A Comparative Study of Gender Representation and Social Outcomes: The Effect of Political and Bureaucratic Representation

Abstract

This article examines whether gender representation of government leadership in the legislative and executive branches improves social equity related to women's social outcomes and how this effect is moderated by the status of democracy. Using a panel data set on 135 OECD and non‐OECD countries from 2005 to 2015, the analysis shows that in non‐OECD countries, political gender representation has a significant, positive impact on female educational attainment and overall gender equality, while bureaucratic gender representation is significant for educational attainment only. For OECD countries, political representation has a consistent effect on educational attainment, labor force participation, and overall gender equality, but there is no evidence of bureaucratic representation. Democratization plays a more critical role in shaping the relationship between institutional representation and women's social outcomes in non‐OECD countries than their OECD counterparts, where gender equality is attributable to broader social, economic, and cultural factors.

Administrative Response to Consequences of COVID-19 Emergency Responses: Observations and Implications From Gender-Based Violence in Argentina

“…Much of the public administration scholarship examines gender through the lens of the bureaucratic employment outcomes (Alkadry & Tower, 2006; Bishu & Headley, 2020; Connell, 2006), representation (Park & Liang, 2019; Riccucci et al, 2016; Riccucci & Van Ryzin, 2017), or even organizational capacity (Brown, 2012). Despite the increased study of gender issues in public organizations, scholars have raised the need for developing more gender analysis in public administration, which, compared to other fields such as political science and sociology, has been less prolific in the discipline (Condit & Hutchinson, 1997; Hutchinson & Mann, 2004; Stivers, 2005).…”

Representative Bureaucracy, Distributional Equity, and Environmental Justice

“…For instance, the presence of minority bureaucrats may affect the behavior not only of the focal group but also of nonfocal groups and nonminority bureaucrats (Favero and Molina ; Meier and Nicholson‐Crotty ; Vinopal ). Also, more generally, political representation and its impact on bureaucrats in government agencies may contribute to the effectiveness of bureaucratic representation (Meier ; Nicholson‐Crotty, Grissom, and Nicholson‐Crotty ; Park , ; Park and Liang ).…”

“…The theory of representative bureaucracy is based on the belief that a bureaucracy that reflects the composition of the public will better serve diverse interests and democratic principles. Thus, bureaucratic representation relates not only to the demographic characteristics of public administrators (i.e., passive representation) but also to “the process of acting for or acting in the interests” of the focal groups that they resemble (i.e., active representation) (Meier , 40; see also Keiser ; Kennedy ; Park ; Park and Liang ; Selden ). Two contextual conditions are particularly essential to the transformation of passive into active representation (Meier ).…”

Through the Editor's Lens: Understanding the Editorial Role Through Metaphor

“…To that end, historical legacies across nations can help explain differences in employee motivation and attitudes. Park and Liang (2021) use a panel dataset of 135 Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) and non‐OECD countries to explore whether gender representation of government leadership in the legislative and executive branches improves social equity related to women's social outcomes. And finally, Porcher (2021) considers the relationship between national culture and government quality.…”