Understanding voter attitudes toward women's political leadership in Nepal
Research in Nepal identifies three key barriers to women’s political representation: limited ambition or interest, weak voter demand, and party gatekeeping. Survey evidence from female politicians and citizens suggests that while many women aspire to higher office, male-dominated party nomination processes often overlook female voters’ preferences and overstate the risks of promoting women leaders.
Authors
Stefano Fiorin
Postdoctoral Scholar, University of California - San Diego
Rohini Pande
Henry J. Heinz II Professor of Economics and Director of the Economic Growth Center, Yale University
Soledad Artiz Prillaman
Assistant Professor, Stanford UniversityJenna Allard
Associate Director of Research and Policy, Yale Economic Growth CenterAsim Kafle
Research Associate, Governance LabApurva Subedi
Senior Research Associate, Governance Lab-
Allard-Callen-Fiorin-Kafle-Pande-Prillaman-Subedi-Policy-Brief-October-2025.pdf
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- Research highlights three main channels that may inhibit women’s political representation: (i) lack of ambition or interest among women, (ii) lack of demand from citizens, and (iii) party gatekeeping against female candidates. In Nepal, we investigate these channels with two large-scale surveys.
- Prior to the 2022 local elections, we surveyed nearly 7,000 incumbent female ward members and found that many aspired to run for higher office, yet very few received party tickets.
- In 2025, we surveyed 1,760 citizens to measure voter demand for female leaders. When assessing familiar local politicians, voters of both genders favour men—most often the sitting ward chair, who in nearly all cases was male. But when asked to compare men and women directly on leadership traits, preferences diverge by gender: women generally favoured female leaders on key attributes, while men leaned toward male leaders.
- Taken together, the evidence suggests that party nomination processes, currently dominated by male selection committee members, may underweight female voters' preferences and overstate the risks of fielding women in leadership positions.