Defending the Realm: The Appointment of Female Defense Ministers Worldwide

Abstract

Though the defense ministry has been a bastion of male power, a growing number of states have appointed women to this portfolio. What explains men’s dominance over these positions? Which factors predict women’s appointments? With comprehensive cross-national data from the post-Cold War era, we develop and test three sets of hypotheses concerning women’s access to the defense ministry. We show that women remain excluded when the portfolio’s remit reinforces traditional beliefs about the masculinity of the position, particularly in states that are engaged in fatal disputes, governed by military dictators, and large military spenders. By contrast, female defense ministers emerge when expectations about women’s role in politics have changed—i.e., in states with female chief executives and parliamentarians. Women are also first appointed to the post when its meaning diverges from traditional conceptions of the portfolio, particularly in countries concerned with peacekeeping and in former military states with left-wing governments.

Full text

Defending the Realm:
The Appointment of Female Defense Ministers Worldwide
Accepted for Publication at
American Journal of Political Science
Tiffany D. Barnes
Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
University of Kentucky
tiffanydbarnes@uky.edu
Diana Z. O’Brien
Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
Indiana University
dzobrien@indiana.edu
!

Abstract
Though the defense ministry has been a bastion of male power, a growing number of states have
appointed women to this portfolio. What explains men’s dominance over these positions? Which
factors predict women’s appointments? With comprehensive cross-national data from the post-Cold
War era, we develop and test three sets of hypotheses concerning women’s access to the defense
ministry. We show that women remain excluded when the portfolio’s remit reinforces traditional
beliefs about the masculinity of the position, particularly in states that are engaged in fatal disputes,
governed by military dictators, and large military spenders. By contrast, female defense ministers
emerge when expectations about women’s role in politics have changed—i.e., in states with female
chief executives and parliamentarians. Women are also first appointed to the post when its meaning
diverges from traditional conceptions of the portfolio, particularly in countries concerned with
peacekeeping and in former military states with left-wing governments.

!
1
In 2014, an informal encounter between four defense ministers made global headlines. This
meeting garnered attention not because of the content of the discussion, but due to the composition
of the group: each of the four countries represented—Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and
Sweden—had selected a woman to head its defense portfolio. The widespread interest in these
female ministers reflects the degree to which women’s nomination to these positions upends
traditional gendered expectations about women’s role in politics. The remit of the defense minister
arguably makes this the most “masculine” position within the executive branch, and as the news
coverage suggested, women’s presence in this post continues to be viewed as exceptional.
Though female politicians have historically been absent from the defense portfolio, these
patterns of exclusion have begun to change in the post-Cold War era. By 2012, women had been
appointed to the ministry of defense in 41 countries. Despite the rapid increase in women’s access to
power—and growing interest in women’s appointments to cabinets and other high-prestige posts
(Arriola and Johnson 2014; Bauer and Tremblay 2011; Escobar-Lemmon and Taylor-Robinson
2005; 2016; Jalalzai 2013; Murray 2010; Reynolds 1999)—existing work is largely silent on female
defense ministers. No study to date identifies the conditions that perpetuate women’s exclusion
from the defense portfolio, nor the factors that facilitate women’s initial inclusion in the post. This is
a surprising oversight, given that these portfolios have long been viewed as one of the last bastions
of male political dominance.
We provide the first study of female defense ministers. As previous work struggles to
account for women’s ascension to high-prestige portfolios, this research program demands a new
theory of women’s access to power. We posit three related sets of hypotheses concerning women’s
appointments. Focusing first on women’s exclusion from office, we argue that women are likely to
remain absent from the post when its remit reinforces established beliefs about the masculinity and
prominence of the position. To explain women’s inclusion in the portfolio, our second and third

!
2
sets of hypotheses argue that the initial appointment of a female defense minister can be explained
by the changing nature both of women’s role in politics and also of the ministry itself. In particular,
male dominance erodes when politics becomes more feminized and when the meaning and
significance of the position diverges from traditional conceptions of the portfolio.
Using our original and comprehensive dataset of women’s appointments to defense
ministries, we test these claims with a discrete-time duration model that predicts women’s initial
nomination to these posts across 161 states. Consistent with the variable meanings assigned to this
portfolio in the post-Cold War era, we find that women are less likely to be appointed in countries
engaged in fatal disputes, governed by military dictators, and in those that invest heavily in military
operations while forgoing peacekeeping. By contrast, women are more likely to come to power in
states with large numbers of female parliamentarians and female chief executives, as well as in those
where the post takes on new meanings—particularly in countries concerned with peacekeeping and
in former military states governed by left-leaning parties. Thus, although women’s appointment
represents an important break from historical patterns of exclusion, women also tend to access these
positions only when their meanings have fundamentally changed.
Together, these findings have important implications for descriptive, symbolic, and policy
representation. As we elaborate below, the selection of a female defense minister facilitates women’s
ascension to powerful posts and erodes gendered beliefs about women’s roles in politics and society
more generally. Equally important, these appointments have consequences for the policy-making
process, as the unique conditions under which women are appointed and serve—coupled with their
distinct policy preferences—influence the gendered patterns of behavior observed in previous
studies (Bashevkin 2014; Koch and Fulton 2011).
Beyond the insights offered concerning the defense ministry, our theoretical framework
provides a more widely applicable approach for understanding women’s access to the most powerful

!
3
political posts. We link women’s exclusion to the gendered nature of institutions and explain how
altering the meanings assigned to these positions facilitates women’s inclusion. Our work suggests
that broader gains in women’s political representation enhance women’s access to other male-
dominated posts. Yet, female politicians continue to face barriers to gaining the most masculine and
desirable appointments. Indeed, women rarely hold the most powerful party, legislative, and
national-level positions (Barnes 2016, Jalalzai 2013, O’Brien 2015). Changes in the status and
meaning of these posts, in turn, likely facilitate women’s inclusion. To explain women’s access, it is
thus necessary to identify the specific factors that (re)gender different positions across space and
time.1 Our framework suggests a rich vein of future research on the mechanisms that promote
women’s inclusion and exclusion across a myriad of leadership posts, including in local elected
office, legislative committees, and international governing organizations.
THE IMPORTANCE OF WOMEN’S ACCESS TO DEFENSE MINISTRIES
Traditionally, the executive was the most masculine branch of government, with men
occupying the vast majority of positions as national leaders and cabinet ministers (Duerst-Lahti
1997; Jalalzai 2013). As scholars increasingly recognize the power vested in the executive branch, a
growing body of research seeks to explain women’s access to ministerial posts (Arriola and Johnson
2014; Bauer and Tremblay 2011; Claveria 2014; Siaroff 2000). This work is often concerned not only
with women’s presence in cabinets, but also with the types of portfolios women hold (Bego 2014;
Escobar-Lemmon and Taylor-Robinson 2016; Reynolds 1999).
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1!Women’s access to home affairs portfolios, for example, is likely influenced not only by the
broader feminization of politics, but also by terror threats and civil unrest, the need to improve
citizen-police relations, and the desire to restore trust and confidence in domestic security.!

