Politická reprezentace žen v zastupitelstvech krajských měst: kvalitativní komparativní analýza (QCA) komunálních voleb v České republice v roce 2018

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to test the determinants of women's descriptive representation at the local level in the Czech Republic after the last local elections in 2018. We focus on the determinants of women's descriptive representation in local councils of Czech regional cities and how various factors (socioeconomic, demographic, cultural, or political) affect women's political representation at this level. Using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and our own dataset of local elections, we found that women's descriptive representation is higher in cities that are located in borderland areas (Sudetenland). These are cities that share common characteristics in the sense of historical circumstances due to the compulsory expulsion of the German minority there after WWII and their subsequent replacement by other extraneous groups. Furthermore, these processes resulted in a rise of the multi-peripherality and socio-cultural discontinuity of these areas. These developments also influenced both social stratification and population density of the Czech-German borderland as social and educational development slowed and disadvantaged socio-economic structures emerged. However, as it is evident that the success of women in local elections has been repeated especially in Ústí nad Labem and Liberec, we attribute the high level of women's political representation in these cities especially to their specific historical development, together with the higher success of independent local lists in these cities.