Women and the Right: Gender Representation in the Executive in South-Eastern Europe

Research on women’s representation in parliament and the effect of gender quotas has significantly expanded in recent years. By comparison, studies on women in the executive remain scarce. This paper aims to address this gap by examining gender representation in the executive in South East Europe (SEE) – a relatively understudied region when it comes to gender and one commonly stereotyped as a bastion of male dominance. Comparing data on the representation of women in cabinet in several SEE countries for the last 25 years, this paper focuses on right-wing parties and the degree to which they promote women to executive positions. Our previous research indicates that right-wing parties in the region stage fewer women than their left counterparts; however, they appoint women to positions with higher political importance. Intrigued by this finding, we trace the careers of key right-wing female politicians in the region, who occupy or have recently occupied high-prestige positions in the executive. Our goal is to draw a picture of women in cabinet positions in SEE, both in terms of descriptive and substantive representation, paying specific attention to the role and actions of right-wing female cabinet members.