🔎Implications of Allyship and Opium on Voting and Tolerance

Shifting men’s attitudes and behavior is critical for increasing women’s political participation

A new study in Pakistan found that targeting women with a nonpartisan get-out-the-vote campaign had no effect on their turnout in a national election. However, women’s turnout increased substantially when male household members were also canvassed to support women’s participation. Households where both men and women were canvassed saw the largest increases in women’s turnout, men’s practical support to help women vote, and political discussions. This study shows the critical need to shift men’s attitudes and behaviors in order to increase women's political participation, especially in “contexts where patriarchal gender norms designate male family members as gatekeepers of women’s presence in public lives.”

Indonesian colonial institutions have a long lasting effect on group tolerance

A recent study analyzed the long-term effects of a colonial institution, the opium concession, on present-day animosity towards the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia. The opium concession gave ethnic Chinese in Indonesia a monopoly on selling opium in a given locality. Though the concession system was abolished in 1894, Indonesians today living in villages where the opium concession system once operated report higher levels of intolerance compared to individuals in nearby unexposed counterfactual villages. This study improves our understanding of the historical conditions that structure antagonism between competing groups.

Do you have a study we should share for a future Facty Friday? Send an email to drg.el@usaid.gov!