Professional Documents
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Women in Presidential Cabinets 3
Women in Presidential Cabinets 3
1. Borrelli coded a cabinet secretary as an insider only if they changed directly from
one cabinet post to another, entered directly from the subcabinet, or had an estab-
lished relationship with the Washington, DC community from building a primary
career in national government. We made modifications to accommodate differences
in political career paths and the history of democracy in our Latin American cases. We
relaxed the requirement that a person move directly from a subcabinet post into the
cabinet or directly from one cabinet post to another, but we did not count breaks that
were so long that it was not reasonable to expect the same people would still be play-
ers in national politics, such as having served as a minister prior to the intervention
of a military regime, and returning to the cabinet ten or more years after the restora-
tion of democracy. A career in national government is often shorter in Latin American
countries than in the United States due to lower reelection rates to congress, particu-
larly in Argentina and Colombia. (Chapter 2 offers information about reelection rates.)
Immediate reelection to Costa Rica’s Legislative Assembly is prohibited; consequently
many deputies want to continue their political career through an executive branch ap-
pointment (Taylor 1992; Carey 1996). In Costa Rica, a career in national government
typically means a person worked in the private sector in between top-level posts in
government, which might be considered a revolving door career in the United States.
In Argentina and Chile we code a “career in national government” as having held a seat
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
in congress or a top executive branch post for most of the time since the return to de-
mocracy. We, and also Borrelli, are using the terms “insider” and “outsider” somewhat
differently than de Winter (1991: 46) used them for his study of parliamentary cabi-
nets of Western Europe. For de Winter “parliamentarians of long-standing and [who]
belong to the leadership circles of their party are insiders” while outsiders “have effec-
tively no prior contact with political life before joining the cabinet.” Camerlo and Pérez-
Liñán (2015a) use the term “outsiders” for a minister who does not have party ties or
independent policy expertise and who is prone to behave as a loyalist to the president.
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office—ministers who have held elected office at the local, regional, state
or national level (155 ministers, 35.0%).2 (3) Appointed post—ministers
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who previously held a high level post (agency head, ambassador, cen-
tral bank chief, minister, vice minister) (236 ministers, 53.5%). (4) Prior
minister/vice minister—individuals who had previously been appointed
minister or vice minister in the same or different portfolio regardless
of whether there was a gap between the appointments (179 ministers,
40.7%). (5) Organizational partisan—people who held a post in their party
(national, local, party office in congress), managed a campaign, or served
as a presidential campaign advisor (141 ministers, 31.8%).3 (6) Campaign
involvement—ministers who played a leadership role in a campaign other
than their own, though that involvement need not immediately precede
their appointment to the cabinet, nor did it have to be the campaign of
the president who appointed them (86 ministers, 19.5%).4 Many minis-
ters have more than one type of political experience so categories are not
mutually exclusive and some are nested (e.g., prior minister/vice minister
within appointed post).
Political connections. We also coded for three types of political connec-
tions: (1) Connected to the president—individuals who had ties to the presi-
dent that could be a formal connection (e.g., campaign manager), personal
friendship or family ties, or who were described in the press as a close con-
fidant (134 ministers, 30.3%). (2) Friend of the president—ministers known
to be a friend of the president or described in the press as a close confidant
(56 ministers, 12.6%). Professional association was not enough to meet
the threshold of “friend.” Thus “friends” are “connected,” but not every-
one who is “connected” is a “friend.” (3) Political family—ministers from
a leading family in the country’s politics (e.g., the Kennedy family in the
United States, the Barco family in Colombia) (32 ministers, 7.2%). These
are families for whom politics is the family business, including traditions
of dominating subnational politics, or prominent party factions associated
with a particular family.
regional level (6% of ministers), which precludes fine-grained analysis comparing men
and women, particularly across categories of portfolios.
3. Organizational partisan is part of Cohen’s (1988b) typology of party activity in
the United States. Studies of minister background in parliamentary cabinets also code
party leadership as occurring at the national, regional or local level of the party (see de
Winter 1991; Davis 1997).
4. Involvement could be at the national or lower level and includes roles ranging
from campaign chair to policy advisor.
5. Detailed tables for all political trait analyses presented in figure 5.1 and subse-
quent figures in the chapter, including the number of ministers coded on each trait,
the percentage of women and men with each trait, and the p-values for the difference
of means tests are available from the authors on request.
6. In Argentina, Chile, and Colombia the president has varying capacity to make
policy by decree instead of working through the congress to pass a law (see chapter 2
for more detailed information).
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Source of Political Skills
Political background
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Political connections
connected to president
friend of president
political family **
0 20 40 60 80 100
Women
Men All ministers (n = 447)
political families, this is more common for women (14%) than for men
(5%), p = .003.7
7. MaryAnne Borrelli (personal communication) suggested that coming from a po-
litical family could be a way for women to compensate for their relative lack of formal
political experience, since women are relative newcomers to elected and high-ranking
coming from such a family increases a person’s opportunity to reach an elite level in
politics. Coming from a political family has historically helped men enter the top ranks
of politics, and our data indicate that it helps women as well. With the increased re-
cruitment of women into politics female family members become a resource for po-
litical families to maintain their presence in power. However, it seems unlikely that
appointment of such women to the cabinet would indicate true elite circulation, where
circulation means “different types of persons” entering government (Prewitt and Stone
1973: 168).
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In sum, for our data set overall, we observe few significant differences
between women and men in their political background or connections.
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However, men are more likely to qualify as political insiders and thus for
us to consider them to be a source of the PCR of political skills. Men are
also more likely to have held elected office. Notably, less than half of the
ministers have several of the forms of political experience we code, and
only about half (54%) are political insiders or held a prior appointed post.
Thus, aggregate data give a strong indication that political skills are not
essential for men or women to be appointed to the cabinet.
For the data set as a whole we noted statistically significant sex effects only
for political insider, elected office, and connection to a political family. All
three differences continue to be significant only in the initial cabinet (see
figure 5.2). Among ministers appointed at the beginning of the adminis-
tration, when diversity in the cabinet is likely to receive media coverage,
more men than women are political insiders (56% of men, 40% of women,
p = .030), but of the replacement ministers almost identical percentages of
women (54%) and men (56%) are insiders (p = .853). In the initial cabinet
42% of the men had previously held elected office compared to just 29% of
Political background
political insider (see note) *
elected office †
appointed post †
prior minister/vice-minister
organizational partisan
campaign involvement
Political connections
connected to president *
friend of president
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
political family **
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
Women
Men Initial (n = 237) Replacement (n = 209)
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Overall it is among initial ministers, not replacements, where men and
women differ in political background and connections. In the initial cabi-
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net women appear less likely than men to bring the PCR of political skills to
the administration. This appears to be consistent with earlier findings for
the United States that women are appointed who will be dependent on the
president (Wyszomirski 1989: 66–69; Borrelli 2002: 55). This interpreta-
tion may be supported by the greater percentage of women than men in the
initial cabinet coded as connected to the president.8 However, when presi-
dents are replacing ministers or reshuffling their cabinet, expectations of
social control theory and about administration needs for PCRs seem to
apply, as based on all our measures the women are just as likely (or un-
likely) as the men to have some type of political background or connection.
Individual countries
This analysis reveals some ways that countries differ in norms for cabinet
ministers, and figure 5.3 also shows some differences with respect to incor-
poration of women into the cabinet. It is notable that we do not observe
significant sex differences within any country in the percentage of men and
women who are political insiders.9 Within countries women are as likely as
men to bring the PCR of political skills to the administration.
