Asst. Prof. Noh Publishes Article That Examines Autocrats Who Claim Gender Equality

Yuree Noh is an assistant professor of political science at Rhode Island College and a research fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Middle East Initiative at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Recently she co-authored the article “Regime Support and Gender Quotas in Autocracies,” along with Assistant Professor of Government Sharan Grewal of the College of William & Mary and M. Tahir Kilavuz of Marmara University in Turkey.

In this article, published in the American Political Science Review, the authors highlight that though “gender quotas in legislatures (parliaments) have been adopted by over 130 countries around the world, increasing female political representation worldwide, many authoritarian leaders have adopted gender quotas as a way to legitimize their rule.” By increasing women’s political representation, these autocrats are able to “both boost their international reputation and gain domestic support.”

However, “gender-washing (when autocrats take credit for advances in gender equality to divert the domestic/international attention away from their other repressive/harmful practices) produces short-term gains (an increase in women’s parliamentary seats) with long-term costs for women’s rights,” the authors argue. Overall, the authors’ findings suggest that gender quotas in autocracies are viewed through a political lens, creating a potential backlash toward women’s empowerment.

Assistant Professor Yuree Noh specializes in authoritarian elections and their effects on the welfare of citizens. Her research interests include gender and politics and public opinion research, with focus on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Noh is currently working on a book manuscript on electoral manipulation and fraud in the MENA.