Gender Gaps in Political Seniority Systems

• In Event: The Causes and Consequences of Women’s Representation

Abstract

How do seniority systems influence the rate of growth in women's representation in democracies? If seniority dictates electoral success and career promotion, but advantages men who enter politics earlier and advance more quickly, this could explain why so many countries have low shares of women in politics. We test this theory using individual-level panel data on political careers and elections from 1921 to 2021 in the case of Norway, a country that over the course of a century has almost achieved gender parity. We show that Norway's major parties operated a two-tiered seniority system that was gender-biased, and we document a selection effect by which early female entrants to politics had to be significantly more educated than their male counterparts. Only after the introduction of gender quotas in party lists, and when Norway's parties began to operate their seniority systems in a gender-neutral way, did gender parity improve. Our findings have significant implications for the entry of female politicians into political careers.

Authors

• Ali Cirone, London School of Economics

• Gary W. Cox, Stanford University

• Jon H. Fiva, Norwegian Business School

• Daniel M. Smith, University of Pennsylvania

• Dawn L. Teele, Johns Hopkins University