Intervention(s)
We conduct two rounds of an online survey, before and after the national election on October 28, 2020, to measure changes in perceptions about long-term political goals.
In the first part of the survey, respondents estimate the current distribution of wealth and gender in Tanzania and, then, indicate what their ideal distributions look like. Our research adopts Rawls' idea of the original position and applies it to principles of gender equality. When asking about ideal distributions, we aim to elicit respondents' preferences freed of their respective characteristics and specific position in society (Rawls (1971)).
We combine responses on ideal and estimated distributions with the following 4 treatments:
1 - Survey experiment: Civic action
We implement one survey experiment, where respondents are randomly assigned to two treatments (A, B) that describe the extent to which one is actively willing to take action to support equal representation between women and men.
This week, some of your fellow students are going to request action from the government to increase gender equality:
1. (A) To show your support, would you sign their petition letter?
2. (B) To show your support, would you donate them 5,000 TZS?
2 - Survey experiment: Gender quota
We implement a second survey experiment on the gender quota in politics, where we randomly ask respondents about their support on one of three different policy options (A, B, C). [This experiment is only included in the first round.]
1. (A) BASELINE: Do you agree that the number of reserved seats for women should be kept constant at 30% in future parliaments?
2. (B) INCREASE: Do you agree that the number of reserved seats for women should be increased from 30% to 50% in future parliaments?
3. (C) DECREASE: Do you agree that the number of reserved seats for women should be decreased from 30% to 15% in future parliaments?
3 - Survey experiment: Meritocracy
We use a third survey experiment to measure the importance of three components of meritocracy: experience, education and effort. We randomize between male and female candidates.
Treatment: The next parliamentary elections are coming up at the end of this month. How important are the following qualities for a [(A)female; (B)male] candidate to become Member of Parliament? 1
1. Candidate has a university degree.
2. Candidate has previous experience as Member of Parliament.
3. Candidate put a lot of effort into campaigning for the election.
4 – Survey experiment: Patronage
The last survey experiment measures the influence of patronage (family relations) on candidate selection. Here, we randomize between two male and two female (A, B) candidates.
Treatment: Imagine that after the election you would have to decide between two [(A)female; (B)male] Members of the Parliament. One of them will become the Speaker of the National Assembly. Assuming that they have equal experience, education, and motivation, which one would you choose as Speaker of the National Assembly?
References
J. Rawls. A Theory of Justice. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachussets, 1edition, 1971. ISBN 0-674-88014-5.