Unequal Distribution or Unequal Effect?

• In Event: Political Parties

Abstract

Despite continuous advances in women's descriptive representation, men remain over-represented in most parliaments, both in established and new democracies. The reasons behind this gender gap are manifold. Yet, the evidence of the exact extent to which various factors influence women's descriptive representation remains inconclusive. Moreover, most studies to date seldom consider that election results are always the consequence of both supply- and demand-side effects. Building on prior research, this paper aims to simultaneously investigate both the supply and the demand of descriptive representation by examining how various candidate characteristics, qualities and resources explain the gender gap in candidates' electoral success. Using candidate survey data from four federal elections in Germany (2005 – 2017) and linking this information to official data from the German Returning Officer, we investigate whether differences in outcome are due to unequal distribution of resources and candidate qualities or the unequal effect these factors have on candidates' probability to get elected. More precisely, by applying a variance decomposition method – thus far rarely used for studying the gender gap in political representation – we estimate the contribution of unequal distributions versus unequal effects of core determinants of electoral success. Preliminary results suggest that men and women with comparable qualities and resources have similar chances to get elected. However, female candidates' lower chances of electoral success is more associated with the different distribution of relevant qualities. In light of our findings, strategies to increase gender equality should thus primarily focus on the supply side.

Authors

• Maarja Luhiste, Newcastle University

• Heiko Giebler, WZB Berlin Social Science Center