In the data set as a whole more men than women were observed to have
prior elected office experience, but here we see that a significant sex differ-
ence is found only in Chile (25% of men, 6% of women, p = .026). For both
sexes prior elected experience is fairly rare in Chile (18%), Colombia (26%),
and Costa Rica (30%) but quite common in the United States (43%); and
in Argentina more than half of ministers (58%) have prior elected experi-
ence. The prevalence of elected experience in Argentina fits with the mobile
nature of Argentine political careers (Jones et al. 2002; Francheset and
Piscopo 2014), and with the multiple election opportunities across levels of
government in a federal system. In the United States, which is also federal,
prior elected experience is less common, which may be attributable to the
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
8. For both men and women a higher percentage of initial than replacement minis-
ters were connected to the president: 47% of women appointed in the initial cabinet
were connected compared with 21% of replacements (p = .005); for men 33% of initial
ministers, 24% of replacements were connected (p = .070).
9. This is consistent with Borrelli’s (2002) findings, even with her more strict defini-
tion of political insider. While Dolan (2013: 85) finds that in President Obama’s first
administration more women than men are insiders, we do not analyze the Obama
administration.
Political background
political insider (see note)
elected office *
appointed post *
prior minister/vice-minister
organizational partisan
campaign involvement †
Political connections
connected to president ***
friend of president
political family * † *
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law.
Women Argentina (n = 94) Chile (n = 94) Colombia (n = 83) Costa Rica (n = 97) United States (n = 77)
Men
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greater desirability of building seniority in Congress, raising the cost to a
politician of resigning a seat in Congress to join the cabinet.
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ered for appointment to one of these scarce posts. Yet the women who are
appointed are typically as likely as the men to have the type(s) of political
credentials that are the norm in their country, and no country exhibited
significant sex differences on our proxy for the PCR of political skills. Thus,
in each country the women appear to conform to the male norm. Analysis
in the conclusion chapter will allow us to assess if this is paired with the
So far our analysis indicates that women as a group may have somewhat
less political experience but are more likely than the men to have politi-
cal connections. Those sex differences, however, are only apparent in the
initial cabinet, and in no country do we observe multiple dimensions on
which women are less likely than men to have political experience. Yet
cabinet portfolios have different policy purviews; some portfolios are
high profile and must tackle contentious issues while others have a lower
profile; some portfolios are inherently political in the tasks they perform
while for other portfolios the president may desire (or the norm may be)
political neutrality and an emphasis on technocratic policy expertise. In
sum, the need for political skills may vary across different types of posts
(Wyszomirski 1989: 46–47). We now turn to an examination of political
background and connections and the capacity of ministers to bring the PCR
of political skills to the cabinet within the several broad categories of port-
folios described in c hapter 3.
Dividing portfolios into these three broad categories yields several instruc-
tive findings compared to the data set overall, as well as when compared
to the analysis in c hapter 4 in which we saw that women appointed to
Economics category posts, less frequently than men, brought the PCR of
policy expertise to the administration. What is notable in figure 5.4 is the
near absence of statistically detectible sex-based differences in political
background in any portfolio categories. The only form of political experi-
ence where we observe a significant sex difference is in the Economics cat-
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
egory of portfolios, where more men than women have prior elected office
experience (28% of men, 13% of women, p = .071). It is also noteworthy
that unlike in the data set overall, and in the subset of initial appointees
where fewer women than men were political insiders, within each of these
three broad categories of portfolios, the percentages of men and women
who were political insiders did not differ statistically. We do not find sex
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Political background
political insider (see note)
elected office †
appointed post
prior minister/vice-minister
organizational partisan
campaign involvement
Political connections
connected to president **
friend of president * ** *
political family **
uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law.
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differences with regard to our proxy for the political skills PCR. However
the incidence of political insiders varies across categories: 43% of minis-
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ters in the Economics category, 51% for Social Welfare, 71% for Central
category posts.10
With respect to political connections, on the other hand, we observe sev-
eral significant sex differences. In the Social Welfare category more women
than men are connected to the president (p = .001), a friend of the president
(p = .003), or a member of a political family (p = .006). This difference is worth
mentioning and something worth exploring in future research because the
Social Welfare category contains many of the posts where women have
traditionally been appointed. By contrast, a significantly greater percent-
age of men than women are a friend of the president in both the Economics
(p = .045) and Central categories (p = .013), and no women appointed to
Economics or Central category posts have this type of political connection.
Overall, it appears that men and women in each of these broad catego-
ries of posts are equally likely to bring political skills to the cabinet. Yet the
percentage of ministers (male and female) with political experience, and
the types of experience they possess, vary across categories. For example,
45% of ministers in the Central category are organizational partisans, but
only 22% of Economics category ministers have that type of political expe-
rience; 50% of ministers in the Central category held elected office, but only
25% of Economics category ministers had done so; and 72% of ministers in
the Central category had held a previous appointed post, compared to 50%
of Social Welfare ministers and 43% of Economics category ministers. This
supports the expectation outlined above that norms about credentials that
enable a minister to do their job vary across types of posts, but that the
same traits signal competence in male and female ministers. Ministers in
the Central category—both men and women—look like “politicos,” while
men and women appointed to Economics category posts are more likely to
be “técnicos” (Camerlo and Pérez-Liñán 2013), which makes it interesting
that the Economics category is where we observed that significantly more
men than women had experience in elected office. In chapter 4 we saw that
Social Welfare category ministers—both men and women—typically have
ent from Social Welfare (p = .002) and Economics categories (p = .000) based on both
the Scheffé and Bonferroni multiple comparison test. That fewer ministers (men and
women) in Economics category posts would be political insiders comports with find-
ings for parliamentary cabinets in Western Europe since the Second World War (where
virtually all of these posts were held by men). De Winter (1991: 63) reported that “the
large economic portfolios (treasury, the economy, industry, foreign trade, energy) are
less likely to be held by parliamentarians; these posts tend to be filled by economic
experts recruited from outside the world of politics.”
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policy expertise. Here we see that political connections are more common
for women than for men in Social Welfare category posts (though still only
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From this analysis we can conclude that women who are appointed both
to posts that fit stereotypes about appropriate policy areas for women
(i.e., policy areas where women are typically evaluated to be competent;
see Alexander and Anderson 1993; Huddy and Terkildsen 1993a, 1993b;
Matland 1994; Koch 2000; Lawless 2004b), and women appointed outside
of stereotypically feminine policy domains are as likely as men to bring the
Political connections
connected to president **
friend of president ** **
political family † *
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
Women
Men Masculine (n = 337) Feminine (n = 110)
PCR of political skills to the cabinet. In addition, women holding posts with
a stereotypically masculine policy domain resemble the men with regard to
their political background, with the exception of experience in elected office
(25% of women, 40% of men, p = .030).
data set lack political experience and because High Visibility category posts
are where extensive political experience would seem most necessary to do
11. Among the group of ministers whose posts were known to be “high visibility”
before they were appointed 59.6% are coded as insiders, while 50.8% of ministers in
posts that were not “high visibility” are insiders (p = .089).
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Source of Political Skills
Political background
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Political connections
connected to president **
friend of president * *
political family * *
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
Women
Men High Visibility (n = 138) Not High Visibility (n = 309)
the job because the public is expressing concern and thus, the post is likely
to receive much attention in the media and congress, the lack of differences
between High and Not High Visibility category posts is intriguing.
With regard to political connections, for ministers in High Visibility
category posts a significantly greater percentage of women than men are
connected to the president (p = .005), friends of the president (p = .022), or
come from political families (p = .010).12 This could be interpreted as indicat-
ing that women are more likely to receive High Visibility category posts if
they are women who the president knows and who should thus be expected
to remain loyal to the president under pressure. It may also be that the
only female names that make it onto the list in times of crisis are those
the president already trusts. For men, in contrast, a political connection is
less common and appears to be less critical for their appointment to High
Visibility category posts.
