Pathways to Power: The Role of Gender Equality, Respect, and Ambition in Female Political Representation

open_access
Open Access
Author:
Smith, Payton
Area of Honors:
Political Science
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Lee Ann Banaszak, Thesis Supervisor
Sona N. Golder, Thesis Honors Advisor
Marie Hojnacki, Faculty Reader
Keywords:
women’s political representation
executive leadership
gender inequality
cultural attitudes toward women leaders
political ambition
candidate supply
cabinet representation
cross-national analysis
democratic systems
Abstract:
Why do some democracies elect women to executive office while others do not? This thesis examines variation in women’s executive political leadership across democracies using an integrated framework linking structural gender equality, societal attitudes toward women leaders, and female political ambition. Drawing on cross-national data aggregated from 2019 to 2023, the analysis finds that structural conditions exhibit inconsistent and context-dependent relationships with women’s cabinet representation, while political ambition demonstrates mixed effects, with significant associations in cabinet outcomes but not executive leadership. Most notably, societal respect for women leaders is negatively associated in coefficient terms with cabinet representation, indicating that more egalitarian attitudes correspond to higher levels of women’s representation. This relationship is conditional: cultural attitudes exert stronger effects in more gender-equal contexts and weaken in more unequal ones. These findings suggest that women’s pathways to power are shaped by the interaction of structural conditions, cultural legitimacy, and political ambition.