Gender and Cabinet Careers in the World of Westminster

• In Event: Gender in Comparative Politics

Abstract

This paper examines the ministerial career paths of women relative to men in three Westminster systems: Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Westminster systems provide a good example for considering women’s ministerial careers in politics as they provide a less complex setting for examining the forces leading to women’s executive representation than in other parliamentary systems. Westminster systems tend to produce single party government giving the prime minister more freedom to choose their cabinet less constrained by the demands of other party leaders and constitutional requirements. The paper uses hazard analysis and sequence analysis to show the differing career paths of men and women in the three countries, and differences across the three countries. It shows women are less likely to be given important portfolio, that men and women are equally likely to be appointed to junior positions, and equally likely to be promoted thereafter for three years, but then career paths diverge, with women less likely to be promoted from junior positions, more likely to stay in them, and have shorter careers as a result, though women who are promoted have equally long careers as men. Women tend to be older but have less parliamentary experience when promoted. The divergence in career trajectories is greatest in Canada. We discuss the forces that lead to these findings in relation to previous literature.

Authors

• Jennifer Curtin, University of Auckland

• Matthew Kerby, Australian National University