!
4
Ministries vary with respect to their influence within the cabinet, the amount of media
attention they garner, and the degree to which they provide a pathway to higher office (Krook and
O’Brien 2012). Beyond their status and cachet, cabinet assignments also take on different gendered
meanings. Some portfolios address policy areas that have historically been linked to the home front
and/or to women as a group—such as those addressing youth and education—while others cover
issues traditionally associated with the public sphere and/or men as a group, including infrastructure,
economics, and defense (Escobar-Lemmon and Taylor-Robinson 2009).
Historically, women have been relegated to less prestigious portfolios addressing feminine
issue domains (Bego 2014; Borrelli 2002; Escobar-Lemmon and Taylor-Robinson 2005, 2009;
Krook and O’Brien 2012). Although this gender-based division of labor does not imply that
women’s assignments are inferior (Trimble and Tremblay 2005), it is especially important to examine
women’s ascension to the high-prestige and masculine posts from which they have long been
excluded. Women’s appointment to these prominent portfolios gives them access to the “inner
cabinet” (Davis 1997), where they enjoy more resources and visibility, greater access to the head of
government, jurisdiction over the executive’s primary policy priorities, and lesser legislative oversight
(Escobar-Lemmon and Taylor-Robinson 2016). The nomination of women to traditionally
masculine ministries also helps to erode traditional expectations about men’s and women’s gender
roles (Krook and O’Brien 2012).
!Among traditionally male-dominated portfolios, women’s appointment to the ministry of
defense demands particular attention. This post is central to “matters dealing with the roles and
missions of the armed forces, the allocation of resources to national defense, the national disposition
of military units and entities, decisions related to the use of force by the military, and decisions
concerning international commitments and obligations” (Bland 2001, 533). It is thus vital to
ensuring state sovereignty and security. As it is responsible for the operations and regulation of the

!
5
armed forces, moreover, this position is linked to notions of strength and aggression. It is thus the
most stereotypically masculine ministry. Finally, whereas women have made inroads into other high-
prestige posts—e.g., interior/home affairs and foreign affairs—defense (along with finance) remains
the last bastion of male control (Escobar-Lemmon and Taylor-Robinson 2009, 2016).
Given women’s exclusion from this prestigious and masculine position, their nomination to
the defense ministry, more than any other portfolio, represents a highly visible break from
traditional gendered patterns of governance. Although extremely rare before the 1990s, in recent
years a growing number of states have made these path-breaking appointments. In the post-Cold
War era, women have held the defense portfolio in every region of the world except for the Middle
East, for a total of 56 appointments in 41 countries. Yet, little is known about why women remain
excluded from this post and what facilitates their initial inclusion in the portfolio.
EXPLAINING WOMEN’S EXCLUSION FROM THE DEFENSE MINISTRY
Women’s presence in the ministry of defense has increased dramatically over time. In the
1990s female defense ministers served in only five countries. In the subsequent decade these
appointments grew almost fourfold, with twenty-nine countries first naming women to this
portfolio. Between 2010 and 2012, seven additional first time appointments were made.
Nonetheless, the vast majority of states—over 75 percent—have not yet selected a woman for this
portfolio. What explains men’s dominance of this ministry?
Women’s continued exclusion from power can be attributed in part to conventional
expectations about the masculinity and prominence of the defense portfolio. The minister of
defense is the head of military operations and is primarily responsible for overseeing national
defense policy. While the responsibilities and perceptions of this ministry have changed in some
states since the end of the Cold War (Gyarmati and Winkler 2002; Kathman 2013), in others its
duties and status remain largely unaltered. Our first set of hypotheses posits that the appointment of

!
6
the first female defense minister remains unlikely in those countries where the position continues to
be one of the most important and highly-masculinized cabinet appointments. This is especially the
case in countries actively engaged in international armed conflict, states governed by military
dictatorships, and those with large military expenditures.
To begin with, military involvement in international conflict perpetuates the traditional,
masculine view of the ministry. Masculinity is “intimately connected to militarism” and maleness is
considered essential to “effective and trustworthy soldiering” (Enloe 1993, 52). Conflict
participation thus reinforces the masculine features of the ministry, which run counter to widespread
perceptions of women in politics. Women are stereotyped as being compassionate and
compromising leaders; men by contrast are seen as assertive, aggressive, forceful, and capable of
handling crises (Huddy and Terkildsen 1993). Female politicians are thus perceived as being
particularly qualified in soft policy areas like healthcare, welfare, and other social policies, and less
competent in military, national defense, and foreign policy (Holman et al., 2011).
These gender stereotypes hold even more weight when military conflict dominates the
political agenda (Lawless 2004). During military crises individuals look for “strong” leaders with
masculine characteristics (Holman et al. 2011). For this reason, women are generally less preferred to
male leaders when there is a national security threat (Falk and Kenski 2006). By this same logic, we
anticipate that in the context of an international military dispute, women will be viewed as less
appealing—and perhaps less qualified—for the defense portfolio. Instead, leaders will choose
strong, aggressive, and masculine nominees. As such, we hypothesize:
Hypothesis 1: States involved in international military conflict are less likely to appoint female defense
ministers.
A similar argument applies to military dictatorships. These regimes emerge from coups
against nondemocratic or democratic governments. After seizing power, the military establishes a
junta as a means of either formally governing the country or informally exercising control over the

!
7
government’s activities (Brooker 2014). The junta, or political council, is comprised of members
from the inner circle, heads of the armed services, and potential rivals from within the armed forces.
Military and civilian dictatorships thus remain distinct. Whereas civilian dictators are at the “mercy
of the armed forces,” military dictators use their organizational apparatus to consolidate their rule
(Cheibub et al. 2010, 85-86).
Given the ties between the armed forces and the government, the ministry of defense is an
especially significant post within military dictatorships. This position is likely to be held by a high-
ranking official with close ties to the military. Coupled with the feminine stereotypes that govern
perceptions of women’s leadership traits and policy expertise, it is unsurprising that Brooker (2014)
makes frequent references to “military men in government” when describing these regimes. This
leads to our second hypothesis:
Hypothesis 2: Military dictatorships are less likely to appoint female defense ministers.
Military dictatorships and countries involved in international conflict both have large defense
expenditures (Bove and Brauner 2014; Nordhaus et al. 2012). More generally, the amount invested
in the military likely affects the appointment of female defense ministers. When the defense
portfolio oversees a large budget, its minister controls significant resources. These resources provide
political capital and can be used to influence policy. Large military expenditures may likewise indicate
that defense is a priority for the chief executive, thus placing this minister in the inner cabinet
(Escobar-Lemmon and Taylor-Robinson 2016). Indeed, states increase military spending in an effort
to project political and economic power on the international stage (Perlo-Freeman et al. 2011).
Greater defense spending may thus lead domestic and international audiences to view this portfolio
as especially important. Together, these factors suggest that larger military expenditures increase the
resources and cachet afforded to defense ministers. Granting this portfolio more policy influence
and political capital may in turn make it harder for women to access the post.

