Party Politics Explaining Women’s Leadership

Abstract

The traveling theory of party religiosity predicts that as party religiosity rises, women’s leadership falls. The robust findings in the cross-national statistical study paved the way for in-depth research in Lebanon. Party religiosity is the core explanatory variable for women’s leadership. Party institutionalization is unpacked to identify other aspects of potential influence on women’s leadership, notably democratic practices, pluralism, female membership, strength, and denomination. The single case study provides the opportunity to explore in-depth interesting associations established in the cross-national study linking female membership, leadership, and nominations to public office. Qualitative evidence collected from 150 male and female party elites substantiate the conceptual framework of the theory and related hypotheses.