The Patriarchy in the Parties: Voters, parties and women’s electoral fortunes in the 2024 legislative election in Indonesia

Do voter and party gender biases differently affect the likelihood that female and male candidates are nominated to and elected from equivalent list positions in national legislative elections? This paper examines the interaction between list position, gender quotas, and voter and party biases in shaping women’s electoral success in Indonesia’s 2024 legislative election. Using new data on nearly 10K candidates, while voter penalties against female candidates are important, our analysis finds that parties can effectively counteract these biases through strong list placement. However, we also find that parties nominate far fewer women than men and appear to apply different selection criteria when placing female candidates in lower list positions compared to their male counterparts. Additionally, our results underscore the critical role of party system fragmentation and candidate quotas in shaping women’s representation. We also highlight how seemingly minor adjustments to quota calculations can impact electoral competition. • A strong party signal of support via advantageous list placement counteracts voter bias against women as politicians. • Parties apply different criteria to the female candidates that they place in low (advantageous) list positions than they do to their male counterparts. • Even with candidate quota placement mandates, high levels of party system fragmentation decrease the odds of women being elected.