Gendered patterns of legislative oversight – how men and women MPs contribute to unequal working conditions for men and women ministers

Women do not only face double standards on their way to high-profile office but also once they exercise leadership positions. According to previous research, MPs underestimate the competency of women ministers. Yet, research on whether both men and women representatives contribute to a similar extent to creating these unequal working conditions of ministers remains scant. To close this gap, this paper answers the research question of to what degree does the sex of MPs shape how they oversee women ministers and why do such gender differences emerge? We argue that men MPs oversee women ministers more tightly than women MPs due to stronger gender stereotypes held by men and due to ingroup bias in line with social identity theory. We test this hypothesis based on original data on the number of parliamentary questions, their tone and strictness of men and women MPs directed to ministers in six European countries since the 1970s. The analysis focuses on instances in which a women takes over a minister from a men (or the other way around) within the same cabinet to uncover the extent to which men MPs react differently if the sex of the minister in charge changes. The results of our multi-level regression models suggest that men MPs indeed tend to adapt their behavior to a larger extent than women MPs once the sex of a minister changes, in a way that suggests that they oversee the women minister more thoroughly than the men. The findings indicate that especially in men-dominated parliaments, women in high-profile positions will continue to face additional hurdles for successful performance.