Women Rule: Shattering the Executive Glass Ceiling

Abstract

“When we inaugurate a President of the United States we give a man the powers of our highest office.”Richard Neustadt, preface to the first edition of Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents, 1960 Using qualitative and quantitative techniques, this article compares nearly all cases of women presidents and prime ministers in power between 1960 through 2007. In a comparative gender analysis, I focus on the impact of institutional and structural factors on the ways in which women acquire their positions and on the type of executive authority exercised. Women are more likely to enter office when their powers are relatively few and constrained. The political systems in which they lead generally feature fragmented executive power arrangements, including a dual executive structure. Women also enter in politically unstable contexts and in countries lacking political institutionalization, frequently as members of privileged groups. Findings indicate that comparative politics research needs to explore the gendered connections between executive positions and authority, power, and independence.