Some examples illustrate this sex difference in connections. Janina del
Vecchio served as minister of public security in Costa Rica when it was a
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
12. For posts that are Not High Visibility women are more likely than men to come
from a political family (12% of women, 5% of men, p = .047). Men are more commonly
friends of the president than women (15% of men, 5% of women, p = .013). There is no
significant sex difference for connected to the president.
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these connections are also qualified for their post with regard to policy ex-
pertise, or if these women are being appointed to posts unrelated to their
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education and work background (which would make them more likely to be
tokens in our classification scheme in figure 1.1). This is a topic of concern
because studies of women in the US cabinet in earlier administrations found
the women often lacked “the political resources to act as independent power
brokers” (Borrelli 2002: 55), or “possessed few administrative, expertise, or
political assets that might have enhanced their utility to or influence with the
president” (Wyszomirski 1989: 67). Borrelli (2010: 737) explains that women
are marginalized in a gender-desegregated cabinet, because “[h]aving so few
political resources leaves the women secretaries relatively more dependent
on the White House, limiting their power and sending a reassuring message
to those who resist women’s leadership in the public sphere.” This is par-
ticularly likely when “[f]emininity is reinscribed through the appointment
of women to departments with jurisdiction over ‘women’s issues,’ such as
health or education, even when the woman appointees lack related policy or
political expertise.” In essence, they may have been appointed for their likely
loyalty to the president rather than to bring PCRs to the administration.
In the literature on the US cabinet, loyalty is generally thought to come
from working on the president’s election campaign. Loyalty also encom-
passes commitment to the president’s ideology or policy program (Carroll
1984: 101; Weko 1995; Edwards 2001: 83; Auer 2008; Borrelli 2010: 735).
Because our study is cross-national, we need a more general definition of
loyalty to the president that is applicable across different kinds of electoral
and party systems. Thus, we utilize political connections as proxies for loy-
alty especially as we lack the detailed data from each minister to assess
whether they were motivated to join the cabinet because of an ideological
commitment and partisanship is not an appropriate proxy.
While in many partitions of our data set a greater percentage of women
than men have political connections; we see in Table 5.1 that ministers who
have political connections are no less likely than ministers without them to
have extensive experience related to their post. This is true for both women
and men for each type of political connection, and it indicates that women
who have political connections are no less likely than men who have the
same type of political connection to bring the PCR of policy expertise to
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
the administration.
several ways that are distinct from the measures we use here, including whether the
cabinet member had the same party affiliation as the governor. She found that “women
appointees more often than all appointees shared the party affiliation of the governor,”
which she interpreted to suggest “that governors more often looked for a basic guaran-
tee of loyalty when selecting women for their administration.”
tory and culture, prior work as director general of the Colombian Institute
of Culture), but he was not known for his connections to President Pastrana
or for his family connections to politics.
In sum, most women with political connections also have policy exper-
tise related to their post. Their political connections may have been what
prompted the president to consider them for an appointment, but they
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are not likely to appear unqualified for their post if the public or the media
assess qualifications based on the minister’s education and work expe-
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CONCLUSION
The findings in this chapter comparing the political experience and connec-
tions of men and women in these presidential cabinets indicate that inte-
gration of women is occurring. The term “gender integration” (as opposed
to “gender desegregation”) comes from the work of MaryAnne Borrelli
(2010) from her study of women in the US cabinet. Borrelli (2010: 737–38)
argues that integration is occurring if women bring the same types of po-
litical experiences and group connections to the cabinet and are appointed
to posts for which they have appropriate background. Integration is ex-
pected to be important for representation of women because when women
in the cabinet have extensive political resources they have their own power
base and a greater capacity to get things done (Borrelli 2002; Annesley and
Gains 2010). The analysis here and in c hapter 4 indicates that women are
as likely as men to have extensive post-relevant experience. The women
are also as likely as the men to have political experience. This means that
the women can bring the PCRs of policy expertise and/or political skills to
the cabinet.15 In addition, while it is more common for women than men
to have political connections, the women with political connections typi-
cally also have policy expertise. This is congruent with Franceschet and
Piscopo’s (2012: 44) findings from their comparison of the background of
men and women in the Argentine Congress. They found that legislators of
both sexes have similarly high levels of education and are political insiders
based on their extensive political experience, and conclude that this evi-
dence “undermines claims that quota women are tokens.”
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
15. Our finding that women are as likely as men to have post-relevant policy ex-
pertise and political skills may appear to clash with the typology of ministers that is
common in the parliamentary cabinets literature that refers to “generalist” and “spe-
cialist” ministers (see for example Blondel 1991; Davis 1997). However, the parliamen-
tary literature acknowledges that ministers with extensive political skills may also be
policy experts, as for example in the Austrian cabinet where Gerlich and Müller (1988)
categorize ministers as “politicians,” “politically based experts” and “independent
experts.”
likely or less likely than the men to have any particular type of political
experience, with the exception of prior experience in elected office. This
lower incidence of women ministers with experience in elected office may
be important for their political power and for the administration. Borrelli
(2010: 744) points to women secretaries becoming like the men in their
elected office experience during the William J. Clinton and George W. Bush
administrations as a sign of gender integration. The large number of women
appointed to the initial Obama cabinet who were incumbents in elected
office was significant because it was the first time women secretaries were
incumbents in elected office (“meeting this male norm”), and because she
views the electoral alliances of cabinet ministers as an important resource
for the administration (p. 716).
The women in these presidential cabinets mainly differ from the men,
and then only in some subsets of our data, in that they are more likely to
have political connections. Regarding the women appointed to the initial
cabinet in the Obama administration Borrelli (2010: 746) writes, “That the
credentials of the women and the men secretaries were becoming more
similar was not merely evidence of women’s ability to match the accom-
plishments of their men colleagues, or of their willingness to conform to
masculine standards. The similarity was also indicative of the president’s
endorsement of highly credentialed women as cabinet secretaries.”
With regard to our theoretical predications in figure 1.1, these findings
indicate that women have backgrounds that are similar to the men. We
expect embedded political elites, usually men, to want to appoint people
like themselves (even if their appointees are women) as a way to protect
against loss of benefits for their political interests and because history in-
dicates the administration will need those types of PCRs. Such minimal
change is more likely to mean elite turnover than true elite circulation
(Prewitt and Stone 1973: 168) and situates on the top row in figure 1.1
(where backgrounds are the same). We predict that these women will be
treated like the men—be equally effective (upper-left cell of figure 1.1) if
integration of women is really happening in these cabinets. Whether treat-
ment is equal or not remains to be tested in Part III of the book.
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
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CHAPTER 6
Support resources
When and where presidents appoint ministers
with links to clients of their department
A long with policy expertise and political skills, support resources also
help the administration implement the president’s policy agenda and
confront political problems and crises. Organized interests and sectors of
society are often important constituencies for an administration, and links
to groups help the president, or the president’s party to strategize legisla-
tive initiatives and reelection (Loomis 2009) though different constituen-
cies are salient for different presidents. US cabinet studies often highlight
how Secretary X’s links to a particular group helped the administration
build bridges to key segments of the population. Appointments signal
which groups and organizations will have the president’s ear, especially in
portfolios where different interests may be in conflict (e.g., mining compa-
nies and environmental activists in the mining, energy, and environment
portfolio). For example, Hilda Solis, appointed by President Obama as sec-
retary of labor at the beginning of his first term, had well established links
to organized labor and experience winning elections from California to the
US House of Representatives, both of which helped her build bridges to
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
labor and to the West Coast region of the country. Yet such connections are
quite new for women, while they have been the norm for men in the cabi-
net in the United States (Borrelli 2010: 740, 746). US cabinet studies that
analyze sex differences in the credentials of secretaries have also found
that women generally have lacked linkages to groups that are clients of
their agency, while it has been more common for men to be group liaisons.
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The lack of links (at least until recently) between women cabinet secretar-
ies and clients of their agency has been interpreted as a sign that women
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for group links may vary across categories of portfolios. We expect women to
be equally as likely as the men within the same category of posts to have
group links and that the women will closely resemble the men in the types of
1. We use the term “clients” broadly, including groups who are dependent upon a
ministry for resources, interest groups, and businesses regulated by the ministry.
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group link credentials they bring to their posts. If group links are necessary
for the administration to implement its policy agenda and handle crises, the
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ministers’ group links and we use links to clients of the ministry as a proxy
for the PCR support resources.
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Group links. Ministers can obtain group links in various ways. A minister
can have a formal association with a group (e.g., as a member or president
of the National Chamber of Agricultural Producers, labor union leader, af-
filiation with an environmental or women’s organization). Work may have
brought a person into regular and close contact with international aid or-
ganizations, lending agencies, or with business by serving on the boards of
various companies.2 A minister can be a member of professional associations
(e.g., the Colegio de Médicos, association of civil engineers). In addition, if
the press touted a new minister as “well known within the business commu-
nity” or “applauded by environmentalists” we coded them as having a link
to that group. We are interested in identifying how these links build connec-
tions with groups in society, so we do not treat political parties as a group
link. Linkages to parties are important, but we capture them in the political
experience traits covered in chapter 5. Similarly, we do not treat previous
appointments in the executive branch, state government, or prior elected ex-
perience in the legislature as building links, since those traits are captured in
the political experience chapter. Additionally, while we recognize that many
appointees are practicing members of religious organizations, we do not code
this membership in any systematic way. Religious affiliation may make a cab-
inet member sympathetic to certain policy positions or issues, but appoint-
ing someone who is simply religiously observant (even if they might be seen
at religious services), is not expected to formally build ties with that group.
A similar example would be the appointment of someone who consistently
donates money to a particular cause, but if their interest in the cause is not
publicly known it does not build formal links to that organization.
In the analysis presented here we focus on six types of group links: (1) links
to any group (283 ministers, 64.4%). We track two types of linkages that are
relatively common: (2) links to business (115 ministers, 26.2%), and (3) in-
ternational links—meaning links to international or multinational organi-
zations (159 ministers, 36.2%). We also track links to (4) women’s groups
and (5) organized labor, but only sixteen ministers have links to women’s
groups and twelve have links to labor. Finally, we pay special attention to
(6) links to ministry clients—capturing if any of the minister’s known group
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
2. Borrelli (2002: 70, 89n5) also considers service on corporate boards as evidence a
cabinet secretary has business issue networks.
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qualify as having client links.3 Ministerial links are not mutually exclusive
and ties to one organization could count in more than one category: for in-
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In the data set overall the women look very much like the men with
regard to their group links, though there are some noteworthy exceptions
(see figure 6.1).5 First, regarding the PCR of support resources, it is im-
portant for equal treatment of women in these cabinets that the percent-
ages of women (45%) and men (41%) coded as having links to ministry
clients did not differ statistically (p = .494). These percentages may un-
derestimate the percentage of ministers with links due to the impossibil-
ity of uncovering all links, though determining all client links should be
equally difficult for women and men; thus, what errors exist are likely to
be random rather than systematic by sex. Moreover, the similarity of per-
centages observed indicates that women in general are no more likely than
men to be appointed to buffer the administration from a group that is not
viewed as a constituency of the administration (Borrelli 2002: 9; 2010).
3. We were unable to obtain enough biographical information for eight ministers to
code group links. One is a woman, and she is from Colombia. The remaining seven are
from Argentina (1), Colombia (5) and Costa Rica (1).
4. Borrelli (2010: 735) in research about the US cabinet argues that a danger for
the president is that a minister will be captured by constituents of their agency or by
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
the bureaucracy of their agency. To counter this problem US presidents have central-
ized decision making in the White House and screened appointees for loyalty to and
overlapping ideology with the president (also see Weko 1995; Andeweg 2000: 390–91;
Edwards 2001; Auer 2008; Lewis 2008; Bäck et al. 2012: 4).
5. Detailed tables for all group links analyses presented in figure 6.1 and subsequent
figures in the chapter, including the number of ministers coded on each trait, the
percentage of women and men with each trait, and the p-values for the difference of
means tests are available from the authors on request.
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Source of Support Resources
Minister Group Links
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business ***
international
It also means that these women are as likely as the men to be able to bring
the PCR of support resources to the administration.
Second, statistically indistinguishable percentages of women and men
had international links (p = .735), and links to any type of group (p = .690).
However, significantly fewer women than men have links to business (12%
of women, 31% of men, p = .000). That could impact the credibility of the
women in certain types of posts. While business links may not be crucial
in some posts (e.g., health or education where other types of groups are
the ministry’s clients), business links could be critical for job performance
in Economics category portfolios (we explore this later in the chapter). It
may also be important for the empowerment of women as ministers that
women bring business links to the administration. If the administration
needs backing, or acquiescence, from business to make and implement its
policies, women may be less important players in the administration if they
are not sources of support resources from business. In this scenario women
would be dependent on the president and have greater potential to be con-
trolled by the president (Borrelli 2010; Wyszomirski 1989: 69).
Third, all the ministers with links to women’s groups were women.
Although that may not be surprising, the fact that only 15% of women
ministers have links to women’s groups (sixteen women) is striking.6
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
6. Examples of the types of women’s organizations to which these women ministers
are known to be affiliated include a leader in a provincial council on women (Argentina),
a researcher at the Casa de la Mujer de Valparaiso (Chile), an activist for women’s em-
powerment (Colombia), a United Nations gender working group (Costa Rica), and the
National Women’s Law Center (United States).
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could certainly represent women’s interests; however, the ability of the
largely elite and white women7 that are appointed to the cabinet to rep-
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7. A few men and women in our data set are racial minorities. However, the numbers
of racial minority ministers are small enough that a separate consideration of them is
not possible and a qualitative evaluation is beyond the scope of the study.
8. Franceschet and Piscopo (2012: 44) describe the “double bind” that women politi-
cians face (though they are referring specifically to women elected to legislatures via
gender quotas). They explain that if the women “do not possess similar levels of edu-
cation and political experience to those of men, then they are deemed less deserving
of their positions and treated as tokens. On the other hand, if female legislators are
drawn from the political class, they are criticized for being too elite to represent female
voters adequately.”
9. Davis (1997: 21) also commented on women being appointed as “symbols” rather
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
than as true representatives of women. She gave the example of the first woman
appointed by President Giscard d’Estaing to lead the women’s ministry in France.
Francoise Giroud was a well-known journalist, but conservative and with limited con-
nections to women’s organizations. She explained that “French feminists argued that
the creation of the post and her appointment were largely a ‘public relations exercise’
rather than a sincere effort to address the concerns of women.” Vincent (2004: 88) and
Franceschet (2005: 104) explain how women in the South African and Chilean cabinets
feel pressure to not advocate for women or identify with the women’s movement.
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Fourth, very few ministers—men or women—have known links to or-
ganized labor: 2.8% of women, 2.7% of men (p = .989), which translates to
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three women and nine men. Although we do not observe a sex difference
with respect to labor links, the near absence of ministers with connections
to labor does appear to indicate a lack of interest on the part of these presi-
dents in obtaining support resources relating to organized labor. However,
nine of the twelve are appointed to ministries in the labor and social secu-
rity category, so around 35% of ministers of labor and social security do
have links to labor unions.
An example of a woman entering the cabinet with client links would be
Luisa Fernanda Lafaurie, minister of mines and energy in Colombia (2001–
2002). She worked in the energy sector, which gave her links to ministry
clients via corporate boards of directors, and it also meant that she had
business links, which make her unusual among female ministers. In con-
trast, Jenny Philips Aguilar, minister of finance in Costa Rica (2009–2010),
had extensive experience related to her post, including serving as vice min-
ister; however, like many women ministers, she lacked known connections
to business groups and thus lacked links to clients of her ministry. A typical
man could be Álvaro Rojas Marin, minister of agriculture in Chile (2006–
2008). He was educated in veterinary medicine and agricultural sciences
and was a professor of agricultural economics. He also worked as a consul-
tant for the FAO and other international organizations, giving him links
to ministry clients and to international groups. Similarly, Esteban Brenes
Castro, minister of agriculture in Costa Rica (1998–2000), had a doctor-
ate in agricultural economics and worked in agricultural business and con-
sulting. His links to ministry clients, and to business, came from his work
on the boards of directors of agricultural companies and as director of the
National Chamber of Agriculture and Agro-Industry.
When we split the data set into the initial cabinet and replacement minis-
ters, we observe the same patterns as in the data set overall (see figure 6.2).
Women were as likely as men in both the initial and replacement subsets of
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
the data set to have links to clients of their ministry (p = .571 initial, p = .726
replacement). There is also sex equality in the likelihood of having inter-
national links (p = .725 initial cabinet, p = .854 replacement), and connec-
tions to any type of group (p = .221 initial, p = .418 replacement). In both the
initial and replacement groups it is less common for women than men to
have links to business, so it appears that most women in these cabinets lack
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Source of Support Resources
Minister Group Links
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press as a “militant for the environment,”10 so we code him as having links
to environmental groups.
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Individual countries
ents of their ministry (26% of women, 48% of men, p = .096). In the United
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States women are more likely than men to have any type of group links (86%
of women, 60% of men, p = .073), which was also true for links to clients
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(71% of women, 43% of men, p = .054). In all countries, more women than
men had links to women’s groups (p < .012 or less).
It appears that presidents in Argentina and Chile utilize both men and
women to bring the PCR of support resources to their administration since
the only difference we detect is with regard to links to women’s groups. In
the United States, it appears that a greater percentage of women than men
have the PCR of support resources, though we have insufficient informa-
tion to know if the group linkages of women secretaries are equally valued
by the president, or equally valuable to the administration. In Costa Rica,
women are much less likely than men to have links to business, but there
is no sex difference in links to ministry clients. Colombia is where gaps are
most stark, with the women less likely to be a source of client links, links to
the international community, or to any type of group. In sum, with regard
to their capacity to bring the PCR of support resources to the administra-
tion, women appear better integrated into the cabinets of Argentina, Chile,
and the United States than in Colombia or Costa Rica.
Our analysis so far indicates support for our predictions that women’s
qualifications will resemble men’s. With the potentially important excep-
tion of links to business, the women are as likely as the men to have group
links, and (except in Colombia) to be sources of the PCR of support re-
sources for the administration. But the group links useful to specific port-
folios vary, and women might only have valuable group links when they
are appointed to traditional posts for women; thus, we need to explore
whether these findings hold when we partition the data set into different
categories of posts.
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their credibility in their post or enable them to bring the PCR of sup-
port resources to the administration. A significantly smaller percentage
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of women than men in the Economics category have links to ministry cli-
ents (31% of women, 55% of men, p = .017). Women in Economics cat-
egory posts are also less likely than men to have any type of group link
(59% of women, 75% of men, p = .090), links to business (25% of women,
45% of men, p = .036), or international links (22% of women, 40% of
men, p = .054). For instance, José Luis Machinea, minister of finance in
Argentina (1999–2001), had known links to international organizations
through work with the World Bank and the Inter-American Development
Bank, and to business through the Industrial Development Institute of
the Argentine Industrial Union and as a consultant for companies; so he
also had links to ministry clients. In contrast, Felisa Miceli, also minister
of finance in Argentina (2005–07), had extensive portfolio-relevant ex-
perience, but no known links to business or international groups, so she
is coded as not having links to ministry clients. Yet it is notable that even
in Economics category posts women are more likely than men to have
links to women’s groups (p = .000).
In the Social Welfare category of posts, women again were less likely
than men to have links to business (2% of women, 19% of men, p = .007).
However, women in the Social Welfare category were as likely as the men to
have links to ministry clients, thus bringing the PCR of support resources to
the administration. For example, María Soledad Barría, minister of health
in Chile (2006–08), had known links to doctors and to the PanAmerican
Health Organization, providing her with links to ministry clients. Álvaro
Erazo, also minister of health in Chile (2008–10), had known links to
doctors and international organizations (CEPAL as an advisor on health
issues), and thus links to ministry clients. In fact, all Chilean ministers
of health in our data set (three men, two women) had links to ministry
clients.
For the Central category of portfolios women were more likely than
men to have links to ministry clients (48% of women, 21% of men, p = .008)
or links to any type of group (78% of women, 51% of men, p = .018). For
example, Madeleine Albright, US secretary of state (1997–2001), had nu-
merous links to clients of her department, including directing the Center
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links to the foreign policy community, so we do not code him as having
links to clients.
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Overall in the Social Welfare and Central categories of posts we see evi-
dence for integration of women with respect to their capacity to bring the
PCR of support resources to the administration. Additionally, in Economics,
not just in Social Welfare category posts, we see a statistically significant
difference in the proportion of women with links to women’s groups. Using
Borrelli’s (2010: 746) language, it appears that presidents are willing to ap-
point “highly credentialed” women to Social Welfare and Central catego-
ries of posts. But this cannot as easily be said for women appointed to the
Economics category of posts. Some of the women appointed to Economics
category portfolios have relevant group links, but most do not. Whether
presidents prefer women to be weak in these posts because they lack ties
to constituents, or if the difficulty of breaking into the upper echelons of
business means that fewer women have these kinds of linkages in the first
place, is a subject for future research. At the same time, statistically indis-
tinguishable percentages of women have links to clients across the three
types of posts suggesting that women’s ability to bring the PCR of support
resources is not dependent upon their appointment to posts where women
have long been appointed.12
ically feminine policy domain, we do not find this to be the case. While 52%
12. Over half the women (52%) appointed to head Social Welfare category minis-
tries had links to clients, compared to 31% of those heading Economics ministries and
48% heading Central category ministries. However, the difference in the proportion
of women heading these ministries with links to clients is not significantly different
under either the Bonferroni or Scheffé multiple comparison tests.
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Source of Support Resources
Minister Group Links
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Center of the Americas, while Foxley had known links to the World Bank,
Inter-American Development Bank, the Council on Foreign Relations,
and InterAmerican Dialog, so both were coded as having links to ministry
clients (and international links). These examples illustrate that in both
categories of posts, women and men are sources of the PCR of support
resources for the administration.
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High Visibility category posts
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Women and men appointed to High Visibility category posts are similarly
likely to have links to clients of their ministry (54% of women, 49% of men,
p = .635), and thus to bring the PCR of support resources to the admin-
istration (see figure 6.6). Men are more likely than women to have links
to business (34% of men, 4% of women, p = .002). Especially notable here
is that almost no women appear to have business links, which is compa-
rable to what we found in the Social Welfare category of ministries, or the
feminine policy domain posts, where 2% and 7%, respectively, of women
had business links. This may result from the types of High Visibility cat-
egory portfolios to which women have more commonly been appointed
(e.g., three in education, six in health and social welfare). However, seven
women were in the labor portfolio, two in security, two in presidency, two
in finance, and one in defense, all posts in the stereotypically masculine
policy domain. We also see that more men than women (40% versus 23%)
have international links; however, the difference is not statistically signifi-
cant (p = .102). Yet women are as likely as men to have links to any type of
group (62% of women, 64% of men, p = .800) so it is not as though these
women are not connected. They bring support resources to the administra-
tion, but different types of connections than the men. Finally, we note that
five of the women appointed to High Visibility category posts (19%) have
links to women’s groups.
To illustrate, Sonia Tschorne was appointed minister of housing in Chile
(2004–06) during a high visibility time. She had known links to ministry
clients through the Pan American Federation of Architecture Associations
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
Women High Visibility (n = 138) Not High Visibility (n = 309)
Men
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and from serving as chair of the committee in charge of incorporating
art into public infrastructure. Fernando Zumbado, minister of housing
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in Costa Rica (2006–08), had links to ministry clients from being direc-
tor of the International Center for Human Development, regional director
for the UNDP (also giving him international links), and founder and presi-
dent of the Housing Mortgage Bank. Alexis Herman and Donna Shalala,
US secretaries of labor (1997–2001) and of health and human services
(1993–2000), respectively, during high visibility times, are examples of
ministers with links to women’s organizations. Herman had worked with
agencies advocating for minority women’s employment and worked for the
Women’s Bureau in the Department of Labor. Shalala was recruited from
a women’s network (Borrelli 2002: 126), and her work with the Children’s
Defense Fund and the National Women’s Law Center gave her links to
women’s groups and to clients of her department.
Integration of women is evident in High Visibility category posts if
integration means the minister has links to ministry clients. However,
if integration requires a broader definition of the support resources that
ministers can bring to the administration, such as a network within the
country’s or the international financial sector, it is less clear that integra-
tion is occurring, since these women are far less likely than men to have
business or international links.
links, although in-depth studies would be needed to test this. If women are
seen as new faces and less corrupt, then the absence of links may be delib-
erate to signal there will not be privileged access for the economic elite or
corrupt treatment of cronies. Yet for support resources from other types
of groups it appears that these women have the same capacity as men to
enhance the political capital of the administration.
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Regarding our theoretical predictions in fi gure 1.1, with the exception
of business links, many women’s backgrounds are similar to men’s, placing
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them in the top row of the figure. What remains to be explored is whether
these women are treated equally and are as effective as men once they are in
the cabinet. A few women in our data set stand out from the other women
for their known links to women’s groups. Is that background trait enough
to place them in the bottom row of fi gure 1.1? If it is, will they be treated
as equals with their male colleagues and be incorporated, or will they be
treated unequally, as a token minister to disingenuously appear to link the
administration to women while not really giving them respect and power?
These are questions we address in Parts III and IV of the book.
However, before assessing treatment/effectiveness of women in these
cabinets, we want to explore if women are as likely as men to bring mul-
tiple types of PCRs to the administration, as it is efficient for the admin-
istration if ministers are sources of multiple PCRs (Wyszomirski 1989: 46;
Blondel 1991a, 1991b). Borrelli (2010: 737 and 745–46) views it as evidence
of gender integration, instead of desegregation, when women appointees
have extensive political credentials (e.g., they are Washington insiders, in-
cumbents in elected office, and are connected in ways that can enhance the
electoral alliances of the president).13 Assessing the ability of women in US
cabinets in earlier administrations to bring PCRs to the administration,
Wyszomirski (1989: 67) wrote that the women “possessed few administra-
tive, expertise, or political assets that might have enhanced their utility to
or influence with the president.” Is this still true?
As explained in chapters 4 through 6, for our measure of policy exper-
tise we use the extensive experience variable. As a single but broad measure
of political skills we use the political insider variable. As a single measure of
support resources we use the links to ministry clients variable. Though these
are crude measures of the political capital tool kit of ministers, they permit
us to examine whether PCRs are additive or if ministers, and particularly
women, typically bring only one type of PCR to the administration. We can
also assess which types of ministers most often have none of these PCRs.
Table 6.1 shows how many men compared to women have each possible
combination of these three traits. We look at the data set as a whole and
test for sex differences in PCRs within different broad categories of posts.
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
It is clearly not the norm for ministers to bring all three types of PCRs
to the administration—only 16.5% have all three, at least when measured
13. Borrelli (2010: 737) also lists women having “strong ties to women’s organiza-
tions and networks” as a sign of gender integration, which does not occur among most
women in our data set.
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Table 6.1 HOW MANY AND WHAT TYPES OF PCRS DO MINISTERS BRING
TO THE ADMINISTRATION?
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% of Ministers:
p-value
Types of PCRs Overall Women Men for row
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Table 6.1 CONTINUED
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% of Ministers:
p-value
Types of PCRs Overall Women Men for row
Note: Values for women, men, and p-value appear in bold when p < .10.
as we have done so here. Yet, overall, women and men are equally likely to
have all three types of PCRs (p = .806), and this is also true in all the broad
categories of posts that we have used for our analysis, with the exception
of Central category posts where a higher percentage of women (26%) than
men (11%) have all three types of PCRs (p = .044). Building on Borrelli’s
(2010) assessment of gender integration in US cabinets, we view this find-
ing that equal percentages of women and men bring all three types of PCRs
to the administration (even though it is a small percentage of ministers) as
an indication that women are not only present in cabinets in growing num-
bers but also that these presidents appointed women with broad PCRs—
which is evidence of integration of women. The relatively small number of
men and women with all three PCRs suggests that both men and women
are appointed for different mixes of skills they bring to the job.
Several ministers are good examples of appointees who bring all three
types of PCRs to their administrations. Nilda Garré (minister of defense in
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
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the Defense Ministry in Argentina and thus made her a source of support
resources (though she was an appointment that surprised the military es-
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14. A binomial test of proportions indicates that it is significantly more common for
ministers in High Visibility category posts, than for ministers in the data set overall
(or for any other category of posts) to have all three PCRs (two-tailed t-test p = .004).
In the High Visibility category thirty-six ministers have all three PCRs. For the data
set overall 16.5% of ministers have all three PCRs, so the expectation would be that
only twenty-two ministers in High Visibility category posts would have all three PCRs.
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are appointed to Central category posts—though still few in number—
are amply qualified for their job, as significantly more women than men
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in Central posts have all three types of PCRs and also have the two-PCR
combination of insider + client links. We also find that significantly more
women than men have the insider + client links combination of PCRs in the
masculine policy domain category of posts.
So far this analysis indicates that integration of women is occurring in
these cabinets. However, the picture is not uniformly rosy as we also find
that more women than men bring no detectable PCRs to the administra-
tion based on the measures employed here (20.9% of women in the data set
overall, 13.4% of men, p = .055). In the broad Economics category of posts
more women than men have no detectable PCRs (31.3% of women, 12.1%
of men, p = .007), which could mean that in Economics posts women may
be showcased for their sex (Borrelli 2002: 54) but not set up for success in
their job.15 We also find that more women lack any observed PCRs in mas-
culine policy domain posts (25.4% of women, 13.4% of men, p = .015), and
in posts that are NotHigh Visibility before they are appointed (23.8% of
women, 13.8% of men, p = .035).
Karen Poniachik (minister of mining and energy in Chile, 2006–08) and
Juan Francisco Lozano Ramirez (minister of environment, housing and
territorial development in Colombia, 2006–09) are examples of ministers
without any of the types of PCRs we study here. Poniachik was educated in
journalism and international relations and worked in journalism, foreign
relations, and foreign investment before becoming minister of mining.
