Women’s Political Participation in a Transitioning Democracy

该奖项是作为NSF的社会，行为和经济科学博士后研究奖学金（SPRF）计划的一部分提供的。SPRF计划的目标是为学术界，工业或私营部门和政府的科学事业准备有前途的早期职业博士级科学家。SPRF的奖励包括在知名科学家的赞助下进行两年的培训，并鼓励博士后研究员进行独立研究。NSF致力于促进来自科学界各部门的科学家，包括来自代表性不足的群体的科学家参与其研究计划和活动;博士后期间被认为是实现这一目标的专业发展的重要水平。每个博士后研究员必须解决推进各自学科领域的重要科学问题。在南加州大学（USC）的Rhacel Parreñas博士的赞助下，该博士后奖学金支持一位早期职业科学家在民主过渡期间调查妇女在政治中的作用。关于妇女在民主过渡期间参政的现有研究一般得出结论，妇女参与革命和民主过渡的最初几年，但不久就停止了。特别是美国支持女性政治候选人和政治家，这可能会提高她们保持政治活跃的能力。在民主过渡期间当选的女政治家值得研究，因为她们提供了一个增加妇女政治参与的模式-不是通过政治任命，而是通过选举。研究员将雇用和培训初级研究员进行与政策有关的研究，并通过书面和口头政策简报交流研究结果。关于妇女在政治过渡期间长期参政的研究倾向于赞同两大假设之一。首先，许多研究假设，妇女在革命和民主过渡初期不会获得政治影响力。与此相反，认为妇女具有长期影响力的文献往往只关注内战后的情况。第二，关于联盟的学术文献越来越多。然而，大部分文献都集中在政治行动者在相对稳定的政治条件下形成联盟的地方。第三，关于民主过渡期间援助的作用和影响，存在着学术和活动家的辩论。这项研究的结果可以揭示妇女在民主过渡期间的政治参与和跨党派的联盟工作，这一奖项反映了国家基金会的法定使命，并已被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

This award was provided as part of NSF’s Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Rhacel Parreñas at the University of Southern California (USC), this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist investigating the role of women in politics during a democratic transition. Existing research on women’s political participation during democratic transitions generally concludes that women participate in revolutions and the early years of democratic transitions but stop shortly after. The United States,in particular, supports women political candidates and politicians, which likely improves their ability to remain politically active. Women politicians who get elected during democratic transitions deserve to be studied because they provide a model of increasing women’s political participation—not through political appointments, but rather through elections. The researcher will employ and train junior researchers to conduct policy-relevant research and communicate the research’s findings through written and oral policy briefings. Research on women’s long-term political participation during political transitions has tended to subscribe to one of two major sets of assumptions. First, much research assumes that women do not gain political influence beyond revolutions and the initial years of democratic transition. In contrast, the literature that argues that women become influential in the long term tends to focus exclusively on post-civil war contexts. Second, there is a growing scholarly literature on coalitions. Yet, much of the literature focuses on places where political actors form coalitions under relatively stable political conditions. Third, there are scholarly and activist debates about the role and impact of assistance during democratic transitions. Findings from this research can shed light on women’s political participation during democratic transitions and on coalition work across party lines.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.