In post-socialist Mongolia, the social status of women appears to be declining. Political scientist Susan S. Silbey and anthropologist Manduhai Buyandelger will investigate this phenomenon through ethnographic research on the circumstances and experiences of female candidates running for parliament in Mongolia's June 2008 election. A new Mongolian law requires that 30 percent of the candidates be women. The researchers will document the activities of political parties geared to complying with the requirement and the influence these activities may or may not have on the understanding of gender equality in Mongolian society at large. Dr. Buyandelger will follow the female candidates as they advance from nominations in local-level primaries to parliament.
The research will be carried out in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, supplemented with trips to two provinces for comparative purposes and will last for eight months (January-August 2008). The PI will employ three main methodologies: participant observation, in-depth interviews, and text analysis of election-related media such as TV programs, pamphlets, advertisements, and news articles. The researcher will conduct extensive interviews with a range of relevant people: current female candidates, participants of the National Election Committee office, members of the political parties, and previous candidates.
The project is important because it develops a new framework for studying the influence of greater democratization worldwide on women's lives in local places. It also will bring further insights on the nature and causes of political equality.
