Assessing the Impact of Religiosity, Populism, Ideology, and Gender on Elite's Gender Equality Attitudes

Abstract

How do religiosity, populism, ideology, and gender independently and interactively shape Latin American legislators’ attitudes towards gender equality? Drawing on data from the 2015–2018 wave of the Parliamentary Elites of Latin America survey, we analyse the responses of 1,061 legislators across thirteen countries. Results reveal a clear and consistent pattern: religiosity strongly suppresses support for liberal positions on values issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage whereas populism correlates most strongly with traditional gender-role attitudes, and right-leaning ideology reinforces conservative stances across both domains, but to a lesser degree. Gender, on the other hand, remains a significant progressive force, with female legislators expressing more egalitarian views across issue areas. Crucially, the effects we observe are additive rather than multiplicative. Our findings are particularly relevant in the Latin American context, where religiosity remains high and right-wing populist movements continue to gain ground, often mobilising around resistance to “gender ideology.”