!
8
As well as these direct effects, large military expenditures suggest a political climate that is
not conducive to changing norms of female exclusion. First, in autocratic states—and particularly
military dictatorships—military expenditures can be an instrument to keep the ruler in power
(Brauner 2015). Leaders investing heavily in military spending in an effort to maintain control are
unlikely to look beyond their largely male inner circles when naming their defense ministers. Second,
military expenditures are affected not only by participation in armed conflict, but also by the
perceived risk of involvement in a fatal dispute (Nordhaus et al. 2012). As with countries embroiled
in interstate conflicts, the perception of threat reinforces the importance of national defense and the
belief that the ministry’s primary function is to protect and secure the state. This bolsters masculine
stereotypes about the post. Together, this suggests:
Hypothesis 3: States with larger military expenditures are less likely to appoint female defense ministers.
PREDICTING WOMEN’S INITIAL INCLUSION IN THE DEFENSE MINISTRY
Though women largely remain excluded from the defense portfolio, a growing number of
governments have nominated female defense ministers. What explains women’s initial inclusion in
this conventionally masculine post? We posit that women are likely to first be appointed when the
meaning of this portfolio diverges from traditional conceptions of the position. In the following
subsections, we identify two mechanisms by which this occurs. First, we discuss the changing
perceptions of women’s role in politics, such that women are viewed as plausible appointees.
Second, we explain how the changing priorities and remit of the ministry result in the portfolio itself
being perceived as less masculine than in previous eras.
Changing Perceptions of Women’s Role in Politics
Women’s inclusion in the defense portfolio appears to both reflect, and also result from, a
new understanding of women’s role in the political sphere. Indeed, politicians and activists alike link
the appointment of female defense ministers to broader trends in women’s access to political power.

!
9
Dutch defense minister Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, for example, pointed to her position within the
cabinet as a sign of the “erosion of the old boys club” in European politics.2 Observers likewise link
the selection of female defense ministers in Latin America to a shift away from a “machismo”
political culture.3 That is, women are likely to be appointed as defense ministers when politics is no
longer viewed as a male domain.
These claims suggest that the nomination of female defense ministers is linked to a more
widespread “feminization” of politics. Indeed, women’s appointment to (high-prestige and
masculine) portfolios is often correlated with women’s access to political office more broadly
(Krook and O’Brien 2012). In particular, women’s presence in parliament and as chief executives
likely alters both the supply of, and demand for, female defense ministers.
To begin with, bolstering the number of female legislators increases the supply of women
eligible to serve in the post. Prior experience in elected office is the principal qualification for cabinet
appointments in parliamentary systems (Blondel 1987), where ministers are often drawn directly
from parliament. In these cases, female parliamentarians are the “supply force for…women in
ministerial lines” (Whitford et al. 2007, 563). Even in presidential systems, where ministers do not
have to come from the national assembly, Escobar-Lemmon and Taylor-Robinson (2005) suggest
that the presence of female legislators increases the number of women eligible for cabinet posts.
Increasing the number of female parliamentarians further feminizes politics by
fundamentally reshaping the demand for women in cabinets. Davis (1997) links women’s heightened
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2 “Female Defence Ministers Pledge to Break Europe’s Old Boys’ Network.” The Guardian
(http://gu.com/p/3mcp3/stw).
3 “Move Over Machismo: Latin America Sets A Global Example For Women In Power.” Fox News
Latino (http://fxn.ws/1jMco32).

!
10
descriptive representation in legislatures to an “irreversible process of change” that alters
institutional culture with respect to ministerial appointments. Women’s greater presence in
legislatures, she posits, enables female parliamentarians to “mobilize the resources of the
organization or institution to improve the situation for themselves” (64). Together, these supply and
demand effects lead to our forth hypothesis:
Hypothesis 4: Countries with greater numbers of female parliamentarians are more likely to appoint female
defense ministers.
The presence of a female chief executive likely further affects the selection of female defense
ministers. The head of government often controls—or at least exercises significant influence over—
ministerial appointments. Female heads of government promote women to their cabinets at higher
rates than their male counterparts (Jacob et al. 2014), and thus may be more likely to first select a
woman to head the defense portfolio. Female presidents and prime ministers may likewise affect
societal acceptance of female defense ministers. Indeed, the (s)election of a female head of
government suggests that voters and politicians alike are amenable to women taking on more
masculine positions (Alexander and Jalalzai forthcoming).
Just as female heads of government may bolster the demand for female nominees to
traditionally male-oriented cabinet appointments, they can also affect the supply of prospective
female defense ministers. In some countries prime ministers or presidents hold multiple portfolios.
This is especially the case in South and South-East Asian countries, as well as some Caribbean states.
Self-appointments thus represent an important mechanism by which women can access the defense
ministry. In fact, 15% of first-time female defense ministers were self-appointments.4 Our fifth
hypothesis thus posits:
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4 In these states both male and female heads of government have assumed the defense portfolio.
Given that this practice is not uncommon, the (s)electorate can anticipate that a female chief

!
11
Hypothesis 5: Female chief executives are more likely to appoint female defense ministers.
Changing Nature of the Ministry of Defense
Women’s access to the defense ministry may not only be shaped by the presence of female
politicians, but also by the nature of the position itself. A large body of literature suggests that
women are more likely to be appointed to less masculine and less prestigious posts (Escobar-
Lemmon and Taylor-Robinson 2005; Krook and O’Brien 2012; Reynolds 1999). Though this work
necessarily assigns a single coding to each portfolio—such that defense ministries are always
considered high-prestige and masculine—in practice the expectations and importance placed upon
different portfolios varies over time and space (Bauer and Tremblay 2011). Among cabinet posts,
this variation in meaning is especially high for ministries of defense, particularly in the post-Cold
War era. Our third set of hypotheses suggests that women gain office when the remit of the
portfolio has shifted.
Different regime types have fundamentally different expectations for their ministries of
defense. While military dictators are least apt to place women in this portfolio, the appointment of a
female defense minister may be especially likely in former military dictatorships led by leftist
governments. With the end of military rule, new leaders are tasked with consolidating civilian rule,
strengthening state capacity, and addressing a number of other competing interests (Carothers 2002).
Many former military dictatorships are thus left grappling with the legacies of military rulers years
after regime transition (Roniger and Sznajder 1999). As femininity is often associated with peace, for
governments seeking to disassociate themselves from former military abuses of power, the
appointment of a female defense minister can offer a visible break from the past and signal change
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
executive could assume this post, suggesting that the norms around women’s inclusion have
changed. See supplementary information (SI) for details.

!
12
and renewal (Murray 2010).
Left-leaning governments in former military states have particularly strong incentives to
nominate women to the defense portfolio. In contrast to right-wing parties—which sometimes bear
connections to former military regimes—left-wing parties are more apt to seek to distinguish their
own military agenda from their state’s history of military dominance. They also tend to favor less
spending on the armed forces, greater attention to human rights, and more peaceful approaches to
international relations (Koch 2009; Viola and Mainwaring 1984; Whitten and Williams 2011).
Together, this suggests our sixth hypothesis:
Hypothesis 6: Left-wing governments in former military states are more likely to appoint female defense
ministers.
Former military states are not the only countries in which the meanings assigned to this
cabinet position have shifted over time. With the end of the Cold War in 1991, governments began
to reconsider the priorities of their defense ministries. “Shrinking budgets and indefinable threats,”
combined with the view that militaries could be essential for peace enforcement, together provoked
widespread reevaluations of military goals in a number of states (Gyarmati and Winkler 2002, 5). In
many cases this led to a shift from an exclusive emphasis on homeland defense to a broader interest
in international security and the promulgation of peace (Kathman 2013).
Notably, the post-Cold War era has witnessed increased peacekeeping efforts, with militaries
from across the globe committing personnel to United Nations’ missions seeking to create stability
in tumultuous regions (Fortna 2004). While a traditional focus on national security represents a
stereotypically masculine remit for the defense portfolio, a shift towards international security and
peacebuilding signifies a more gender-neutral or even feminine approach to military duties.
Conventional wisdom about women in leadership, for example, suggests that “women work for
peace, and men wage war—cooperative women, conflictual men” (Caprioli and Boyer 2001, 503).
Just as the “gender stereotypes which previously acted as a barrier to female participation in war

