Publications
- Gender and Political Careers: A Comparative Labor Market Analysis of Femal Political Representation
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- by Iversen, Torben; Rosenbluth, Frances
- Most explanations of female under-representation in democratic polities emphasize either
demand for female representatives (say, as a function of female labor force participation),
the political mobilization of women, or overt or covert discrimination by male-dominated
political organizations. We offer a different—though not necessarily competing—explanation based on an analysis of democratic politics as a particular type of career
market. Because seniority is an important factor in legislative effectiveness in candidatecentered
systems, career interruptions for the sake of childcare and other family work
hurts female aspiring politicians more seriously in majoritarian systems than in PR
systems where political parties control the policy platform and constituency service is a
minor consideration in the careers of candidates. We find support for this explanation
from several sources. First, we find that personalistic electoral systems penalize females
(following the rank ordering technique provided by Carey and Shugart 1995). Second,
we find that in countries with mixed electoral systems women do better in seats elected
by PR than by SMP.
- Publication Type: WCFIA Working Paper
- Published Date: 2001
- Field of Interest: International Economics
- Iversen, Torben, and Frances Rosenbluth. "Gender and Political Careers: A Comparative Labor Market Analysis of Femal Political Representation." Working Paper 2008-0062, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, 2001.
