Authoritarian Entitlement and Constraint: Women's Representation in Chinese Local Congresses / Jiayi Huang.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Huang, Jiayi, author.

Contributor:

University of Pennsylvania. Political Science, degree granting institution.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political science.

Asian studies.

Womens studies.

Ethnic studies.

Political Science--Penn dissertations.

Penn dissertations--Political Science.

Local Subjects:

Political science.

Asian studies.

Womens studies.

Ethnic studies.

Political Science--Penn dissertations.

Penn dissertations--Political Science.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (297 pages)

Contained In:

Dissertations Abstracts International 85-03A.

Place of Publication:

[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania] : University of Pennsylvania, 2022.

Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, 2023

Language Note:

English

Summary:

My original dataset about the composition of provincial and prefectural congresses in China shows a puzzling contrast between ethnic majority women and ethnic minority women, which cannot be explained by socioeconomic factors. Ethnic minority women are often over-represented, whereas ethnic majority women are underrepresented. I use a mixed-method approach to examining the puzzle. I conducted fieldwork in China including interviews and archival research. I also run statistical analysis of my original datasets about deputy biographies and proposals in ethnically diverse areas. I argue that the answer to the puzzle lies in political calculations by central and local leaders of the Chinese Communist Party. Central leaders translate the regime's general strategies of mobilizing different groups into congress and set a generous quota for ethnic minorities, benefiting ethnic minority women. Local leaders use ethnic minority women to satisfy multiple quotas (e.g., ethnic minorities, women, and grassroots) beyond reservations for important officials. Ethnic minority women are more loyal to lower-level officials than other deputies and tend to promote local development without reporting the misconduct of lower-level officials to higher-level officials, which is a necessary condition for lower-level officials to nominate ethnic minority women. Ethnic minority women face extra barriers to asserting themselves in local congresses because they suffer double discrimination and lack collaboration with other groups.Besides solving the puzzle, I point out some phenomena related to the puzzle. As deputies are nominated by their work units, female deputies focus on representing their occupations or communities without paying much attention to women's rights. The deputy selection process may unintentionally introduce an extra-active group of ethnic majority women into local congresses. As ethnic minority women suffer a relative lack of substantive representation, the Chinese General Social Survey (2005-2015) indicates that ethnic minority women pay less attention to local congresses, have less knowledge of the National People's Congress, and express less trust in congressional oversight of the government and accountability of congress leaders than other citizens. My findings highlight how authoritarian institutions shape different dimensions of women's representation.

Notes:

Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 85-03, Section: A.

Advisors: Grossman, Guy; Committee members: Teele, Dawn; Hannum, Emily.

Department: Political Science.

Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania 2023.

Local Notes:

School code: 0175

ISBN:

9798380385008

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.

This item is not available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses.