Ongoing Research Projects
Casa Rosada, August 2016
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Women as Leaders, Policy-Makers, and Symbols
Women have historically been denied access to the most powerful political posts, particularly prestigious inner cabinet portfolios within the executive branch. This global trend undermines one of democracy’s core principles—political equality—and has widespread implications for both the policy-making process and citizens’ support for government. In this project Diana Z. O'Brien and I examine the causes and consequences of women’s exclusion from four of the most powerful cabinet portfolios: finance, defense, interior/home affairs, and foreign affairs ministries. These prestigious positions have direct access to the chief executive and unparalleled policy influence. It is thus critically important to explain when, why, and how women break through the male-dominated status quo to access these posts, as well as to understand how women’s inclusion shapes policies that are central to the functioning of the state—e.g., security, human rights, trade—and affects citizens’ perceptions of government. The findings from this research have clear consequences for equality, democracy, public diplomacy, and representation. We were recently awarded a $429,000 grant from the NSF to support the next phase of our research. And we are thrilled to have Bomi K. Lee, working with us on the project in her capacity as an NSF funded postdoctoral scholar.
This first paper from this project was published at the American Journal of Political Science. In this manuscript we focus specifically on the appointment of female defense ministers. In our new book project, we expand our focus to include foreign affairs ministers and interior/home affairs ministers and to consider the policy and symbolic effects of these prestigious appointments. Our work on defense ministers has been featured in The Guardian, Bloomberg's View, Foreign Policy and reprinted in over 15 news papers in seven different languages.
We next focused on women's access to the finance post. In "Corruption, Accountability, and Women's Access to Power" (Armstrong, Barnes, O'Brien, and Taylor-Robinson, Journal of Politics), we argue that since women are often perceived as “cleaner” than men, where institutions allow heads of government to be held accountable on economic issues, chief executives may use women’s inclusion in high-profile posts to signal that they are curbing the abuse of public office for private gain. Using data on 153 countries over 16 years, we show that increases in corruption bolster women’s presence in the finance ministry (a high-profile post capable of quelling economic malfeasance), particularly in context of high accountability. Next, in "Financial Crisis and the Selection and Survival of Women Finance Ministers" (Armstrong, Barnes, Chiba, and O'Brien, American Political Science Review) we examine the relationship between financial crises and women’s ascension to, and survival in, the finance ministry. With an original dataset on appointments to finance ministries worldwide (1972-2017), we show that women are more likely to first come to power during a banking crisis. Our work on women finance ministers has been featured in Ms. Magazine (on multiple occasions) and FiveThirtyEight.
This first paper from this project was published at the American Journal of Political Science. In this manuscript we focus specifically on the appointment of female defense ministers. In our new book project, we expand our focus to include foreign affairs ministers and interior/home affairs ministers and to consider the policy and symbolic effects of these prestigious appointments. Our work on defense ministers has been featured in The Guardian, Bloomberg's View, Foreign Policy and reprinted in over 15 news papers in seven different languages.
We next focused on women's access to the finance post. In "Corruption, Accountability, and Women's Access to Power" (Armstrong, Barnes, O'Brien, and Taylor-Robinson, Journal of Politics), we argue that since women are often perceived as “cleaner” than men, where institutions allow heads of government to be held accountable on economic issues, chief executives may use women’s inclusion in high-profile posts to signal that they are curbing the abuse of public office for private gain. Using data on 153 countries over 16 years, we show that increases in corruption bolster women’s presence in the finance ministry (a high-profile post capable of quelling economic malfeasance), particularly in context of high accountability. Next, in "Financial Crisis and the Selection and Survival of Women Finance Ministers" (Armstrong, Barnes, Chiba, and O'Brien, American Political Science Review) we examine the relationship between financial crises and women’s ascension to, and survival in, the finance ministry. With an original dataset on appointments to finance ministries worldwide (1972-2017), we show that women are more likely to first come to power during a banking crisis. Our work on women finance ministers has been featured in Ms. Magazine (on multiple occasions) and FiveThirtyEight.
