Work

Whose bread I eat, their song I sing? How the gender of MPs influences the use of oversight mechanisms in government and opposition

Year: 2023

Type: article

Abstract: This article is the first to show that gender shapes the degree to which legislators use formal mechanisms to oversee government activities. Extensive scholarly work has analysed the use of oversight instruments, especially regarding who monitors whom. Whether, how, and why the conformity of men and women with institutional roles differs, has not yet received scholarly attention. We hypothesise that women become more active than men in overseeing the executive when in opposition while reducing their monitoring activities even more strongly than men when in government because of different social roles ascribed to men and women as well as differences in risk aversity between sexes. We analyse panel data for three oversight tools from the GermanBundestagbetween 1949 and 2013 to test this proposition. Our findings imply that characteristics of political actors influence even a strongly institutionalised process as oversight and further clarify the gender bias in political representation.

Source: European Political Science Review

DOI: 10.1017/s1755773923000061

Authors: Corinna Kroeber, Svenja Krauss

Institutions: Universität Greifswald, University of Vienna

Language: English

Topic: Gender Politics and Representation

Subfield: Gender Studies

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Gender equality, Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,255