Norms, Beliefs, and Networks: Descriptive Findings on Women’s Political Participation in Pakistan

Saad Gulzar, Muhammad Khan () and Luke Sonnet
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Saad Gulzar: Notre Dame University
Muhammad Khan: University of Pittsburgh
Luke Sonnet: Independent Scholar

No 18716, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: Why does women’s political participation continue to lag behind men’s in much of the world? This paper argues that one reason for the political participation gap is a discrepancy between what people believe others think about women’s political participation and what those people actually think. Using data from 37 communities in Pakistan, we first show that expectations of norms around women’s political participation are more pessimistic than actual beliefs. Second, despite previous evidence that the household primarily structures women’s behavior in patriarchal societies, we find (1) that women’s social networks are distinct from those of men in their households and (2) that women’s pessimistic expectations about others’ beliefs are more strongly correlated with beliefs of socially proximate women than with men in their households. Efforts to reduce the gender gap in political participation may therefore benefit from targeting pessimistic expectations of norms and focusing on women’s distinct networks.

Keywords: social norms; pluralistic ignorance; social networks; gender gap in voting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 D83 D85 J6 O12 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-inv and nep-soc
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18716

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