It's a long way to the top - Women's ministerial career paths

Ministerial portfolios that promise high status, broad public visibility, and extensive financial and personnel resources continue to be men’s domains. In this article, we shed light on gender inequality in ministerial selection processes by studying the duration between the original appointment as a member of cabinet until receiving responsibility for a highly prestigious portfolio. We argue that the time it takes for ambitious politicians to prove themselves suitable for this type of cabinet positions depends on their sex and the degree to which the policy area for which they are responsible reinforces stereotypical expectations about their personality traits. Empirical evidence from event history analysis of original data including detailed information on all ministerial careers in 27 European countries between 1990 to 2018 supports these propositions. These findings reveal that even highly qualified female politicians who are already members of the executive face additional barriers during their political careers.那些兼具崇高地位、广泛公众关注度与充足财政及人事资源的部长职权职位（ministerial portfolios），至今仍是男性的专属领域。本文以政治家首次入阁至执掌高声望部长职权职位的时长为研究切入点，探讨内阁选拔进程中的性别不平等问题。我们提出，有抱负的政治家要证明自身胜任这类内阁职位所需的时长，取决于其性别，以及其所负责的政策领域在多大程度上强化了针对其人格特质的刻板印象。基于1990年至2018年间27个欧洲国家所有部长任职经历的详细原始数据开展的事件史分析（event history analysis）所得实证证据，验证了上述理论命题。研究结果显示，即便已是行政机构成员的高素质女性政治家，在其政治生涯中仍需面对额外的职业阻碍。