Gender Differences in Political Career Progression: Evidence from U.S. Elections

Ryan Brown, Hani Mansour (), Stephen O'Connell and James Reeves ()
Additional contact information
Hani Mansour: University of Colorado Denver
James Reeves: University of Michigan

No 12569, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper establishes the presence of a substantial gender gap in the relationship between state legislature service and the subsequent pursuit of a Congressional career. The empirical approach uses a sample of mixed-gender elections to compare the differential political career progression of women who closely win versus closely lose a state legislature election relative to an analogous impact for men who closely win or lose a state legislature election. We find that the effect of serving a state legislative term on the likelihood of running for a Congressional seat is twice as large for men as women, and its effect on winning a Congressional race is five times larger for men than women. These gaps emerge early in legislators' careers, widen over time, and are seen alongside a higher propensity for female state legislators to recontest state legislature seats. This gender gap in advancing to Congress among state legislators is not generated by gender differences in previously accumulated political experience, political party affiliation, or constituency characteristics. After investigating several explanations, we conclude that the gender gap in political career progression is consistent with the existence of a glass ceiling in politics.

Keywords: elections; discrimination; politicians; gender gap (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 J16 J24 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 63 pages
Date: 2019-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gen, nep-hrm, nep-lma and nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Working Paper: Gender Differences in Political Career Progression: Evidence from U.S. Elections (2019)
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