Desirability of office and previous female representation as main factors of female candidacy and representation in Czech municipalities, 1998–2018

Abstract

Despite some progress in winning elected political offices, women remain underrepresented at all levels of government in Czechia. More importantly, only a limited body of research has focused on the presence of women in municipal governments. This study uses an original time series on local elections in all 6249 Czech municipalities over an extended period (1994–2018) to test where more women run for seats in local councils and why the descriptive (or numerical) representation of women in policy-making positions is higher in some municipalities than in others. The analysis reveals that openness of local environment to women, in terms of women's previous representation, together with desirability of office are strong determinants of female political participation and representation in Czech municipalities.