Is Gender a Barrier for Becoming an NGO Leader? A Conjoint Experiment in Nepal

• In Event: Women's Political and Civic Participation

Abstract

Local NGOs play important societal roles in development countries, such as providing education and poverty relief, as well as engaging in activism and political lobbying. While often focused on improving the situation of marginalized groups, field observations suggest that NGOs are still “a man’s world” in terms of leadership. Within organizational studies, gatekeeping by leaders is an important explanation for why women do not make it to the top of organizational hierarchies. We field a conjoint experiment among NGO leaders in Nepal to test if and how gender is a barrier for becoming the chair-person. We hypothesize that male candidates are preferred over female candidates, and propose two mechanisms: First, that male preference is due to gendered perceptions of ability, and second, that leaders make assumptions about women's family responsibilities and penalize women for having children and/or taking on household tasks. The results of our conjoint experiment will help uncover patterns and causes of discrimination in the NGO sector in Nepal and should be relevant for other developing countries. Moreover, since leadership in NGOs is typically a steppingstone for higher-level political positions, discriminatory practices may produce inequalities higher up in the political system.

Author

• Johannes Vüllers, University Duisburg-Essen