The impact of women above the political glass ceiling: Evidence from a Norwegian executive gender quota reform

Women have historically been underrepresented in democratic assemblies, particularly in top positions with executive powers. Most gender quota reforms address this by mandating a more equal gender representation on election lists. In contrast, a 1992 legislative reform in Norway required parties...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Electoral studies 2019-08, Vol.60, p.102050, Article 102050
Main Authors: Geys, Benny, Sørensen, Rune J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Candidates
Elections
Executive board
Gender
Gender equality
Gender quota
Local government
Norway
Political representation
Politicians
Public policy
Reforms
Representative democracy
Women
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Summary:Women have historically been underrepresented in democratic assemblies, particularly in top positions with executive powers. Most gender quota reforms address this by mandating a more equal gender representation on election lists. In contrast, a 1992 legislative reform in Norway required parties' candidate lists for the local executive board to comprise at least 40% politicians of each gender. This legal change was not only exogenously imposed by a higher-level government, but also generated distinct quota-induced constraints across Norwegian municipalities. We exploit the resulting variation in ‘quota shocks’ using a difference-in-differences design to identify the quota's effect on women's political representation as well as local public policies. We find that more women enter the executive board after the reform, though spill-overs on women's representation in the local council and on the probability of a female mayor or top administrator are weak. We also find no consistent evidence for shifts in public policies due to increased representation of women in positions with executive powers.
ISSN:0261-3794
1873-6890
DOI:10.1016/j.electstud.2019.102050