The Political Repression of Women

This paper seeks to develop a new, operational conceptualization of political repression, taking into account the experiences of women. Repression is conceptualized as a policy threatening a segment of society when that segment is challenging the existing power structure and policies. The author examines the gender stratification in the political realm, an area of society that is often overlooked in gender discourse. Through analysis of data on women's repression from fifty-seven countries, the author asserts two statements: first, when women empower themselves, they discourage the use of repression; and second, women's vulnerability creates a power vacuum that men in authority can exploit through repression. Additionally, the chance of government repression is greater the more a society accepts domestic violence and the more children born to a woman in each country.