The gendered political ambition cycle in mixed-member electoral systems

Abstract

This article introduces a theoretical model that shows how four mechanisms (work–life balance, psychological, gatekeeper bias and diversity mechanisms) explain why pursuing a nomination as list Members of Parliament is the more attractive option for women in mixed-member electoral systems. It also demonstrates how women’s resulting greater likelihood of being list Members of Parliament creates what we call a gendered cycle, further reducing women’s interest in the single-member district tier. To empirically test our model, we present quantitative data for the case of New Zealand and Germany, as well as qualitative interview data collected from members of German parties’ women’s auxiliary organisations.

A multi-stage and multi-actor perspective on intra-party competition: Introduction to the symposium

“…An additional example of how the electoral system may influence intra-party competition is the difference between Single Member District (SMD) and Proportional List (PR) systems. The electoral system is, for instance with regard to the gender dimension of internal competition, a critical institution shaping men’s and women’s odds of winning office, with women being better represented in countries with PR electoral systems compared to countries with SMD electoral systems (Iversen and Rosenbluth, 2010), or women being more likely to be elected as list MPs compared with district MPs in Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) systems (Coffé and Davidson-Schmich, 2020). Hence, the intra-party competition between women and men candidates and elected MPs will be affected by the electoral system used, with stronger competition in PR compared with SMD systems.…”

Founding Narratives and Men's Political Ambition: Experimental Evidence from US Civics Lessons

“…Recent empirical work among US school-age children suggests that ambition gaps emerge as early as grade school (Bos et al 2021; Lay et al 2021). Scholars researching countries outside the United States have also taken up the question of the gender gap in political ambition, finding ambition deficits for women across countries in North America (Pruysers, Thomas, and Blais 2020), Latin America (Schwindt-Bayer 2011), and Europe (Allen and Cutts 2020; Coffé and Davidson-Schmich 2020; Galais, Öhberg, and Coller 2016).…”

“…Many barriers exist to women's access to elected office, but one oft-cited cause of men's political overrepresentation is their greater propensity to run for office. An important body of scholarship has identified this gender gap in nascent political ambition in the US (Fox and Lawless 2004; Fox and Lawless 2010) and globally (Allen and Cutts 2020; Ammassari, McDonnell, and Valbruzzi 2022; Coffé and Davidson-Schmich 2020; Foos and Gilardi 2020; Pruysers, Thomas, and Blais 2020). Generally, scholars find that women are less likely than men to express initial interest in running for office and that this reluctance persists even after controlling for family responsibilities and professional credentials (Bernhard, Shames, and Teele 2021; Kanthak and Woon 2015; Pate and Fox 2018; Preece and Stoddard 2015; Schneider et al 2016).…”

Preferences for and perceptions about politicians’ goals and how they impact women’s and men’s political ambition

“…Broadly defined, structural and individual-level explanations can be distinguished. On the structural level, research highlights the importance of political culture, including media sexism (Haraldsson and Wängnerud, 2019), the electoral system (Coffé and Davidson-Schmich, 2020), political socialisation (Fox and Lawless, 2005;Galais, 2018) and the presence of role models (Ladam et al, 2018).…”