!
13
might actually enhance the potential for women in the military” in countries that emphasize
peacekeeping and disaster relief (DeGroot 2001, 24), the same is likely true in the ministry of
defense. Specifically, our seventh hypothesis suggests:
Hypothesis 7: Countries engaged in peacekeeping missions are more likely to appoint female defense ministers.
Finally, it is important to note that countries involved in peacekeeping appropriate some
portion of their military expenditures to these efforts. More generally, in countries committed to
peacebuilding, military expenditures may be used to bolster the state’s reputation as an advocate of
international cooperation. Under these conditions military expenditures may not be negatively
associated with the appointment of a female defense minister. Indeed, peacekeeping may attenuate
this relationship. We thus posit:
Hypothesis 8: Peacekeeping mitigates the negative relationship between military expenditures and the
appointment of female defense ministers.
ANALYZING THE APPOINTMENT OF FEMALE DEFENSE MINISTERS
We examine the determinants of women’s exclusion from—and inclusion in—the defense
portfolio across 161 countries in the post-Cold War era.5 To do so we built an original and
comprehensive dataset with information gathered from the Database of Political Institutions (DPI),
the Central Intelligence Agency’s Directory of Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign
Governments, and the Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership (see SI for details). Our outcome
variable measures the time until the selection of the first female defense minister in each of these states. We
focus on women’s initial promotion to this post because this represents the most important and
visible departure from the male-dominated status quo. This nomination is likewise distinct from the
appointments of subsequent female defense ministers. Existing work indicates that women are more
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5 See SI for details on countries with and without defense ministries.

!
14
likely to be selected for high-prestige positions after the glass ceiling has been shattered (Jalalzai and
Krook 2010). Indeed, the decision to choose women for this portfolio in the future may be colored
by the successes or failures of the first female defense minister. This suggests that the mechanisms
driving women’s initial selection and subsequent nomination differ. We therefore focus on the first
female appointee.
We begin our analysis in 1991. We chose this start date to reflect the fundamental shift in the
function of the defense ministry that occurred in many countries following the end of the Cold
War.6 This was a period of major political transformation, which altered the values, priorities, and
purposes of the armed forces in many states. This era witnessed the decline of military dictatorships,
for example, and growth in civilian-led regimes (Brooker 2014; Geddes et al. 2014). Countries
likewise began diversifying their defense portfolios. Many states now place greater emphasis on
building peace, as opposed to primarily preparing for the threat of war. The vast majority of
peacekeeping operations, for instance, have occurred in the post-Cold War period (Kathman 2013).
Trends in women’s access to power further reinforce the argument that the defense ministry
was fundamentally transformed after 1991. Consistent with our hypotheses, women were virtually
absent from these posts prior to the end of the Cold War. Other than Finland’s Elisabeth Rehn,
who was nominated in 1990, all female defense ministers in this era were self-appointed, as each
held the chief executive post. Extending our analysis backwards in time would thus provide few
additional examples of female appointees.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6 We use multiple lagged explanatory variables, each of which is measured in the post-Cold War
period starting in 1991. The measure of the outcome variable thus begins in 1992.

!
15
Predictors of Women’s Continued Exclusion
Our first set of hypotheses posits that the defense ministry remains male dominated when its
remit reinforces traditional perceptions about the masculinity of the post. We argue that women are
excluded from this position in states that are involved in international armed conflict (H1). We test
this hypothesis with a covariate capturing whether a country was involved in a fatal dispute in the
preceding year. Specifically, we use the variable “Fatalities” from the Militarized Interstate Dispute
(MID) data compiled by the Correlates of War (COW) Project to create a binary measure that takes
a value of 1 for states involved in any international dispute that led to battle deaths in the previous
year and 0 otherwise (Ghosn and Bennett 2003; Palmer et al. 2015). As shown in our data, there are
329 instances of countries’ involvement in interstate disputes that result in at least one battle death.
Lending initial support to our hypothesis, in none of these cases was a female defense minister first
selected in the subsequent year.7
We further contend that military dictatorships are more likely than civilian-led governments
to remain male dominated (H2). We use Cheibub et al. (2010) to create a binary measure capturing
whether a military dictator currently rules the state. Of the 3,012 total country-years in the dataset, 472
are military dictatorships. Again, lending initial support to our theory, only one such regime
appointed a female defense minister in this era.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
7 See SI for analyses with a measure that includes both international and civil conflict. Drawing on
Arriola and Johnson (2014), Bauer (2011), and Hughes (2009) we also consider post-conflict
countries.

!
16
Extending these hypotheses, we argue that states with larger military expenditures are less
likely to first appoint a female defense minister (H3). We use data from the Stockholm International
Peace Research Institute and the COW National Material Capabilities Dataset to measure logged
military spending in U.S. dollars (millions). Among countries that appoint female defense ministers, the

!
17
mean level of military spending is $3,577 million in the year of appointment and $6,479 million for
all other years in the analysis.
Predictors of Women’s Initial Inclusion: Women’s Role in Politics
The second set of hypotheses concerns the feminization of politics and focuses on women’s
access to legislative (H4) and executive (H5) posts. To capture women’s presence in legislatures, we
use data from Paxton et al. (1991-1998) and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (1997-2011) to determine
the percentage of parliamentary seats held by women in each country in the previous year. The average
proportion of female legislators in the year prior to the appointment of the first female defense
minister is 18.38%, as opposed to 11.85% otherwise. To test the hypothesis that female executives
are more likely to appoint female defense ministers, we use information from Jalalzai (2013) to
construct an indicator variable that captures female state leaders. Women served in this position in 160
of the country-years in our dataset. Of the female defense ministers included in the data, 8 were
selected by women and 33 by men.
Predictors of Women’s Initial Inclusion: The Nature of the Defense Ministry
The third set of hypotheses posits that female defense ministers are more likely to emerge
after major changes to the traditional role of the military. This is especially likely in states that have
transitioned from military-led governments to left-wing civilian-headed regimes (H6). We use data
from Cheibub et al. (2010) to identify former military dictatorships and rely on the DPI to classify
left-wing governments—those controlled by communist, socialist, social democratic, or other leftist
parties (Beck et al. 2001). To test H6, we include an interaction effect between former military dictatorships
and leftist governments. As shown in Table 1, our dataset includes 264 country-years fitting this
description. Of our 41 female defense ministers, seven were first appointed in these regimes. In each
instance, the woman selected was a civilian and, in several cases, a human rights activist.

