Multilevel Government, Cabinet Appointments and Ministerial Durability in Spain

This paper analyzes the influence of multilevel politics in women’s recruitment and circulation in parliamentary cabinets. This will be addressed by analysing over time and in a comparative perspective (amongst several regions from the same country) whether multilevel careers affect women’s cabinet recruitment and durability at any of both levels. The results confirm that regional cabinets expand the opportunities for women to increase their presence in the executives as well as their chances to survive in the portfolio. However, this potential will depend on contextual factors dealing with the political life of each region, leading to a huge fluctuation amongst different regional units from the same country. Indeed, state architecture is relevant to explain gender representation in combination with more dynamic elements. Our paper employs individual and aggregate data from 1980 to 2019 from all national and regional cabinet appointments in Spain (one national cabinet plus 17 regional cabinets), using statistical tools such panel regression and event history analysis.