Restriction lift date: 2029-12-31
The impact of gender quotas on progressive ambition for cabinet
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Date
2023
Authors
Gregory, Rachel
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University College Cork
Published Version
Abstract
Although the number of women in legislative office has endured continued growth, the number of women in executive offices, especially cabinet, has remained stagnant. While some scholars pose that women lack the political ambition to put themselves up for a particular political office, other scholars point to the complex and gendered role of candidate selection as inhibiting women’s political career progression. I argue that women’s ambition for cabinet is based upon their evaluations of changes in the political opportunity structures due to spill over effects from gender quotas. Utilising an original dataset comprised of observed variables and a small survey of UK MPs, this research compares the ambition of women in the Conservative and Labour parties in the UK House of Commons with and without gender quotas. Findings show that gender quotas signal to women a more open political opportunity structure, but this effect is largely limited to gender quota women. At the same time, gender quota women are primarily chosen for low prestige cabinet posts, which suggests a mediating variable of masculine party culture in determining outcomes and a lack of institutionalisation of the quota.
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Keywords
Political ambition , Political behaviour , Quantitative methods , Gender quotas , Gender and politics , UK politics
Citation
Gregory, R. 2023. The impact of gender quotas on progressive ambition for cabinet. PhD Thesis, University College Cork.