!
18
Next we argue that countries that have diversified their defense portfolios to include
peacekeeping efforts are more likely to first appoint women to these posts (H7). To account for this
diversification we include an indicator variable that distinguishes states that commit at least one
peacekeeping troop in the previous year from those that do not. This measure from Kathman (2013) is
based on data gathered by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations. In total, 1,660 country-
years in our analysis (or 55.1% of the observations) were involved in peacekeeping assignments. Of
the instances in which a female defense minister is first appointed, 33 come from states that were
involved in these missions in the year preceding the appointment. Extending this logic, our last
hypothesis posits that peacekeeping mitigates the relationship between military spending and
women’s exclusion from the defense ministry (H8). To test this claim we include an interaction effect
between peacekeeping and military spending.
Other Factors Shaping Women’s Appointments
We control for four other factors that might otherwise bias our results. First, over time
leaders become more likely to appoint a female defense minister. Our model therefore includes
mean-centered linear and mean-centered quadratic measures of time. These time controls constitute the baseline
effects of the duration model (see SI for details). Next, although our measures of female elites most
directly capture the supply of women for the post (Arriola and Johnson 2012; Escobar-Lemmon and
Taylor-Robinson 2005; Krook and O’Brien 2012), we include two additional variables to account for
domain-specific and societal factors that may increase the number of prospective female nominees.
For the former, we created a new variable to identify the country-years in which women were
allowed to serve in frontline combat positions. We expect that when more women have military training
and experience, women are more likely to be perceived as having the military expertise necessary to
hold the post. For the later, we follow Krook and O’Brien (2012) by including a measure of female
labor force participation. Finally, because advanced industrialized democracies have been shown to have

!
19
different attitudes towards both women’s representation and defense, we control for membership in the
Organization for Economic Co
‑
operation and Development (OECD).8
Modeling Strategy
Our outcome variable—the time between the end of the Cold War and the appointment of
the first female defense minister—is the survival or duration time.9 As the exact date of women’s
nomination to the post is unknown in most cases, this duration time is discretized into years. The
time to first female defense minister is thus modeled using a logistic discrete-time duration model.
As shown in Table 1, one of our covariates—fatal disputes—perfectly predicts women’s continued
exclusion from the defense ministry. That is, a country involved in a deadly international conflict has
never appointed a woman to the defense portfolio. When a covariate perfectly predicts the
response—i.e., when we encounter complete separation—its parameter estimate diverges to infinity.
To address this complete separation, we use a bias reduction method originally proposed by Firth
(1993). Firth’s penalized likelihood approach always yields finite estimates of parameters under
complete separation, and simulation results indicate that even under extreme conditions these
estimates have relatively little bias (Heinze and Schemper 2002).10
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
8 Our results are also robust to model specifications including controls for: GDP (PPP) and
democracy; regime types (Cheibub et al. 2010); presidential, parliamentary and mixed regimes;
unified versus coalition governments; political competition; and gender quotas (see SI for details).
9 See SI for information on model fit.
10 Coefficient estimates, standard errors, and predicted values were generated using the logistf and
brglm packages in R. !

!
20
RESULTS
In the following subsections we discuss the findings from two discrete time duration
analyses estimated using Firth’s penalized likelihood approach and reported in Tables 2 and 3.
Interpreting the results from these models is straightforward. The exponentiated coefficient
estimates (listed in the last column of each table) represent the effect of a one unit increase in the
covariate on the relative odds of first appointing a female defense minister in year ti given “survival”
as a male-dominated post up to the end of the previous year. A value above (below) 1 indicates a
greater (lesser) likelihood of first appointing a female defense minister as the value of the covariate
increases. An estimate that is significant and far from 1 thus suggests that a one-unit increase in the
explanatory variable has a large effect on the country’s survival probability.
The Nature of the Defense Ministry and Women’s Exclusion from Power
We argue that traditional beliefs about masculinity and power facilitate women’s continued
exclusion from the ministry of defense. Our first hypothesis focuses on state involvement in fatal
disputes. To capture the conflicts that are most likely to shape government behavior on this front,
we focus on the country’s involvement in interstate hostilities with at least one battle death. As
posited in H1, when the military is involved in these conflicts, the defense portfolio is significantly
more likely to remain male dominated. As compared to cabinets in countries that are not involved in
deadly interstate disputes, the relative odds of female appointment for these states is just 0.14 (a
seven-fold decrease). In fact, and as noted above, across the entire time period under study there are
no cases in which a country that experienced a battle death appointed its first female defense
minister in the subsequent year.11
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
11 This finding holds for other conflict measures (see SI).

!
21
Lending support to H2, the ministry of defense is also significantly more likely to remain
male-led in military dictatorships. As compared to other regimes, the relative odds of female
appointment in these countries is just 0.22 (an almost five-fold decrease). Figure 1 plots the survival
probabilities for these regimes over time. Like other states, the probability that the defense portfolio
in military dictatorships survives as a male-dominated post is near one during the first year of the
study (1992). Unlike other regime-types, however, the survival probability for these states remains
high over the course of time (never falling below 0.90).

!
22
Figure 1
Probability of Defense Ministry Remaining Male-Dominated Over Time
Note: Survival probabilities were generated holding all other variables at their median or modal
values.
Women have been conspicuously absent from the ministry of defense under military
dictators. Only one woman has ever held this post in these regimes, and she served only in an
interim capacity. In 2010 Lesego Motsumi was appointed as Acting Defense Minister of Botswana.
As she already held the portfolio for presidential affairs and public administration—and was
presumably part of the inner circle given her long history of executive appointments—she was
selected to stand in as Acting Minister of Defense and Acting Minister of Justice when these
positions were briefly vacated. Not only was Motsumi uniquely positioned for the post, but
510 15 20
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
Time
Survival Probability
Military Dictatorship
Non-Left Former Mil. Dict.
Adv. Indust. Dem.
Left Former Mil. Dict.

!
23
Botswana is also an unusual case. Prior to 2008 it was considered a civilian dictatorship (Cheibub et
al. 2010), and it is one of the few countries classified as a military dictatorship that enjoys a
comparatively high Polity IV score (though Geddes et al. (2014) also categorize it as an autocratic
regime).12 With the exception of this atypical military dictatorship, women remain wholly excluded
from power in these states.
Finally, we posit that larger military expenditures are associated with women’s exclusion
from the defense ministry (H3), but only among countries that refrain from peacekeeping (H8).
Consistent with our expectations, the marginal effect for military spending is negative and significant
when peacekeeping equals zero. That is, states that invest a great deal of resources into defense and
do not engage in peacebuilding activities are significantly less likely to select a woman to head this
portfolio. The interaction effect, on the other hand, is positive. In fact, participation in peacekeeping
missions counterbalances the effect of defense spending. In sum, the interaction term differentiates
countries like Denmark and Canada—which invest in the military with more peaceful aims—from
those including Iran and Burma, which are more focused on state security. The latter are especially
unlikely to nominate female defense ministers.13
Changing Nature of Women’s Role in Politics and Women’s Inclusion in Power
Shifting focus from exclusion to inclusion, the selection of a female defense minister is most
likely when beliefs about women’s role in politics have shifted and when the meanings and
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
12 Including Botswana biases our results towards the null. See SI for a discussion of the coding rules
used by Cheibub et al. (2010) to classify Botswana and for alternative specifications that exclude and
reclassify this case.
13 See SI for analyses with alternative measures of military strength (e.g., military capabilities and
conscription), which also predict women’s exclusion.

