Does Gender Make a Difference? A Study of the Legislative 'Batting Averages' of Male and Female Cabinet Ministers in Latin American Countries

Download or read book Does Gender Make a Difference? A Study of the Legislative 'Batting Averages' of Male and Female Cabinet Ministers in Latin American Countries written by Michelle M. Taylor-Robinson and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 37 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper is part of a book project studying women in the executive branch in presidential democracies. In the book and other papers we examine the education, career, political experience, and interest group connections of more than 400 female and male cabinet ministers from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and the United States and our analysis of minister backgrounds indicates that, in the aggregate, men and women in these cabinets have resumes that are extremely similar. However, gender differences in background traits are apparent that correlate with the likelihood that a minister will be appointed to a portfolio in the masculine vs. feminine policy domains. In this paper we explore whether the backgrounds of ministers help to predict their success in office in two of our cases - Argentina and Chile - measuring success as the percentage of bills initiated by the minister that are passed into law. We find that female ministers initiate fewer bills than their male colleagues, but that women are just as successful as men at getting their bills passed into law. Political experience and connections, in the form of being a “political insider” or a “friend of the president” and having a primary career in government increase bill initiation and success, but experience related to the policy area of the minister's portfolio and connections to clients of the ministry do not have an impact on either bill initiation or success passing bills into law. These findings indicate that, at least in Argentina and Chile, there is no negative gender bias in inter-branch relations hampering the ability of female ministers to achieve their legislative agenda.