Women’s Representation in Legislatures and Cabinets in Industrial Democracies

Abstract

Across the advanced industrial polities, there exists a wide range in the percentage of women in national parliaments. However, the range is in fact wider still for women in cabinets. Moreover, whereas the literature on comparative female representation in parliament is now well established, comparative analysis of women in cabinets is rather limited. This article will examine both phenomena, using the most recent national elections (through the end of 1998) and subsequent governments in 28 nations. For each of “women in parliament” and “women in cabinet” a model is produced which explains most of the variance. An additional “Scandinavian effect” is found for women in cabinet, but not for women in parliament.