Women and Local Politics: Determinants of Women’s Emergence and Success in Elections to Czech Town Councils, 1998–2018

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is to analyse where women run for and win seats in local councils of Czech towns between 1998 and 2018. Our results are to some extent contradictory to those from Western Europe. More importantly, this study demonstrates that strategic context impacts on women’s emergence and success in local elections in a different way. First, we do not confirm that larger towns are more promising for women’s representation. While more fragmented party systems in larger cities contribute to making women’s candidacy more common, a large pool of female candidates does not result in their higher presence in local councils. Second, we identify openness of local environment to women, in terms of women’s previous representation, as a strong determinant of female representation in Czech towns, both in terms of candidacy and success.

Presencia de las mujeres en los gobiernos municipales españoles. Perspectivas histórica y territorial (1979- 2019)

“…As explained in the methods section, both were intended to assess the influence of previous female leadership, a factor that has become consolidated in the territories as an element that favours greater female access to local government. The results of our analysis were once again negative, in contrast to comparable studies (Maškarinec 2022;Crowder-Meyer et al, 2015), since neither of the two bivariate spatial correlations carried out (female councillors 2007/ female councillors 2015; % female councillors 2015/ presence of female mayors 2019) yielded significant data (Maps 15 to 18; Figures 7 and 8). Several studies have also reported significant regional variation in other countries, evidence that may prompt scholars to explore the implications of local non-partisanship (Smith et al, 2012).…”

“…In contrast, we obtained a low level of significance for female mayors, as shown in the cluster map (Map 7) and in the significance map (Map 8), with a spatial correlation of only 0.0012. The findings for Spain follow a similar pattern to those reported in a recent study on the Czech Republic (Maškarinec 2020;2022), and our research also has policy implications since it demonstrates that the degree of women's political representation is a highly endogenous phenomenon whose reproduction depends on the particular actors and factors that exist within the space of individual municipalities.…”

“…Women's representation at local level is an even more complex phenomenon that can also be influenced by institutional factors, local political, economic and social contexts, the experience of previous officeholders, the political opportunity structure and candidates' personal traits (Maškarinec 2022;Massolo 2007).…”

“…In recent decades, the number of women holding political posts at various levels has increased and the question has sparked research interest. Several studies have also explored women's participation in local government, and some have analysed this question from a territorial perspective (Maškarinec 2022;Smith et al, 2012). Hence, the main contribution of the present study was to analyse the progress and the spatial distribution of women in local government over the period 1978 to 2019.…”

Reform of electoral law and practice

“…This means that the pipeline to politics excludes in a more subtle way than formal exclusion once did (Phillips, 1995). Members of minority groups have less access to networks, funding, and experience, and are seen as less viable candidates by the establishment and even themselves (Lawless and Fox, 2005;Folke and Rickne, 2016;Maškarinec, 2021). Although women have increased their numbers in areas generally considered as pathways to politics, such as law, and accrue more years of formal education than men in most countries (Gomes, 2012), they are still less likely to be active party members, achieve leadership positions within parties, or become candidates.…”