The Gendered Effects of Homosocial Networks on the Career Ambitions of Party Staff

• In Event: Comparative Politics Lightning Round

Abstract

Careers in parliament are gendered which creates unequal chances and barriers for men and women. In particular, personal networks that foster in-group and out-group dynamics in political parties tend to help men to attain power while creating barriers for women to succeed. I argue that these networks carry over to the careers of party staffers. This article sheds light on the power of personal networks by showing to what extent men staffers benefit more from networks than their women colleagues for their careers. For this purpose, I capture the effect of individual staffers’ personal networks on their ambition. The empirical work is based on original survey data collected by Pieter Moens among party staffers in Belgium and the Netherlands (N = 1,009).

Author

• Lena Stephan, University of Greifswald