TITLE:
Why Low Political Participation of Rural Women in China: An Interpretation from Neo-Institutionalism Perspective
AUTHORS:
Cui Huang
KEYWORDS:
Rural Women, Political Participation, Informal and Formal Institutions
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Political Science,
Vol.8 No.3,
July
9,
2018
ABSTRACT: Gender
inequality still exists in China. One of its reasons and manifestations is the
low political participation of rural women. The data analysis of 970
questionnaires reveals that current political participation of rural women is
characterized by low number, lack of motivation and organization, and
self-interest driven participation. This article seeks to interpret their low
po-litical participation from the perspective of neo-institutionalism. It
argues that this low participation has been caused by informal institutions,
such as the restraints of traditional gender concepts, women’s lack of desire
for per-sonal rights and weak sense of organization, as well as by formal
institutions, including imperfect policy system and women organizations in the
rural are-as. Consequently, improving rural women’s political participation
should start with reforming these institutions.