Seeing Women, Strengthening Democracy

Seeing Women, Strengthening Democracy asks how the more equitable representation of women in positions of power affects male and female citizens. The book argues that the election of women to political office-particularly where women's presence is highly visible to the public-strengthens the connections between women and the democratic process. For women, seeing more "people like me" in politics has important effects, changing how they interact with
government and the political process. The authors look at comparative data from across Latin America, but focus on an in-depth case study of Uruguay. Here, the authors find that gender gaps in political engagement declined significantly after a doubling of women's representation in the Senate.