Ministers, gender and political appointments

Abstract

This study examines whether the sex of the selector matters for advancing women's inclusion in politics and how the political context shapes selectors' preferences and behaviour. It focuses on an under-researched area - the political appointments ministers make in their ministerial departments - and thus sheds light on the conditions under which women access appointed office. It analyses six governments in Spain between 1996 and 2018, using a mixed methods approach that includes statistical analyses of political appointments and interviews with former ministers. It finds that women ministers, as individuals, did not appoint more women than men ministers did at any time. However, women's presence is highly relevant. In more gender-balanced political contexts, men and women ministers appointed more women. Moreover, the context changed, in part because critical political actors pushed for it. This imbued a new political sphere, subcabinet-appointed offices, with representational significance.