All the President's Men? The Appointment of Female Cabinet Ministers Worldwide

37 Pages Posted: 1 Aug 2011 Last revised: 23 Aug 2011

See all articles by Mona Lena Krook

Mona Lena Krook

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Diana Z. O'Brien

Washington University in St. Louis

Date Written: 2011

Abstract

Women have traditionally been underrepresented among government ministers, and when included in cabinets have largely been relegated to ‘feminine’ and low-prestige policy areas. Recently, however, some countries have witnessed changes in the number, gender, and/or prestige of women’s appointments. What accounts for this variation in women’s access to ministerial power? To answer this question, we posit three competing theoretical explanations: political institutions, social indicators of gender equality, and broader trends in women’s political recruitment. To test these hypotheses, we compile an original dataset of 117 countries and construct a new measure – the Gender Power Score – which differentially weights cabinet positions based on women’s numbers and the gender and prestige of the ministries to which they are assigned. Using a finite mixture model to evaluate competing hypotheses, we find that political variables – rather than social factors – have the strongest impact on gender parity in cabinets.

Keywords: women, gender, cabinets, finite mixture modeling

Suggested Citation

Krook, Mona Lena and O'Brien, Diana Z., All the President's Men? The Appointment of Female Cabinet Ministers Worldwide (2011). APSA 2011 Annual Meeting Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1903446

Mona Lena Krook (Contact Author)

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey ( email )

311 North 5th Street
New Brunswick, NJ 08854
United States

Diana Z. O'Brien

Washington University in St. Louis ( email )

One Brookings Drive
Campus Box 1208
Saint Louis, MO MO 63130-4899
United States

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
149
Abstract Views
1,019
Rank
354,898
PlumX Metrics