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

2. 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

3. 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)

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

5. Minister Background, Connections & Experience

6. 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

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. Intersection and overlap Policy Area and High Visibility…

10. Effect of Gender Economic portfolios are comparison category.

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

15. 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

16. 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?

17. Mode of Exit

19. 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

20. 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?

21. Time in Post

23. 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

24. 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

25. THANK YOU! Comments, suggestions VERY welcome!

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