!
24
expectations placed on the ministry itself have fundamentally changed. With respect to the
feminization of politics, the covariates capturing women’s presence in elected office affect women’s
nomination to this post. Consistent with H4, a 10% gain in women’s seat share in parliament
increases the relative odds of appointment by a factor of 1.50. This represents a one-and-a-half-fold
increase. Not surprisingly, a number of female defense ministers have been appointed in countries
where women’s numeric representation far exceeds the global average. Notably, Argentina,
Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden have each selected a woman for
the portfolio. In the year preceding the appointment, each of these countries ranked among the top
ten states in the world in terms of the percentage of women in parliament.14
Offering support for H5, the presence of a female chief executive has an even greater effect
on the selection of female defense ministers. As compared to their male counterparts, the relative
odds of a female appointee increase by 3.03 with a female state leader (a more than three-fold gain).
This effect, however, is driven almost entirely by self-appointments. In six countries—14.6% of
cases—women preside over the defense portfolio while also serving as chief executive. As prime
minister of Jamaica, for example, Portia Simpson-Miller held the defense portfolio from 2006 to
2007 and again in 2012. As shown in Table 3, when controlling for female self-appointments the
covariate capturing female chief executives loses significance, indicating that the positive correlation
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
14 See SI for analyses with alternative measures of the feminization of politics (i.e., the share of
female ministers and women’s appointments to high-profile cabinet portfolios), which also predict
women’s appointments. The results are also robust to other supply side factors, including years since
women’s suffrage, eligibility to stand for office, and first election to parliament.

!
25
shown in Table 2 is explained by supply- rather than demand-side factors. 15 That is, rather than
female chief executives letting down the ladder to other women, they are taking the position for
themselves. At the same time, self-appointments represent an important mechanism through which
women first access the defense ministry.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
15 The direction and significance of the other predictors remain largely unchanged. We note the p-
value for fatal disputes shifts from 0.06 to 0.11. Importantly, this remains a perfect predictor of
women’s exclusion from the defense ministry. It is to be expected that the removal of six cases from
the analysis increases the uncertainty around the penalized likelihood estimate.

!
26
Changing Nature of the Ministry of Defense and Women’s Inclusion in Power
Beyond the feminization of politics, the covariates capturing the changing nature of the
ministry of defense are also significant. First, women’s limited access to the defense ministry under
military rule stands in sharp contrast to women’s appointments in former military dictatorships. As
shown in Tables 2 and 3, the prospect of nominating the first female defense minister increases
dramatically in these regimes. This relationship, however, is conditioned on government ideology.
Consistent with H6, left-wing governments in former military states are significantly more likely than
non-left former military dictatorships to first allocate this portfolio to a woman (though there is no
difference between left- and right-executives in other regimes).16
Figure 1 clearly illustrates these findings. Initially, all regimes are likely to remain male-
dominated, and for many states these survival probabilities remain high over time. Even in former
military dictatorships, after 10 years of non-left party governments the probability of the state
surviving without a female defense minister is 0.93, and by year 15 it is still 0.86. In contrast, over
time left-leaning governments in former military dictatorships are much more likely to first appoint a
woman to this portfolio than any other type of regime. Their probability of surviving without a
female defense minister drops to 0.78 by year 10 and 0.61 by year 15. While left-leaning
governments in these states are unlikely to immediately choose a woman to fill this role—in part
because of the need to balance competing interests directly following the transition—national
history and governing ideology can together create the space for the eventual appointment of
women to these posts.
Since the end of the Cold War, women have broken the glass ceiling in seven former military
dictatorships now led by left-wing executives. With the appointment of Michelle Bachelet in 2002,
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
16 This result does not hold for former civilian dictatorships (see SI).

!
27
for example, Richard Lagos became one of the first Latin American presidents to select a woman for
this portfolio. This nomination was particularly symbolic, given the country’s history. Chile’s former
military dictator Augusto Pinochet is often remembered for his brutality. Bachelet’s family,
moreover, was victimized by the Pinochet regime. Her selection is thus a clear break from Chile’s
legacy of military abuse of power. Similar trends are observed in former military states across Latin
America, including Uruguay, Argentina, and Ecuador. The appointment of female defense ministers
(many of whom are also human rights activists) sends a strong signal to domestic and international
audiences about the redefined role of the armed forces vis-à-vis the state.
The relationship between peacekeeping forces and time to first female defense minister (H7)
further supports our theory. At median levels of defense spending, peacekeeping states are
significantly more likely than their non-peacekeeping counterparts to select a female defense
minister. Holding all other variables constant and conditioning on survival up until time t, the hazard
is 0.05 for peacekeepers but only 0.01 for non-peacekeeping states. Likewise, while increasing
military expenditures from the first to the third quartile decreases the likelihood of women’s
appointment among countries that do not engage in peacekeeping operations, the hazard ratio
remains effectively unchanged among peacekeepers. Notably, Bangladesh, Sweden, and Canada have
each nominated female defense ministers. They also rank among the top five most frequent
contributors to peacekeeping missions in the post-Cold War period.17
Other Factors Shaping Women’s Access to Power
Finally, our models include four control variables. With respect to time, the linear coefficient
is positive whereas the quadratic term is negative. Plotting the baseline odds suggests that countries
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
17 Having an alliance partner with a female defense minister also significantly increases the likelihood
of appointing a woman to this post (see SI for results and discussion).

!
28
were least likely to first appoint a female defense minister in the years immediately following the end
of the Cold War. Through the mid-2000s, states became more likely to select women for this role
over time. At this point, the baseline probability of women’s appointment began to decline. Though
the baseline odds of the initial selection of a female defense minister are still greater in 2012 than in
1992, they are lower than they were in 2005.
Turning to the other controls, neither the domain-specific nor societal measure of supply is
correlated with the appointment of a female defense minister. Women have only been allowed to
participate in frontline combat in a small subset of countries and only in recent years. It is thus
unlikely that individual women have had the opportunity to climb the military ranks or that they
have served on the frontline long enough to shift broader societal beliefs about women’s capacity to
serve in the defense ministry. Although this may become an important predictor as more women
enter the armed forces, to date female defense ministers have largely come from civilian
backgrounds (see SI for details). As for labor force participation, our finding is consistent with
Escobar-Lemmon and Taylor-Robinson (2005) and Arriola and Johnson (2014), who also do not
find a positive relationship. Lastly, the covariate capturing advanced industrialized democracies is
not significant. !
IMPLICATIONS OF WOMEN’S APPOINTMENTS TO THE DEFENSE MINISTRY
As well as providing women with access to one of the most conventionally masculine
political posts, the appointment of female defense ministers also has important implications for
women’s descriptive, symbolic, and substantive representation. With respect to descriptive
representation, research examining ministers’ career patterns after they exit their initial post
demonstrates that both men and women leverage their political capital and experience to maneuver
into other influential positions (Claveria and Verge 2015). Serving in the defense ministry helps
women gain the credentials necessary to take on other high-profile public and private sector posts.