Her known group links were to the Chilean–North American Chamber of
Commerce. While her résumé is impressive, it did not provide her with
policy expertise relevant to her post, or make her a political insider, or give
her publicly known links to ministry clients. Lozano was educated in law
and worked as a lawyer and in various, primarily local/regional government
posts and also was a presidential advisor: so he lacked policy expertise for
his post or political insider status (although he did have connections to the
president). He had connections to Transparency International and to the
newspaper El Tiempo, but neither provided links to ministry clients.
The analysis of group links in the first half of this chapter showed that
the qualifications of women ministers in this study look very similar to
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
15. This significant sex difference is still found when we exclude the finance portfolio
(34.5% of women, 16.5% of men have no PCRs, p = .034).
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Based on our more optimistic theoretical predictions, this should make the
women as likely as the men to be “political players” in government. Yet a
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notable minority of women, and significantly more women than men, have
none of the PCRs we measure. These women will be placed on the bottom
row of figure 1.1. Will they also be able to be incorporated and be political
players, or are they tokens?
If we find that women with similar backgrounds to the men are able
to be equally effective, that will indicate integration of women with male
norms is occurring in these cabinets (upper-left cell in fi
gure 1.1). We pre-
dicted that women would resemble the men—that is, conform to male
norms other than in their sex—because that would make representation
of this new group less threatening to those who have traditionally held
power. Appointment of women who resemble the men would also mean
the women are likely to bring PCRs to the administration that presidents
expect to need to pursue their policy agenda and solve problems; scarce
appointment opportunities would not be squandered. If instead we find
that these women are less likely than the men to be political players, then
that will indicate that even with increasing numbers of women, cabinets
are gendered institutions that are very limiting to women (upper-right cell
figure 1.1). Regarding women whose backgrounds are different from men,
if they are treated equally and are as effective as men, this will indicate
incorporation of women as women not as surrogate men (lower-left cell
figure 1.1), that gender differences are rewarded and the cabinet as an insti-
tution is transformed (Lovenduski 1998: 340). We take up the question of
minister treatment/effectiveness in the next part of the book.
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
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PART III
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U.S. or applicable copyright law.
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CHAPTER 7
I n Part III we turn to how women are treated in their cabinet posts, or how
successful they are in their jobs. Annesley et al. (2014: 3) call for research
on this topic, writing, “[W]e want to know when, why, and how women are
recruited as ministers or chief executives. We also want to know what factors
shape their capacity to act or ability to succeed once in office.” We compare
the records of men and women, with each chapter using a different bench-
mark for assessing whether or not we observe equal treatment or success in
these presidential cabinets. Our benchmarks are the following: the types of
posts women receive (chapter 7), how ministers exit their post (chapter 8),
how long they remain in a post (chapter 9), and legislative productivity
(chapter 10). We use our findings on these benchmarks, singly and ultimately
collectively in chapter 11, to draw conclusions about whether integration of
women is happening in these presidential cabinets even without parity.
The analysis in Part II showed that women ministers are typically simi-
lar to the men in their qualifications for their post and the political capital
resources (PCRs) they bring to the administration,1 though there are some
exceptions, especially in the broad Economics category of posts. This leads
us to hypothesize that women will be as successful as the men in their ability
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
to do their job. Certainly not all cabinet ministers are viewed as successes.
There are high-profile cases of failures—examples of ministers raked over
1. PCRs in our analysis, which are drawn from Wyszomirski’s (1989) study of the
U.S. cabinet, are policy expertise (operationalized as extensive portfolio-related ex-
perience), political skills (being an insider), and support resources (links to ministry
clients).
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the coals by congress, pilloried in the press, brought down by a scandal.
But, as explained in the literature review in c hapter 1, selection criteria
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have evolved over time, such that certain types of people (i.e., elites with
certain background and experience characteristics) are the type commonly
seen in the cabinet. Appointment of people that fit that type does not raise
questions, since such people match expectations concerning the creden-
tials a minister will have. A woman (or a minister from some other his-
torically under-represented group) will often attract additional attention
from the media because her sex (race, ethnicity, etc.) is seen as an unusual
characteristic for a minister, or for a particular portfolio. However, if the
appointee otherwise fits the established (male) norms of “qualifications”
and doing so means a minister has the skills needed to do the job, then
both women and men should be equally likely to be successful as minis-
ters. Referring to our theoretical predictions in figure 1.1, this would mean
that we predict women whose backgrounds are similar to the men’s will be
equally effective as the men (upper-left cell) and we expect to find evidence
of women being integrated into cabinets with male norms.
In this chapter we examine the types of posts women receive, which is our
first benchmark for assessing if there is evidence of equal treatment. If
we find that, despite increasing numbers and women having similar back-
grounds as men, women are still overwhelmingly appointed to posts that
fit stereotyped gender roles—this is a sign that cabinets are gendered insti-
tutions. If women are (relatively) equally represented in all types of posts,
and background traits other than sex predict portfolio assignments, then
on this benchmark we would conclude that there is equal treatment even
while women are a numerical minority in the cabinet.
Why is equal access to all types of posts a benchmark of equal treatment?
Globally, women typically enter the cabinet through social welfare portfolios,
and many studies have found that women are over-represented in those types
of posts (see below). We do not mean to imply that social welfare posts are un-
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
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Receiving non-traditional portfolios matters for several reasons. Women
may have policy interests outside social welfare (Drew 2000; Furlong and
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2. Women were more likely than men to want to serve on committees handling labor
or health topics, while men were more likely to want to serve on internal affairs com-
mittees (Drew 2000: 61). In contrast, a study of Danish municipal councils found that
women were more likely to want to serve on the Children’s Committee, while men
wanted to serve on the Finance Committee, or the Technical Committee whose juris-
diction includes roads and sewage services (Baekgaard and Kjaer 2012).
preview our findings, while there are posts in which women are rarely ap-
pointed, when we control for minister background sex is no longer a signifi-
cant predictor of the type of post received. However, some PCRs or other
background traits affect women and men in different ways, which reveals
some ways that treatment of women and men differs.
more likely to appear in the outer ring, less likely to appear in the second
tier, and least likely to be present at the core.”
This repeated finding that women are primarily appointed to feminine
policy domain or social welfare posts, and the frequent interpretation that
women face a glass ceiling for the highest prestige posts in the cabinet’s
inner circle, has led to debate about the importance of social welfare posts,
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and the “element of circularity in labeling all ‘women’s portfolios’ as low in
prestige” (Studlar and Moncrief 1999: 380). It has also prompted questions
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3. This assessment is based on the ministers we coded as having some work experi-
ence, or education and some work experience related to their portfolio, though the
extent of their experience may not meet our measure for “extensive experience” (i.e.,
having the PCR of policy expertise). We thank Jureé Capers for bringing this point to
our attention.
A binomial test of proportions is performed to determine if there are significantly more or fewer women in a category than would be expected based on the percentage of women in the data
set or relevant subset of the entire data set. To illustrate, women are 24.6% of our data set, so if women are proportionally represented across categories of portfolios women will be 24.6% of
the ministers in every category.
* The % women is 23.5% for the data set when examining Economics/Social Welfare/Central categories because the culture portfolio is not included in this analysis, as it does not fit well in any
of the three general categories. The slightly smaller data set without the culture portfolio has fewer women than the complete data set.
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Looking at stereotypically masculine/feminine policy domain posts we
see that women are over-represented in feminine policy domain posts for
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the data set overall and in all subsets of the data set, except the United
States. However, for masculine policy domain posts, while women are
under-represented for the data set overall, closer inspection indicates this
under-representation is primarily found among initial appointments, and
the only country where the sex difference is even marginally statistically
significant is Costa Rica.
