#Levels in politicats professional

If women face higher costs for their career achievements, as the evidence in Folke and Rickne ( 2020) suggests, they may be discouraged from pursuing such objectives. the highest office in municipal politics) experience a significant increase in the likelihood of divorcing their partner, whereas this is not the case for men. Recent work from Folke and Rickne (2020) shows that in Sweden female politicians who are promoted to mayor (i.e. Women’s willingness to advance in their political careers can also be influenced by family and relational considerations. As Preece and Stoddard ( 2015) find by using two experiments, priming individuals to consider the competitive nature of politics lowers women’s interest in running for political office, whereas it has no effect on the interest of men. Women’s tendency to shy away from competition ( Niederle and Vesterlund, 2007) may also play a role since the political selection process is likely perceived as highly competitive.

(b) women are less likely to believe that they are qualified for office than men.

(a) women are less encouraged to run for office than men and.The main reasons for the gender gap in ambition appear to be that

#Levels in politicats professional

Large-scale surveys have documented that women who, based on their professional and economic credentials, are potential political candidates, report lower ambition to occupy executive offices than comparable men ( Fox and Lawless, 2004). Below an overview of some of the work that has addressed each of these three factors is provided. Regional Performance in 2020, by Sub-index Why Are Women Under-represented in Political Office?īroadly speaking, three main reasons are most often explored, namely women’s unwillingness to become politicians, voters’ bias, and parties’ bias. World Economic Forum Gender Equality Index. Regional Performance in 2020, by Sub-index In this brief, some of the recent academic literature on this question is summarized, and some policies that may help to close the gender gaps in political representation are reviewed. Given the persistent under-representation of women in political institutions, where important decisions that shape societies are taken, economists and political scientists, among others, are increasingly interested in understanding the causes of the gender gap in political representation. Countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia have only closed 15% of a hypothetical 100% gender gap in political empowerment, according to the World Economic Forum, by far their worst performance among the four sub-indexes that compose the overall Gender Equality Index. Sweden, for instance, while having a good record of women’s representation in most institutions (women currently represent 47.5% of the Parliament members, 54.5% of the ministers, and about 43% of the municipal councilors), has never had a woman as Prime minister, and only one-third of its mayors are female. Importantly, although there is large variation across countries, gender inequality in political empowerment is documented in every region worldwide, including in those countries that are most socially and economically advanced. Of the four dimensions considered in the World Economic Forum’s Gender Equality Index (namely, Economic Opportunity and Participation, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival and Political Empowerment), the dimension called Political Empowerment, which measures the extent to which women are represented in political office, records the poorest performance, with only 25% of an hypothetical 100% gap having been closed to date. Women are generally under-represented in political offices worldwide, and their under-representation becomes larger in more senior positions. Country Reports Belarus country report (EN) In conclusion, some of the policies that have been proposed or used to empower women in politics are summarized and evidence on their effectiveness is reviewed when available. Understanding the underlying causes of women’s under-representation in political institutions is crucial in order to design the most effective policies to address the existing gender gaps.

Broadly speaking, the literature has divided such causes into “supply-side” and “demand-side” factors: the former include women’s potentially lower willingness to run for political office, whereas the latter include voters’ and party leaders’ prejudices against women in politics.

In this brief, some recent academic literature in economics and political science on the likely causes of women’s under-representation is reviewed. Women in Politics: Why Are They Under-represented?