!
29
Women’s appointments to this portfolio can also shatter the glass ceiling and grant other
women access to power. Of the 41 countries appointing a female defense minister, over one-quarter
have subsequently nominated another woman to the post. Preliminary analyses further indicate that
the appointment of a female defense minister increases the likelihood of women’s ascension to other
prestigious portfolios, including foreign affairs and finance (see SI for details). Women’s inclusion in
this ministry thus fundamentally alters traditional gendered patterns of governance.
As for symbolic consequences, women’s presence in politics engenders political engagement
among female citizens (Barnes and Burchard 2013) and fosters trust and satisfaction with the
government (Karp and Banducci 2008). Female political leaders also transform gendered ideas about
leadership and inspire confidence in women’s ability to govern (Alexander 2012; Alexander and
Jalalzai forthcoming; Morgan and Buice 2013). Given that cabinet ministers in general—and defense
ministers in particular—are more visible than other politicians (Escobar-Lemmon & Taylor-
Robinson 2016), we have reason to believe that the appointment of women to this portfolio can
encourage political participation and feelings of efficacy among female citizens. Likewise, women’s
nominations may alter perceptions of, and erode gendered beliefs about, the military and national
defense. These changing perceptions may further facilitate the redefinition of women’s domains
within society more broadly. Exploring the relationship between high-profile (ministerial)
appointments and public behavior and attitudes thus represents a promising area for future study.
Finally, ministers are among the most important state policy actors and women’s presence in
cabinets has already been shown to influence defense and foreign policy. Yet, the direction of these
effects is disputed. The presence of female foreign policy leaders is in some cases associated with
gender-focused aid and “pro-feminist [policy] rhetoric” (Bashevkin 2014). At the same time, female
defense ministers increase military expenditures and conflict behavior (Koch and Fulton 2011) and
female foreign ministers decrease foreign aid spending (Lu and Breuning 2014).

!
30
Moving forward, more work is needed to elucidate the conditions under which female
defense ministers promote hawkish or dovish policies. We believe that the circumstances that bring
women into power may shed light on this variation. Women appointed in states where the position
is less masculine and conflict-oriented may feel more able to promote pacifistic or female-friendly
policies. Those women who are self-appointed—or manage to access the post despite the traditional
remit—may feel obligated to act as (or more) aggressively than their male counterparts.
Beyond spending and conflict behavior, there are likely other implications associated with
women’s presence in the defense portfolio. Female ministers, for example, may bring more women
into the defense domain, encourage a redefinition of combat roles that includes women soldiers, and
alter the procedures for dealing with rape and assault in the military, among other institutional
reforms. Indeed, a preliminary analysis suggests that the presence of a female defense minister
increases the likelihood that women are allowed to serve in frontline combat roles (see SI for
details). Women’s appointment to this post thus has clear implications far beyond descriptive
representation alone.
CONCLUSIONS
Despite the importance of the defense ministry, no study to date has asked when and where
women gain access to this position, nor what the growing number of female defense ministers might
suggest about the portfolio itself. Our comprehensive study demonstrates that women remain
excluded from the post when its remit reinforces conventional expectations about its masculinity
and prominence. They are more likely to be appointed to the position, in contrast, when politics is
feminized and when the portfolio has become less masculine and conflict-centered.
These results provide cause for optimism and pessimism alike. On one hand, the link
between the appointment of female defense ministers and women’s presence in politics more
broadly is encouraging. If women continue to make gains in parliament, the feminization of politics

!
31
will likely erode traditional patterns of male dominance in many arenas, paving the way for women’s
inclusion in high-profile legislative and executive posts. On the other hand, this does not imply that
all cabinet positions are now accessible to women. As we have made clear, the meaning and
significance attached to the defense ministry varies considerably across countries. Importantly, it is
in states where the portfolio has arguably become less masculine (and less conflict-oriented) that
women have made the greatest inroads. Thus, even after women have made gains in politics more
broadly, they continue to face barriers to the most masculine (and desirable) posts.
Extending this logic, our work highlights the importance of considering the variable
meanings attached to political posts over place and time. As with the ministry of defense, the
perceptions and remit of other high-prestige and masculine positions likely shape women’s access to
power. Our theoretical framework thus encourages scholars to consider the (re)gendering of political
appointments. This approach can be used to identify the unique mechanisms promoting women’s
inclusion in (and exclusion from) the last bastions of male power both within and beyond the
executive branch.

!
32
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alexander, Amy C. 2012. “Change in Women’s Descriptive Representation and the Belief in
Women’s Ability to Govern: A Virtuous Cycle.” Politics & Gender 8(4): 437-464.
Alexander, Amy C., and Farida Jalalzai. Forthcoming. “The Symbolic Effects of Female Heads of
States: A Global Perspective.” In The Gendered Executive, eds. MaryAnne Borrelli and Janet
Martin. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Arriola, Lenardo, and Martha C. Johnson.! 2014.! “Ethnic Politics and Women’s Empowerment in
Africa: Ministerial Appointments to Executive Cabinets.” American Journal of Political Science 58(2):
495-510.
Barnes, Tiffany D. 2016. Gendering Legislative Behavior. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Barnes, Tiffany D., and Stephanie M. Burchard. 2013. “‘Engendering’ Politics: The Impact of
Descriptive Representation on Women’s Political Engagement in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Comparative Political Studies 47(7): 767-790.
Bauer, Gretchen, and Manon Tremblay ed. 2011. Women in Executive Power: A Global Overview.
London: Routledge.
Bauer, Gretchen. 2011. “Sub-Saharan Africa.” In Women in Executive Power: A Global Overview, ed.
Gretchen Bauer and Manon Tremblay. New York: Routledge, 85–104.
Bashevkin, Sylvia. 2014. “Numerical and Policy Representation on the International Stage: Women
Foreign Policy Leaders in Western Industrialised systems.” International Political Science Review
35(4): 409-29.
Beck, Thorsten, George Clarke, Alberto Groff, Philip Keefer, and Patrick Walsh. 2001. “New Tools
in Comparative Political Economy: The Database of Political Institutions.” World Bank Economic
Review 15(1):165-176. .

!
33
Bego, Ingrid. 2014. “Accessing Power in New Democracies: The Appointment of Female Ministers
in Postcommunist Europe.” Political Research Quarterly 67(2):347-360.
Bland, Douglas L. 2001. “Patterns in Liberal Democratic Civil-Military Relations.” Armed Forces &
Society 27(4): 525-540.
Blondel, Jean. 1987. Political Leadership. London: Sage.
Borrelli, MaryAnne. 2002. The President’s Cabinet. Boulder: Lynne Rienner.
Bove, Vincenzo, and Jennifer Brauner. 2014. “The Demand for Military Expenditure in
Authoritarian Regimes.” Defence and Peace Economics: 1-17.
Brooker, Paul. 2014. Non-democratic Regimes, Third Edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Brauner, Jennifer. 2015 “Military spending and democracy.” Defence and Peace Economics 26(4): 409-
423.
Caprioli, Mary, and Mark A. Boyer. 2001. “Gender, Violence, and International Crisis.” Journal of
Conflict Resolution 45(4): 503-518.
Carothers, Thomas. 2002. “The End of the Transition Paradigm.” Journal of Democracy 13(1): 5-21.
Cheibub, José Antonio, Jennifer Gandhi and James Raymond Vreeland. 2010. “Democracy and
Dictatorship Revisited.” Public Choice 143(1-2): 67-101.
Claveria, Sílvia. 2014. “Still a ‘Male Business’?: Explaining Women’s Presence in Executive Office.”
West European Politics 37(5): 1156-1176.
Claveria, Sílvia, and Tània Verge. 2015 “Post‐ministerial Occupation in Advanced Industrial
Democracies: Ambition, Individual Resources and Institutional Opportunity Structures.”
European Journal of Political Research 54(4): 819-835.
Davis, Rebecca Howard. 1997. Women and Power in Parliamentary Democracies: Cabinet Appointments in
Western Europe, 1968-1992. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

