Not Tokens Anymore: Expanding Equality & Integration of Women in Presidential Cabinets in the U.S. and Latin America Maria Escobar-Lemmon & Michelle Taylor-Robinson

Is there gender integration in cabinets?  We bring together 4 benchmarks: measures of different observable outcomes within cabinets  Types of posts received  Legislative success  Mode of exit from the cabinet  Time in post  Comparing men and women

Gender integration  When women receive posts for which they have connections to department clients & their own base of political power (Borrelli 2010)  When the track records of women after they are appointed match up to the records of the men  Gender desegregation – when “women enter a formerly all male cabinet, but then are marginalized within it” (Borrelli 2010: 735)

Our dataset: 5 presidential democracies ArgentinaChileColombia Costa Rica U.S. 432 Ministers, 25% women

Minister Background, Connections & Experience

Benchmark #1: types of posts  If women are equally represented in all types of posts then this indicates equal treatment  But at least in the past women were typically appointed primarily to gender appropriate portfolios  posts in a stereotypically feminine policy domain

Types of Posts: Policy Areas  Economic ministries  Agriculture  Commerce & Industry  Mining, Energy & Environment  Finance/Treasury  Planning  Public Works & Transportation  Social Welfare ministries:  Education  Health  Housing & Urban Development  Labor & Social Security  Culture  Women’s Affairs  Central ministries:  Defense  Foreign Affairs  Justice & Public Security  Presidency & Communications.

Types of Posts: High Visibility  Policy area was receiving higher media coverage or scrutiny at the time the minister was appointed.  Dynamic measure based on policy area matching ministry purview being in top 5 answers on “most important problem” survey prior to appointment.

Intersection and overlap Policy Area and High Visibility…

Effect of Gender Economic portfolios are comparison category.

Conclusions about type of post  Women are clearly still over-represented in Social Welfare posts & under-represented in Central posts & Finance  Women are not under-represented in High Visibility posts  Much of the evidence seems to indicate increasingly equal treatment

Benchmark #2: legislative success  If women have a batting average that is the same as the men, then this indicates equal effectiveness  But, if women are now allowed to be present at the table, but nothing more, then they would be likely to be less active and less successful

Legislative Activity  Ministers can initiate bills in Argentina, Chile, Colombia & Costa Rica  Count of # bills, laws single or co-authored  Batting average is: #laws / #bills

Conclusions about legislative activity  Women are not as active as their male colleagues at proposing bills. Why? We wish we knew…  BUT women & men are equally effective at getting their legislation passed  Evidence of equal effectiveness in getting executive branch legislation approved

Benchmark #3: mode of exit  If women are equally represented in all modes of exit then this indicates equal treatment:  Retire  Switch post  Survive till end of term  Bad end  Are men more likely to stay in post, while women were brought into the cabinet for the initial photo- op and then forced out?

Mode of Exit

Conclusions about mode of exit  Men & women exit in the same ways – both positive and negative  Women are as likely as men to survive in post until the end of the term  Evidence indicates equal treatment

Benchmark #4: time in post  If women stay in post for the same length of time as the men, then this indicates equal effectiveness  Are men more likely to stay in post, while women were brought into the cabinet for the initial photo- op and then forced out?

Time in Post

Conclusions about time in post  Men & women last the same amount of time in post  Evidence of equal effectiveness in getting the job done, or cynically it appears to be equally costly to the president to remove a man or a woman

Is gender integration happening?  Evidence is mixed, but women appear to be  just as effective  and just as scandal-prone  There are sex differences in some posts  particularly Finance  not as stark as would be expected if women were only considered competent to hold “gender appropriate” posts where political challenges are unlikely  Overall evidence points to integration of women

THANK YOU! Comments, suggestions VERY welcome!

Women’s Representation and Presidential Cabinets Maria Escobar-Lemmon Michelle M. Taylor-Robinson Texas A&M University