Replication Data for: The Gender Gap in Political Careers Under Proportional Representation

Does proportional representation feature gender gaps in incumbency advantages? I argue that closed-list PR (compared to open-list PR) can help to attenuate the gender difference by reducing voters' influence over individual candidates' electoral outcomes. Using heterogeneity-in-discontinuity designs, I contrast gender-specific incumbency effects in municipal elections across Norway (open-list) and Spain (closed-list). In Norway, women experience an incumbency advantage in winning future elections that is up to 60\% smaller than men's; in Spain, female candidates enjoy incumbency effects equal to or greater than men's. Additional results suggest that these findings are unlikely to be due to unobserved country characteristics or differential selection. Although more suggestive, further evidence is consistent with voter bias entering through preference votes for individual candidates -- especially in right-wing parties -- as a key mechanism for the gender gap in open-list PR. All told, this paper highlights the importance of electoral rules in ensuring gender equity in political representation by addressing leaky pipelines in office.