According to the article, research has shown that there is a positive relationship between a party’s level of issue salience and the appointment of women cabinet members. In other words, as an issue becomes more salient to a party, that party is more likely to appoint women cabinet members. The article also discusses two explanations for this relationship. The first explanation is that parties view the appointment of women cabinet members as a way to show their commitment to gender equality and thus increase their support from female voters (Höhmann, 2022). The second explanation is that parties view the appointment of women cabinet members as a way to attract female voters who might not otherwise support the party. Political parties matter less than previously thought in terms of influencing the policy agendas of their respective governments, while issue salience and the appointment of women cabinet members are more important factors.
Moreover, political parties in democracies often choose their cabinet members based on how well they align with the party’s platform and agenda. In this study, the author looked at whether or not a party’s appointment of women cabinet members was influenced by how salient (important) certain issues were to that party (Höhmann, 2022). They found that, overall, political parties with more women in their cabinets did tend to care more about issues that were important to women. However, there was no clear link between the appointment of women cabinet members and a party’s salience regarding men-focused issues.
Furthermore, there are a few ways in which issue salience affects the appointment of women cabinet members. Adams et al. (2016) explained that the main way was increased media coverage and public discussion about the lack of women in cabinet-level positions. The publicity creates pressure on elected officials to appoint women who are experts in their field. Gender should not be a determining factor when appointing cabinet members, but it is important to have a diverse representation in order to accurately reflect the needs of the population. Similarly, it is worth noting that while more women are needed in positions of power, people cannot simply appoint any woman to these roles. Society needs to make sure that qualified women are allowed to lead and that they are supported by policies and practices that enable them to succeed.
Ultimately, when women are appointed to cabinet positions, it has a positive impact on other women and girls. It sends the message that women are capable of holding high-level political positions, and it encourages other women to pursue careers in politics. There is a lot of pressure on elected officials to appoint qualified women to cabinet positions. Studies have shown that there is a correlation between the percentage of women in a country’s government and the country’s level of gender equality (Eastin, 2018). The more women hold political office, the more likely it is that legislation will be passed promoting gender equality. Therefore, by increasing media coverage and public discussion about the need for qualified women in cabinet positions, societies can create pressure on elected officials to appoint more qualified women to different positions.
Parties tend to assign males over women to “suitable” leadership positions in their most critical ministries and relegate women to less crucial policy areas. As Höhman (2022) holds, role congruity theory predicts that women in leadership positions will be confronted with prejudice and hostility due to how society has constructed gender roles. According to role congruity theory, people are more likely to accept someone into a role when that person conforms to the expectations for that role (Höhmann, 2022). Therefore, because society expects men to be leaders and women to be caregivers, people will be less likely to accept a woman into a leadership position. Additionally, people who do not conform to societal gender norms tend to experience more social backlash than those who follow. This is because people who do not conform threatens the stability of the social order by challenging the status quo.
The article mentions that when it comes to ministerial nominations, German states are more inclined to put a woman up if the relevant policy area is very important to them. There are a few key reasons why German states are more likely to nominate a woman for a ministerial post if the respective policy area is highly salient for them. First, German parties have a stronger tradition of gender parity than most other countries. For example, the Social Democrats (SPD) had gender parity in their parliamentary party since 1998, and the Christian Democrats (CDU) had their parliamentary party gender parity since 2005 (Schwander & Manow, 2017). This means that there are more qualified women available to be nominated for ministerial posts.
In addition, there have been a number of times when German states have nominated women for ministerial posts. Germany’s first female Federal Minister of Defense was Ursula von der Leyen, who served as the federal minister of labor and social affairs from 2009-2013 (Mushaben, 2022). She held the position of Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth for four years before being the minister of labor. Another female minister was in the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community, Nancy Faeser, who held office from 2021 to date (Langenbacher, 2022). Manuela Schwesig, Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth from 2013-present (Ahrens & Scheele, 2022). Another example, in 2006, the state of Lower Saxony nominated Angela Merkel to be the country’s first female chancellor (Mushaben, 2022). In 2009, the state of Thuringia nominated Christine Lieberknecht to be its first female prime minister.
In defense of the hypothesis, there are some reasons why the likelihood that parties appoint a female minister decreases when the salience for a portfolio increases. One reason is that women are not typically seen as strong on security issues. For example, in 2006, following Hezbollah’s cross-border raid into Israel, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appointed Tzipi Livni as his new Foreign Minister (Zanotti, 2014). Livni had no prior experience in the Foreign Ministry and was criticized by many for her lack of knowledge on the topic. Olmert likely chose her because she was a woman, and he thought it would be advantageous to have a woman in such a high-profile position during such a difficult time. Another example is the recent study that found that in India when the Ministry for Women and Child Development was made more salient (received more attention from the media). In the case of India, there was a decrease in the number of women appointed to other ministries (Blumenau, 2021). This decrease was attributed to gender bias among political parties, who were more likely to appoint male candidates than female candidates to ministries that received less media attention.
In conclusion, the article presents an interesting perspective on the role of political parties in appointing women cabinet members. It provides evidence to suggest that parties are more likely to appoint women cabinet members when they are highly salient in the political arena. For instance, political parties are more likely to appoint women cabinet members when the issue of gender equality is salient. Issue salience is determined by how important the public believes the issue to be perceived. Gender equality is a vital issue to many people, so political parties are more likely to appoint women cabinet members when it is salient.
References
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Zanotti, J. (2014). Israel: Background and US relations. Library of Congress Washington Dc Congressional Research Service. Web.