Historic sex-ratio imbalances predict female participation in the market for politicians
Journal
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
ISSN
0167-2681
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2018-12
Author(s)
Grant, Iris
;
Kesternich, Iris
;
Steckenleiter, Carina
;
Winter, Joachim
Abstract (De)
We analyze the long-term effects of gender imbalances on female labor force participation, in particular in the market for politicians. We exploit variation in sex ratios – the number of men divided by the number of women in a region – across Germany induced by WWII. In the 1990 elections, women were more likely to run for office in constituencies that had relatively fewer men in 1946. We do not find a significant effect of the sex ratio on the likelihood of a woman winning the election. These results suggest that while women were more likely to run for a seat in parliament in constituencies with lower historical sex ratios, voters were not more inclined to vote for them. Voter demand effects thus do not appear to be as strong as candidate supply effects.
Language
English
Keywords
Female politicians
Gender stereotypes
Occupational choice
Sex imbalance
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
Elsevier
Volume
156
Start page
144
End page
165
Official URL
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
269355