Gefjon Off

Gender Quota Laws and Women in Cabinets 36 Pages Posted: 16 Dec 2024 Last revised: 11 Feb 2026 Tiffany Barnes University of Texas at Austin Giulia Venturini University of Strathclyde Ana Weeks University of Bath Date Written: December 06, 2024 Abstract Do legislative gender quotas increase women’s presence in cabinets? Women remain underrepresented in political leadership worldwide. As a remedy, over 80 countries have adopted gender quotas, requiring parties to nominate or elect a minimum share of women. But can quotas have effects beyond the positions they directly target? We argue that quotas increase the presence of women in executive cabinets by expanding the pool of experienced female legislators. Using a global dataset (168 countries) from 1990 to 2021, we find gender quotas increase the share of women ministers by 15 percent relative to the average baseline–including increases in both high- and lowprestige portfolios. Consistent with a supply-side mechanism, effects are largest in parliamentary democracies—where ministers are often selected from parliament—and in countries that experienced the greatest increases in women’s legislative representation post-quota. The findings suggest quotas can generate meaningful spillover effects at the highest levels of government.

“I am delighted to conditionally accept your article for publication in The Journal of Politics.”

🥳

We find that gender quota laws for legislatures also increase the share of women in cabinets.

w @gventurini.bsky.social @tiffanydbarnes.bsky.social

dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn...

Seminari de Ciència Política «Do women candidates contribute to legitimising and normalising far-right parties?», per Gefjon Off (Universitat d'Hamburg)

Thursday 19/2 @cpoliticaub.bsky.social, I'll present a survey experiment w/ @ammassarisofia.bsky.social on whether women candidates contribute to normalizing & legitimizing far-right parties.

Very excited to present these first results and be back in Barcelona!

web.ub.edu/en/web/facul...

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♀️ Happy International Day of Women and Girls in Science everyone! 🌈 Since the backlash is real, I want to thank all the amazing and inspiring (female) colleagues who make #PoliticalScience more diverse, more fun, and more relevant. Happily, the following list can never be complete 👇 #WomenInScience

Who prioritises what? Determinants and measurement of voters’ issue prioritisation | European Journal of Political Research | Cambridge Core Who prioritises what? Determinants and measurement of voters’ issue prioritisation - Volume 65 Issue 1

65.1🦋

What issues matter most to #Voters? 😬

@gefjonoff.bsky.social & @fedetrastulli.bsky.social study 6 European countries to find that different groups prioritise different issues. But are issue importance and personal attitudes driven by the same factors? 🧭🗳️

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Solo-authored article accepted for publication in the European Political Science Review (EPSR)

Affinity voting in Europe:
The impact of religion, migration background and gender on preferences for in-group politicians

Pre-print of accepted version available here:
doi.org/10.31235/osf...

🚨New publication! Thrilled to finally see this paper out in @psrm.bsky.social 🎉

📊I study how gender shapes coalition preferences among politicians. Turns out mayors prefer forming governments with women-led parties, perceiving them as better communicators and more competent governors.

And you!! :)

That's so cool! 🤩

Wow! 😍🤩 This is so exciting, thank you @ejpgjournal.bsky.social!

On my way to Brussels and very excited to present my research there tomorrow! 🤗

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

🎉 We're excited to share that "Winners’ Restraint or Affective Majoritarianism? Elections, Polarization and Political Support," co-authored with @sergiferrer.bsky.social, Enrique Prada and @ehernandez.bsky.social, is now published in CPS! You can access it here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Thrilled to share our new paper with amazing Agus.

We show that non-traditional families, especially open and age-gap couples, face substantial prejudice. Even LGB couples encounter bias, highlighting persistent inequalities in societies often seen as tolerant.

Happy that my article just published in PSRM! In "Inclusion to Exclude“, I show that when politicians invoke women's rights to justify anti-immigration positions, it shifts citizens' policy preferences - but differently so depending on their prior views. doi.org/10.1017/psrm...

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Why did antisemitism rise in Germany during the Covid pandemic? And why was this increase concentrated among political centrists, rather than on the fringes?

doi.org/10.1017/S153...

