Policy in a patriarchal society: what makes women protest?

Abstract

Women make up almost half the population on this earth. They are as much a part of society as their male counterparts and yet lack the status the latter enjoy. It is thus of essence to study their political participation by way of collective action, especially in societies where women aren’t equals. This work attempts to understand the mechanisms of women’s protest, given an unequal societal status upon the introduction of a policy change. Policy reception is key to the successful introduction of the same and the actions by women can play a deterministic role. The thesis posits a theoretical framework modeling voter behavior in the face of a policy change. It uses the Akerlof-Kranton identity and economics framework to model how the voter units, man and woman, use their bargaining powers in a manner that maximizes their utilities, in part derived from their gender identities.