Connecting the Unconnected: Facebook Access and Female Political Representation in Sub-Saharan Africa

Sophie Hatte, Jordan Loper and Thomas Taylor

No 20116, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: Can social media help promote female access to political positions? Using data from 8,814 parliamentary races across 17 sub-Saharan African countries, we explore this question in a context of significant political underrepresentation of women and rising Facebook penetration over the past decade. We leverage the staggered introduction of Facebook's Free Basics--i.e., free access to Facebook through partner mobile operators--across constituencies and time, documenting the success of this connectivity shock and its subsequent effect on female political representation. We find that the availability of Facebook's Free Basics significantly increases the election of female candidates, but only after one electoral cycle. This effect is driven by female candidates endorsed by established political parties and running for the first time. Uncovering the underlying mechanisms, we document a large, positive relationship between social media use and egalitarian gender norms, particularly regarding women in politics. Examining users' online network structures, we show that this association is driven by exposure to diverse and progressive content, and that such online connections are key to Free Basics' electoral impact. Finally, we find that Free Basics' effect is contingent on the presence of fair elections but is amplified where traditional press freedom is limited.

Keywords: Social media; Gender norms; Elections; Candidate selection (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 J16 L86 L96 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-04
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