The Gendered Executive: A Comparative Analysis of Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Chief Executives

Edited by Janet M. Martin and MaryAnne Borrelli

Excluded from the ranks of elite executive decision-makers for generations, women are now exercising power as chiefs of government and chiefs of state. As of April 2016, 112 women in 73 countries have served as presidents or prime ministers.

The Gendered Executive is a critical examination of national executives, focusing on matters of identity, representation, and power. The editors and contributors to this volume address the impact of female executives through political mobilization and participation, policy- and decision-making, and institutional change. Other topics include party nomination processes, the intersectionality of race and gender, and women-centered U.S. foreign policy in southern Africa. In addition, case studies from Chile, India, Portugal, and the United States are presented, as are cross-national comparisons of women leaders in Latin America.

The Gendered Executive will enhance our understanding of the complexity of gender in and comparative analyses of executive politics.

Contributors include: Amy C. Alexander, Sheetal Chhabria, Georgia Duerst-Lahti, Maria C. Escobar-Lemmon, Cory Charles Gooding, Lilly Goren, Karen M. Hult, Farida Jalalzai, Daniela F. Melo, Catherine Reyes-Housholder, Ariella R. Rotramel, Leslie A. Schwindt-Bayer, Michelle M. Taylor-Robinson, and the editors

Reviews

“This collection of uniformly strong essays spans several disciplines with a central focus on gender and executive politics. It disrupts the status quo and challenges scholars to examine questions long neglected in the study of political executives. Approached from a cross-national perspective, The Gendered Executive is likely to have a significant impact on the way scholars study executive politics for years to come.”
 -Michael A. Genovese, President, World Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University

“The theoretical and methodological premise of The Gendered Executive is innovative and groundbreaking. Not only is the topic itself an interesting take on gender and executive political leadership, but the editors and contributors-recognized experts in their fields-look at how these women achieved their positions. This volume is impressive, well thought-out and researched. It will make an excellent addition to the growing literature on women in executive politics and an important contribution to the expanding literature on women as national-level executive leaders.”
-Lori Cox Han, Professor of Political Science at Chapman University

“There are very few book-length treatments of gender and chief executive office, and certainly no book that combines a focus on the U.S. presidency with comparative perspectives. What I like the most about The Gendered Executive is the attempt to create a more meaningful dialogue across two literatures that rarely ‘speak’ to each other: American politics and comparative politics. The editors’ focus on gender, not just women, and the geographic focus, creates a substantive breadth in the volume that is broad and inclusive. As more women are entering the executive branch around the world, The Gendered Executive will become an important source for research.”
-Susan Franceschet, Professor of Political Science at the University of Calgary