What we observe regarding women’s representation in High Visibility
category posts could indicate integration of women in these cabinets, even
though women still hold a minority of cabinet seats.4 Women are not under-
represented in High Hisibility posts for the data set overall, for initial or
replacement ministers, or in any country except Colombia. This finding is
surprising because ministers in charge of High Visibility category posts
could be anticipated by the president to encounter conflict and public criti-
cism and possibly to have to manage protest against government policy or
management. Women are typically viewed as compassionate and sensitive,
while men are viewed as aggressive and able to take charge (Alexander and
Anderson 1993; Huddy and Terkildsen 1993a, 1993b; Heilman 2001; Eagly
and Karau 2002; Lawless 2004b; Banwart 2010; Dittmar 2012: chapter
2). Based on gender role stereotypes, we expected that women would be
unlikely appointees to these posts. Although women are not equally rep-
resented in these presidential cabinets in the sense of having half of the
seats, these presidents do not appear to be keeping women out of High
Visibility category posts.
Table 7.1 confirms earlier findings in the literature that women are
over-represented in Social Welfare posts but also adds new insights that
we interpret as indicating that women are being integrated into these
cabinets. Women are still over-represented in posts that conform with
gender stereotypes about areas where women have expertise: home,
family, and social welfare more broadly. However, women are not as con-
sistently under-represented outside the stereotypically feminine domain,
and women are not consistently kept out of Economics and Central posts
or High Visibility category posts. This initial analysis indicates more evi-
dence than the literature led us to anticipate that there is equal treatment
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
on this benchmark.
4. Posts are coded as High Visibility category because their policy purview includes
topics flagged in public opinion surveys as “the most important problem facing the
country.” See table 3.2 for portfolios coded as High Visibility and the years in which
that coding occurred.
This analysis divides posts into three broad categories, so we use multino-
mial logistic regression, including interactions of each PCR and background
trait with minister sex to allow us to directly compare how background
affects likelihood of appointment for men and women (see table 7.1A,
column 1 in the chapter appendix for the full model results). We illustrate
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
5. We do not include all background traits measured in Part II of the book in the
analysis presented here or in subsequent chapters both because of a desire for parsi-
mony and because these variables capture a broad range of experiences.
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0.6
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0.4
Change in Probability
0.2
–0.2
–0.4
–0.6
Economics Social Welfare Central
kind of post by assigning modal values for all our variables6 and detect
significant differences across the sexes only with regard to appointment
to Central posts. This graph shows how if nothing else about the base-
line minister changes except that they are a woman instead of a man the
probability of receiving each kind of post changes. There is not a differ-
ence distinct from zero in the probability that ministers of either sex
with the modal background characteristics receive either an Economic or
a Social Welfare category post. However, for Central category posts, given
the modal combination of background characteristics, the difference in
probability between men and women is different from zero with women
having lower probabilities.7
6. Our baseline minister reflects the mode in our entire data set: a man, appointed
to the initial cabinet, with the PCRs of policy expertise and political skills, from a gov-
ernment sector career because a majority of ministers in our data set have these traits.
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
The baseline minister lacks the PCR of support resources, is not connected to the presi-
dent, is not an organizational partisan, and has not held elected office. The baseline
minister is from Costa Rica because Costa Rica contributes the most ministers to our
data set, though the choice of country does not drive results.
7. All graphs in this chapter use simulated probabilities retrieved from Clarify ver-
sion 2.1 by Tomz, Wittenberg, and King (2003). We are reporting the change in prob-
ability for that outcome given a change in one independent variable and holding every-
thing else constant at its modal value.
the probability that a man and a woman receive each category of posts.8
For both men and women having versus not having the policy expertise
PCR (graph 7.2a) does not significantly change the probability a minister
is likely to be appointed to an Economics, Social Welfare, or Central cat-
egory post. And because the bars overlap each other, there is no difference
between men and women. This is not surprising because most ministers
in our study—men and women—have extensive post-related experience.
In graph 7.2b, in contrast, we see that moving from being an insider (i.e.,
having the political skills PCR) to an outsider, decreases the probability for
both women and men of receiving a Central category post, but this change
has no effect upon Economic and Social Welfare category posts. Insider
status influences the type of post a person receives, but this PCR appears
to operate the same way for both men and women. In addition, for women
the bars for Economic, Social Welfare, and Central category posts overlap,
indicating that having the PCR of political skills does not affect the prob-
ability of receiving a post in one category versus another. For men there
is no overlap in the bars for Economic and Central category posts, which
indicates that lacking the political skills PCR has a significantly different
(and negative) effect upon the chances of a man receiving a Central rather
than an Economics category post. In graph 7.2c we see that moving from
not having to having client links (the support resources PCR) makes a
woman less likely to receive an Economics category post, while for men it
decreases their probability of getting a Central category post. In addition,
the three bars for women overlap, indicating that moving from not having
to having client links does not affect the probability a woman receives a
post in one category versus another. For men there is no overlap in the
bars for Economics and Central posts or Social Welfare and Central posts.
This indicates that for men the effect of moving from not having to having
client links is different in these two instances but that the effect is the same
for Economic as it is for Social Welfare category posts.
Figure 7.3 shows sex differences in the influence of some of the other
four background traits but not all of them. Coming from a private sector
instead of a government career increases the probability for both men and
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
8. In figure 7.2 and the rest of the figures in this chapter, if a bar crosses the zero
line it indicates that moving from not having to having a characteristic (for instance
changing from not having to having the PCR of support resources) does not produce a
change in the probably of receiving a particular type of post that is statistically distinct
from zero.
EBSCO[ 162 ] Women
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(a) Change from having PCR#1 (policy expertise)
to not having PCR#1
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Central
(Women)
Central
(Men)
Social Welfare
(Women)
Social Welfare
(Men)
Economics
(Women)
Economics
(Men)
Central
(Women)
Central
(Men)
Social Welfare
(Women)
Social Welfare
(Men)
Economics
(Women)
Economics
(Men)
Figure 7.2 Continued
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
For men only, coming from a private sector career decreases the chances
of getting a Central category post. For women only, coming from a private
sector career decreases the chances of getting a Social Welfare category
post. Thus, we detect sex-based differences in the influence of government
vs. private sector careers with regard to Social Welfare and Central category
Central
(Women)
Central
(Men)
Social Welfare
(Women)
Social Welfare
(Men)
Economics
(Women)
Economics
(Men)
posts, but not Economic. We speculate that these sex differences in the
effect of private sector careers for Central and Social Welfare category posts
may be due to women’s greater or lesser prevalence in some occupations
that are natural pipelines for posts in that area.
Being connected to the president appears to have an impact on the
type of post men receive but not women (graph 7.3b), suggesting some
sex-based differences in the effect of this variable. For women, the effect
of having versus not having connections to the president is not statis-
tically distinguishable from zero for any post type. For men, however,
changing from not being connected to the president to being connected
significantly increases the chances of receiving a Central category post
but decreases the chances of receiving a Social Welfare category post. It
appears presidents put men with whom they have connections in Central
U.S. or applicable copyright law.
posts but not in Social Welfare category posts. Possibly this is because
Social Welfare category posts are viewed as the least prestigious posts
for men. In some sub-samples of our data set more women than men
have connections (see chapter 5), but this analysis indicates that is not
a requirement—or helpful—for a woman in getting any broad category
of posts.
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The effect of changing from government to
(a)
private sector career
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Central
(Women)
Central
(Men)
Social Welfare
(Women)
Social Welfare
(Men)
Economics
(Women)
Economics
(Men)
–0.6 –0.5 –0.4 –0.3 –0.2 –0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Central
(Women)
Central
(Men)
Social Welfare
(Women)
Social Welfare
(Men)
Economics
(Women)
Economics
(Men)
–0.6 –0.5 –0.4 –0.3 –0.2 –0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Figure 7.3 Continued
U.S. or applicable copyright law.