Replication Data for Financial Crises and the Selection and Survival of Women Finance Ministers

Women remain underrepresented in cabinets, especially high-prestige, “masculine” portfolios. Still, a growing number of states have appointed women to the finance ministry—a powerful position typically reserved for men. Drawing on the “glass cliff” phenomenon, we examine the relationship between financial crises and women’s ascension to, and survival in, this post. With an original dataset on appointments to finance ministries worldwide (1972-2017), we show that women are more likely to first come to power during a banking crisis. These results also hold for currency and inflation crises, and even when accounting for the political and economic conditions that might otherwise explain this relationship. Subsequent examination of almost 3,000 finance ministers’ tenures shows that once in office, crises shorten men’s (but not women’s) time in the post. Together, these results suggest that women can sometimes seize on crises as opportunities to access traditionally male-dominated positions.

女性在内阁中的任职比例始终偏低，尤其是在声望较高的“男性主导型”职务岗位上。不过，越来越多的国家已任命女性执掌财政部——这一历来由男性把持的实权职位。本研究借助“玻璃悬崖（Glass Cliff）”现象这一理论框架，探讨金融危机与女性升任并留任该职位之间的关联。我们基于1972年至2017年全球财政部人事任命的原创数据集展开研究，结果显示女性更有可能在银行业危机期间首次执掌财政部。这一结论在货币危机与通胀危机场景下同样成立，即便我们控制了可能影响该关联的政治与经济条件变量。随后对近3000位财政部长任期的分析显示，一旦就任该职位，危机会缩短男性（而非女性）的任职时长。综合来看，上述结果表明，女性有时可借危机之机，跻身历来由男性主导的职位。