dc.contributor.advisor	Cunningham, Kathleen
dc.contributor.author	Johnson, Caroline
dc.contributor.department	Department of Government and Politics	en_US
dc.date.accessioned	2017-12-19T13:16:18Z
dc.date.available	2017-12-19T13:16:18Z
dc.date.issued	2017-12-19
dc.date.submitted	2017-12-19
dc.description.abstract	Since Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the first female prime minister in 1960, there has been a gradual increase in the number of women entering top political office. In 2013, there was a peak of 14 women leading democracies. However, most previous research used case studies and did not focus specifically on female leaders coming to power in democracies. This thesis investigates two aspects of female leadership in democracies: first, what common characteristics can be identified in the countries where women enter top office, and second, what do female leaders look like compared to their male counterparts? The data indicates that female leaders are more likely to achieve power in democracies in which women have had the right to vote for a longer period of time and in which the executive is a powerful presidency. Female leaders are also more likely to be in power in countries with lower female enrollment in secondary education, where women have had the right to vote for longer a longer period, where there was a recent conflict, in which there is a dual executive, and in which the executive is a powerful presidency. This presents an interesting difference between women coming to power and staying in power. Compared to similar male leaders, the women who come to power are less likely to have children and more likely to have family ties to power. Compared to subsequent female leaders, first female leaders tend to have less prior political experience and are less likely to have experience at lower levels of government. The results have positive implications for the emergence of female leadership in democracies.
dc.identifier	https://doi.org/10.13016/M2W08WJ0P
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1903/20242
dc.relation.isAvailableAt	Digital Repository at the University of Maryland
dc.relation.isAvailableAt	University of Maryland (College Park, Md)
dc.subject	Female leadership	en_US
dc.subject	Prime minister	en_US
dc.subject	President	en_US
dc.title	The Rise of the Iron Ladies: Female Leadership in Democracies (1960-2015)	en_US
dc.type	Undergraduate thesis	en_US

The Rise of the Iron Ladies: Female Leadership in Democracies (1960-2015)

Files

Original bundle

License bundle

Collections