Cities Where Women Rule: Female Political Incorporation and the Allocation of Community Development Block Grant Funding

Abstract

While individual women representatives in government have been found to behave differently than men, the causal connection between the increased presence of women in elected offices and the production of women-friendly policies is tenuous at best. This study leverages the variation in women's office holding, government structures, and policy outputs found in American cities to address that puzzle. It argues that when women obtain leadership positions in municipal government and when the positions they hold have greater power relative to other municipal positions, cities will be more likely to produce policy outputs that are often associated with women's interests and needs. Utilizing an original city-level dataset and modeling women's presence as mayors and policy outputs endogenously, the results reveal that empowered female executives in municipal governments influence expenditure decisions made as part of the federal Community Development Block Grant program. The findings suggest that political scientists should consider not only the presence of an underrepresented group, but also the relative amount of power that group has when assessing the effects on substantive representation. W hen and how are women represented in government policymaking? While women now hold more offices than they did 30 years ago,

Exclusion or interests? Why females in elected office reduce petty and grand corruption

“…One of the political agendas female politicians may pursue is to support policies that improve public service delivery and, in particular, those that improve the everyday life of women, such as family policy and health policy. It is by now rather well‐established in research on political representation that female politicians prioritise issues and policies pertaining to the situation of women in society at large to a higher degree than their male collegues (see Bolzendahl ; Bratton & Ray ; Ennser‐Jedenastik ; Holman ; Schwindt‐Bayer & Mishler ; Smith ; Wängnerud & Sundell ).…”

“…One of the political agendas female politicians may pursue is to support policies that improve public service delivery and, in particular, those that improve the everyday life of women, such as family policy and health policy. It is by now rather well-established in research on political representation that female politicians prioritise issues and policies pertaining to the situation of women in society at large to a higher degree than their male collegues (see Bolzendahl 2009;Bratton & Ray 2002;Ennser-Jedenastik 2017;Holman 2013;Schwindt-Bayer & Mishler 2005;Smith 2014;Wängnerud & Sundell 2012). Alexander and Ravlik (2015) transfer these findings to corruption studies, label them ʻthe women's interest mechanism' and highlight the fact that some actions by female politicians may have important spin-off effects on corruption in society at large.…”

“…On one level, related to electoral responsiveness (Pitkin 1967: 209), the correlation between female elected representatives and reduced petty corruption can be explained by female politicians' choice of policy agendas. Research on political representation typically shows that women in elected office are more likely than their male colleagues to seek to improve public service delivery, and in particular the type of services that tend to benefit women (Bolzendahl 2009;Bratton & Ray 2002;Ennser-Jedenastik 2017;Holman 2013;Schwindt-Bayer & Mishler 2005;Smith 2014;Wängnerud & Sundell 2012). Such improvements in public service delivery can decrease the need for women to engage in corrupt transactions in the first place.…”

Women's authority in political decision-making groups

“…In our view, the key is establishing norms of equal authority, and rules are only one avenue to the creation of such norms. For example, research by Smith (2014) points to other aspects of institutional arrangements that determine whether women's presence translates into women's authority. Smith used a city-level dataset of hundreds of American cities.…”

Sex and the City: Female Leaders and Spending on Social Welfare Programs in U.S. Municipalities

“…Generally, women in public office support female-friendly, child-friendly, and social welfare policies at a higher rate than their male counterparts (Carroll, 2001;Norton, 1999;Swers, 2002). Scholarship on sex differences at the local level has examined policy attitudes (Burns & Schumaker, 1987;Deckman, 2007;Flammang, 1985;Mezey, 1980;Weikart, Chen, Williams, & Hromic, 2007) and policy outcomes (Beck, 1991;Donahue, 1997Donahue, , 1999Kerr, Miller, & Reid, 1998;Saltzstein, 1986;Smith, 2010), often finding conflicting evidence as to whether women in local office are different from their male counterarts in attitudes or actions.…”