenefitfromhavingrepresentativeswhounderstandandadvocatefortheirneeds.2 Nonetheless,despitetheimportanceofgenderdiversityinpoliticalleadership,genderdisparitiesinpoliticalparticipationarewidespreadaroundtheworld.Perkinsetal.(2013),forexample,showthatfrom1950to2013,lessthan5percentofnationalleadersin188countrieswerefemale.AccordingtotheWorldEconomicForum’s(WEF)GlobalGenderGapReport,thelargestgendergaptodayisinpoliticalparticipation.TheWEF'sGlobalGenderGapReportmonitorsprogresstowardgenderequalityinfourareas:economicparticipationandopportunity,educationalattainment,healthandsurvival,andpoliticalempowerment.Inthe2022report,thepoliticalempowermentgapwasfoundtobethelargestofthefour,withascoreofjust22onascaleof0to100(where100representstotalparity).ThegendergapinpoliticalparticipationisespeciallypronouncedinAfrica.AccordingtotheWEFdata,theaveragescoreforSub-SaharanAfricaonthepoliticalempowermentindexisjust21.3,thelowestofanyregionintheworld,althoughthereisheterogeneitybetweencountrieswithintheregion.3Thismeansthatwomeninthisregionareevenlesslikelytohavepositionsofpoliticalinfluencethantheglobalaverage.Thishighlightstheneedforincreasedeffortstopromotegenderequalityinthepoliticalsphereandtoensurethatwomen,particula