Defending the Realm: The Appointment of Female Defense Ministers Worldwide

Abstract

Though the defense ministry has been a bastion of male power, a growing number of states have appointed women to this portfolio. What explains men's dominance over these positions? Which factors predict women's appointments? With comprehensive cross‐national data from the post–Cold War era, we develop and test three sets of hypotheses concerning women's access to the defense ministry. We show that women remain excluded when the portfolio's remit reinforces traditional beliefs about the masculinity of the position, particularly in states that are engaged in fatal disputes, governed by military dictators, and large military spenders. By contrast, female defense ministers emerge when expectations about women's role in politics have changed—that is, in states with female chief executives and parliamentarians. Women are also first appointed to the post when its meaning diverges from traditional conceptions of the portfolio, particularly in countries concerned with peacekeeping and in former military states with left‐wing governments.

The Effects of Female Leadership on Women's Voice in Political Debate

“…and 'Children, Schools and Families', and significantly less in debates pertaining to the 'Defence', 'Foreign', and 'Justice' ministries. In addition, cross-nationally, women are more likely to be appointed to ministerial portfolios that address "feminine" issue areas (Escobar-Lemmon and Taylor-Robinson, 2009;Krook and O'Brien, 2012;Barnes and O'Brien, 2018).…”

The Application of Social Role Theory to the Study of Gender in Politics

“…An examination of women in leadership positions cross‐nationally provides additional support: Research shows that in countries where the tasks for a foreign minister reinforced male‐typical expectations—for example in states governed by military dictators—women remained excluded. However, when the expectations of the role shifted away from traditional conceptions of the job (e.g., peacekeeping is a major focus), female defense ministers were more likely to be appointed (Barnes & O’Brien, ).…”

“…In addition, such women may effectively balance their agentic traits with communal ones; according to social role theorists, female leaders who actively display communal qualities are more palatable (Eagly & Karau, ). In countries where women achieved high‐level posts such as female chief executives or parliamentarians, citizens shifted their expectations of high‐level political roles to incorporate the possibility of women, thus allowing for other women to gain access to different high‐level roles (Barnes & O’Brien, ).…”

Corruption and women in cabinets: Informal barriers to recruitment in the executive

“…A growing literature (e.g., Barnes & O'Brien, ; Davis, ; Escobar‐Lemmon & Taylor‐Robinson, ; Jacob, Scherpereel, & Adams, ; Krook & O'Brien, ; Mavisakalyan, ; Reynolds, ; Siaroff, ; Whitford, Wilkins, & Ball, ) has started to look at the macro‐level factors, such as the type of governmental system; the meso‐level indicators, such as type of party in power (e.g., left‐wing or right‐wing party); and the micro‐level determinants, such as the ambition of men and women to run for office, to explain women's recruitment to ministerial portfolios. Though several works mention the role of informal procedures in “engendering” recruitment to the executive (e.g., Annesley & Gains, ; Arriola & Johnson, ; Bauer & Okpotor, ; Bauer & Tremblay, ; Bego, ; Claveria, ; Escobar‐Lemmon & Taylor‐Robinson, ; Franceschet & Thomas, ), no study has so far examined the influence of corruption on women's representation in cabinets across time and space; our study is the first to conduct such an analysis.…”