!
34
DeGroot, Gerard J. 2001. “A Few Good Women: Gender Stereotypes, the Military and
Peacekeeping.” International Peacekeeping 8(2): 23-38.
Duerst-Lahti, Georgia. 1997. “Reconceiving Theories of Power.” In The Other Elites, ed. Mary Anne
Borrelli and Janet M. Martin. Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 11-32.
Enloe Cynthia. 1993. The Morning After: Sexual Politics at the End of the Cold War. Berkeley: University
of California Press.
Escobar-Lemmon, Maria and Michelle M. Taylor-Robinson. 2005. “Women Ministers in Latin
American Government.” American Journal of Political Science 49(4): 829-844.
Escobar-Lemmon, Maria and Michelle M. Taylor-Robinson. 2009. “Getting to the Top: Career
Paths of Women in Latin American Cabinets.” Political Research Quarterly 62(4): 685-699.
Escobar-Lemmon, Maria and Michelle M. Taylor-Robinson. 2016. Women in Presidential Cabinets:
Power Players or Abundant Tokens? New York: Oxford University Press.
Falk, Erika, and Kate Kenski. 2006. “Issue Saliency and Gender Stereotypes: Support for Women as
President in Times of War and Terrorism.” Social Science Quarterly 87(1): 1-18.
Firth, David. 1993. “Bias Reduction of Maximum Likelihood Estimates.” Biometrika 80(1): 27-38.
Fortna, Virginia Page. 2004. “Does Peacekeeping Keep Peace? International Intervention and the
Duration of Peace after Civil War.” International Studies Quarterly 48(2): 269-292.
Geddes, Barbara, Joseph Wright, and Erica Frantz. 2014. “Autocratic Breakdown and Regime
Transitions: A New Data Set.” Perspectives on Politics 12(2): 313-331.
Ghosn, Faten, and Scott Bennett. 2003. Codebook for the Dyadic Militarized Interstate Incident Data,
Version 3.10. (http://correlatesofwar.org).
Gyarmati, István, and Theodor Winkler, eds. 2002. Post-Cold War Defense Reform: Lessons Learned in
Europe and the United States. Washington DC: Potomac Books.

!
35
Heinze, George and Michael Schemper. 2002. “A Solution to the Problem of Separation in Logistic
Regression.” Statistics in Medicine 21(16): 2409-2419.
Holman, Mirya, Jennifer Merolla and Elizabeth Zechmeister. 2011. “Sex, Stereotypes, and Security:
An Experimental Study of the Effect of Crises on Assessments of Gender and Leadership.”
Journal of Women, Politics, and Policy 32(3): 173-192.
Huddy, Leonie, and Nayda Terkildsen. 1993. “Gender Stereotypes and the Perception of Male and
Female Candidates.” American Journal of Political Science 37: 119-47.
Hughes, Melanie. 2009. “Armed Conflict, International Linkages, and Women’s Parliamentary
Representation in Developing Countries.” Social Problems 56(1): 174–204.
Jacob, Suraj, John A. Scherpereel, and Melinda Adams. 2014. “Gender Norms and Women’s
Political Representation: A Global Analysis of Cabinets, 1979-2009.” Governance 27(2): 321-345.
Jalalzai, Farida. 2013. Shattered, Cracked, or Firmly Intact? Women and the Executive Glass Ceiling Worldwide.
New York: Oxford University Press.
Jalalzai, Farida, and Mona Lena Krook. 2010. “Beyond Hillary and Benazir: Women’s Political
Leadership Worldwide.” International Political Science Review 31(1): 5-21.
Karp, Jeffry, and Susan Banducci. 2008. When Politics is Not Just a Man’s Game: Women’s
Representation and Political Representation. Electoral Studies 27(3): 105-115.
Kathman, Jacob D. 2013. “United Nations Peacekeeping Personnel Commitments, 1990–2011.”
Conflict Management and Peace Science 30(5): 532-549.
Koch, Michael T. 2009. “Governments, Partisanship, and Foreign Policy: The Case of Dispute
Duration.” Journal of Peace Research 46(6): 799-817.
Koch, Michael T. and Sarah A. Fulton. 2011. “In the Defense of Women: Gender, Office Holding
and National Security Policy in Established Democracies.” Journal of Politics 73(1): 1-16

!
36
Krook, Mona Lena and Diana Z. O’Brien. 2012. “All the President’s Men? The Numbers and
Portfolio Allocations of Female Cabinet Ministers.” Journal of Politics 74(3): 840-855.
Lawless, Jennifer L. 2004. “Women, War, and Winning Elections: Gender Stereotyping in the Post-
September 11th Era.” Political Research Quarterly 57(3): 479-490.
Lu, Kelan and Marijke Breuning. 2014. “Gender and Generosity: Does Women’s Representation
Affect Development Cooperation?” Politics, Groups, and Identities 2(3): 313-330.
Morgan, Jana and Melissa Buice. 2013. “Latin American Attitudes toward Women in Politics: The
Influence of Elite Cues, Female Advancement, and Individual Characteristics.” American Political
Science Review 107(4): 644-662.
Murray, Rainbow. 2010. Cracking the Highest Glass Ceiling: A Global Comparison of Women’s Campaigns for
Executive Office. Santa Barbara: Praeger Publishers.
Nordhaus, William, John R. Oneal and Bruce Russett. 2012. “The Effects of the International
Security Environment on National Military Expenditures: A Multicountry Study.” International
Organization 66(3): 491-513.
O’Brien, Diana Z. 2015. “Rising to the Top: Gender, Political Performance, and Party Leadership in
Advanced Articles Industrial Democracies.” American Journal of Political Science 59(4): 1022–1039.
Palmer, Glenn, Vito D’Orazio, Michael Kenwick, and Matthew Lane. 2015. “The MID4 Data Set:
Procedures, Coding Rules, and Description.” Conflict Management and Peace Science. 32(2): 222-242.
Paxton, Pamela, Jennifer Green, and Melanie Hughes. 2008. “Women in Parliament, 1945–2003:
Cross-National Dataset.” Ann Arbor: ICPSR (doi:10.3886/ICPSR24340).
Perlo-Freeman, Sam, Julian Cooper, Olawale Ismail, Elisabeth Sköns, and Carina Solmirano. 2011.
Military Expenditure. In SIPRI Yearbook. Stockholm, Sweden: Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute, 157-229.

!
37
Reynolds, Andrew. 1999. “Women in the Legislatures and Executives of the World: Knocking at the
Highest Glass Ceiling.” World Politics 51(4): 547-572.
Roniger, Luis and Mario Sznajder. 1999. The Legacy of Human Rights Violations in the Southern Cone.
Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay. New York: Oxford University Press
Siaroff, Alan. 2000. “Women’s Representation in Legislatures and Cabinets in Industrial
Democracies.” International Political Science Review 21(2): 197-215.
Trimble, Linda, and Manon Tremblay. 2005. “Representation of Canadian Women at the Cabinet
Table.” Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice 30(1): 31-45.
Viola, Eduardo and Scott Mainwaring. 1984. “New Social Movements, Political Culture, and
Democracy: Brazil and Argentina in the 1980s.” Telos 61: 17-52.
Whitford, Andrew, Vicky M. Wilkins, and Mercedes G. Ball. 2007. “Descriptive Representation and
Policymaking Authority: Evidence from Women in Cabinets and Bureaucracies.” Governance
20(4): 559-80.
Whitten, Guy D., and Laron K. Williams. 2011. “Buttery Guns and Welfare Hawks: The Politics of
Defense Spending in Advanced Industrial Democracies.” American Journal of Political Science 55(1):
117-134.