@kanol.bsky.social @wzb.bsky.social @uni-hamburg.de @politikuhh.bsky.social @socfub.bsky.social

Diese Studie ist eine Sensation: Heike Klüver hat 1.237 Regierungen in 57 Demokratien über 50 Jahre ausgewertet. Die Schlüsselfrage: Werden Rechtsextreme „entzaubert“, wenn sie mitregieren?

Die Antwort – eindeutig: Nein. Sobald rechtsextreme Parteien an der Regierung sitzen, profitieren sie.

📘 Presenting my new book project “How Democracies Can Survive” at the University of Hamburg

Come join us if you’re around! 👋

📅 Wednesday, 14 January 2026
⏰ 17:15–18:45
📍 VMP9, Room B130

👉 Many thanks to the HPS³ team for the invitation — looking forward to the discussion!

That would be great! Hopefully at EPSS?

Big congrats Mathilde, this is amazing!

@gefjonoff.bsky.social & my "Determinants and measurement of voters’ issue prioritisation" EJPR piece – now out in (a 2026) issue :-)

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

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Are you interested in gender? → G. Off. “Complexities and Nuances in Radical Right Voters' (Anti)Feminism”. In: Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society (2023), p. online first. dx.doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxad010.

Last day 📢📢📢

Big congrats to both of you! Very cool :)

The losers of ecological transitions: rural and urban support for green policies in Spain Green policies can be contentious, with opposition often highlighting rural-urban divides. In this article we measure and analyse the perceptions of harm associated with several green policies (ren...

Why do rural dwellers show lower support for green policies? Is it because they prioritise the environment less over material goals, or because they perceive higher costs of green policies? Check out our new article! @environmentalpol.bsky.social @evaanduiza.bsky.social tuit.cat/OP6Ph

🌟 PHD FELLOWSHIP ALERT! 🌟

I’m hiring 1 PhD fellow for my ERC project ECONENGAGE (@ Gothenburg 🇸🇪)! Starting 09/26! Great PhD community + int'l & supportive environment + FUN city. 💰for conferences + workshops! Lots of mentoring & career development opportunities! Deadline Jan 29th. Please apply!

🌟 JOB ALERT! 🌟

I’m hiring 1 postdoc for my ERC project ECONENGAGE (@ Gothenburg 🇸🇪)! Starting ca. Aug '26! Congenial colleagues + int'l & supportive environment. 💸 for conferences + workshops! Lots of professional networking opportunities with scholars! Deadline Jan 7th. Apply! (see more below 🧵)

Thanks Henrik! I look forward to reading that paper!

HOW GENDER AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS GENDER AND SEXUALITY SHAPED VOTES IN THE 2024 EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS IN FRANCE ANJA DUROVIC, NONNA MAYER & NOEMIE PIOLAT Abstract. This article analyses the impact of gender and attitudes towards gender and sexuality on voting behaviour in the 2024 European Parliament elections in France, in line with recent research on electoral gender gaps, particularly youth gender gaps. Three main findings emerge. First, women did not vote more often than men for left-wing lists; in fact, they voted more often than men for Rassemblement national (RN), a finding that stands in sharp contrast to trends in modern gender gaps or to persistent radical right gender gaps observed in many European countries. Second, and most notably, in contrast again to many other countries, we found no youth gender gap in voting behaviour for the major left-wing or right-wing parties in these elections. Third, attitudes towards gender and sexuality weigh heavily on the results: modern sexism, in particular, is associated with a higher likelihood of voting for the RN list and a lower likelihood of voting for left-wing lists. Overall, the French case highlights that distinguishing between gendered political attitudes and actual gendered voting behaviour remains crucial. Keywords : European Parliament elections, France, (youth) gender gaps, left-wing vote, RN vote, sexism, (hetero)sexism.

Among other interesting reads about the 2024 European election, don't miss

"How gender and attitudes towards gender and sexuality shaped votes in the 2024 European Parliament elections in France"
by @anjadurovic.bsky.social, Nonna Mayer & @npiolat.bsky.social.

shs.cairn.info/revue-europe...

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Ich freue mich sehr, nächsten Donnerstag in Mainz sein zu dürfen! Im Innenpolitik- und Politische Soziologie-Kolloquium werde ich unser Paper (@moretsof.bsky.social & @lucasschwarz.bsky.social) zum Einfluss von Wetterextremen auf die Social-Media-Kommunikation von Kandidierenden vorstellen. 🗨️👩‍💻