Gender norms and Women's political representation: a global analysis of cabinets, 1979-2009

Jacob, Suraj and Scherpereel, John A. and Adams, Melinda (2013) Gender norms and Women's political representation: a global analysis of cabinets, 1979-2009. Governance, 27 (2). pp. 321-345. ISSN 09521895

Text - Published Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (191kB) | Request a copy

Abstract

What role does the international diffusion of gender norms play in determining recent increases in women's political representation? We argue that norm diffusion has larger positive effects on women's cabinet representation than on women's legislative representation. We also show that within cabinets, norm diffusion affects low‐prestige appointments more than high‐prestige appointments. We test these arguments using an original database of ministers from 1979 to 2009 and find that the association of women's representation with three separate indicators of international diffusion—levels of women's representation among neighboring states, levels of women's representation among intergovernmental organization partners, and time since ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women—is consistent with our arguments.

Item Type:	Article
Authors:	Jacob, Suraj and Scherpereel, John A. and Adams, Melinda
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Gender, Women, Cabinet, Politics
Subjects:	Social sciences > Sociology & anthropology > Groups of people Social sciences > Groups of people Social sciences > Political Science
Divisions:	Azim Premji University > School of Development
Full Text Status:	Restricted
Related URLs:	Google Scholar
URI:	http://publications.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/id/eprint/204
Publisher URL:	http://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12044

Actions (login required)

View Item