Collaborative Research: Women as Leaders, Policy-Makers, and Symbols

长期以来，女性一直被拒绝进入最有权力的政治职位，尤其是行政部门中享有声望的内阁职位。该项目研究了妇女被排除在内阁三个最重要的职位之外和被任命的原因和后果：国防、内政/内政和外交事务。这些重要职位对政策有影响，因此，解释妇女何时、为何以及如何进入这些职位组合，以及了解妇女的参与如何影响对国家运作至关重要的政策，是至关重要的。这个项目的核心主张是，女性在政治办公室的存在塑造了对该职位的政策责任的信念，并受到这种信念的影响。尽管所研究的每个投资组合都有不同的责任，但它们都关注安全（即保护国家免受国内和国际威胁）。第一组假设认为，当内阁的重点从传统的男性政策领域（如恐怖主义和战争）扩展到强调维和和人权等问题时，女性就会进入内阁内部。第二组假设表明，男性和女性部长的政策优先级在很大程度上是由女性进入（或离开）办公室的条件来解释的，而不是天生的性别差异。第三组假设认为，女性部长的任命会影响公民对这些职位的目标和声望的信念，并影响他们对部长、部门和国家的信任和信心水平。因此，该项目通过收集原始数据来检验这些假设，推动了对妇女政治代表性的科学研究。该项目首次在世界范围内对内阁内部的妇女进行了研究，并为评估妇女在其他领域担任男性主导职位的原因和后果提供了一个框架。在此过程中，该项目开发了一个新的框架来解释妇女何时进入传统的男性领域，以及她们的权力途径如何影响政策结果和公民与国家的关系，我们还编制了一个关于妇女内阁任命和政策产出的全球数据库。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Women have long been denied access to the most powerful political posts, particularly prestigious cabinet positions within the executive branch. This project examines the causes and consequences of women’s exclusion from, and appointment to, three of the most powerful cabinet posts: defense, interior/home affairs, and foreign affairs. These prominent positions policy influence and it is thus vital to explain when, why, and how women access these portfolios, as well as to understand how women’s inclusion shapes policies that are central to the functioning of the state.The central claim of this project is that women’s presence in political office shapes, and is shaped by, beliefs about the policy responsibilities of the position. Though each of the portfolios studied has distinct responsibilities, they share a focus on security (i.e., protecting the state from domestic and international threats). The first set of hypotheses posits that women access the inner cabinet when the portfolios’ focus expands beyond traditionally masculine policy arenas (such as terrorism and war) to emphasize issues like peacekeeping and human rights. The second set of hypotheses suggests that male and female ministers’ policy priorities are largely explained by the conditions that bring women into (or keep them out of) office, rather than innate gender differences. The third set of hypotheses posits that the appointment of female ministers affects citizens’ beliefs about the aims and prestige of these positions and informs their levels of trust and confidence in the minister, the ministry, and the state. This project thus advances the scientific study of women’s political representation by collecting original data to test these hypotheses. This project offers the first worldwide study of women in the inner cabinet and a framework for assessing the causes and consequences of women’s access to male-dominated posts in other realms. In doing so, the project develops a new framework for explaining when women access traditionally masculine domains and how their pathways to power affect policy outcomes and citizens’ relationship to the state, we well as compiles a global database on women’s cabinet appointments and policy outputs.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.