(iPoster) Are Women Finance Ministers Different from Their Male Colleagues?

• In Event: Poster Sessions: Participation and Representation & Democracy and Autocracy II
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: Participation and Representation

Abstract

Women rarely decide on economic policy. In a sample of 50 democracies over 20 years, fewer than 20% of finance ministers are women. But how different are these women from their male counterparts? Are their policies distinct from the policies of men finance ministers? The answer to this question is not obvious. While women tend to be, on average, more economically progressive than men, the women appointed to these salient and powerful positions need not have profiles different from those of their male colleagues. Further, they are likely to be constrained by the leader and government they serve. Using novel data on the biographies of cabinet ministers from 2000 to 2020 across European democracies, speech data from parliamentary speeches, and data on tax policy, we ask the following questions: How different are the finance ministers from their male counterparts in terms of their education, professional background, and social class? In turn, are women more left-leaning in their policy positions and policy reforms than their male colleagues?

Authors

• Despina Alexiadou, University of Strathclyde

• Giulia Venturini, University of Nottingham

• Eva Wegner, University of Marburg