09:30 - 11:10
P1
Room: Meeting Room 2.3
Panel Session 1
Jae-Jae Spoon - Surprise! It’s Annalena Baerbock: The Effect of Female Candidate Nomination on Voters
Andrea Aldrich - Policy and Personal Valence: Party Leaders and Gendered Electoral Environments
Alba Huidobro - Gender and Political Ambition: Evidence from a survey of political elites
Akitaka Matsuo, Charles Crabtree, Yoshikuni Ono - Women Candidates Use More Positive Language than Men Candidates in Political Campaigns
Gender and Political Ambition: Evidence from a survey of political elites
P1-03
Presented by: Alba Huidobro
Alba Huidobro
Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals
Research on women’s access to politics reports significantly lower levels of ambition to political office for women relative to men. Recent studies, however, suggest that these gender differences are unlikely to be relevant later, once in elected office. This evidence is still not entirely clear when we focus on women in the top political position. To what extent the gender gap in political ambition persists in the front line of power? Based on data from an original survey administered to around 1,000 Spanish mayors, I provide the first thorough analysis of the attitudes and political ambitions of those who reach top positions. The findings reveal that, although there are gender differences in top politicians’ profiles, the gender gap on political ambition disappears among the political elite. This result is consistent taking into account other determinants of women's political selection such as age, educational level, or family responsibilities, among others. I further investigate mayors' patterns of re-election by combining these results with observational data on electoral candidacies. The similarities in political ambition do not equally promote the re-election of candidates in the following elections. The findings suggest that re-election patterns are skewed in favor of male politicians. The paper contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the underrepresentation of women in top political positions, focusing on women's motivations to reach and remain in positions of power.