Gender and Parliamentary Party Switching

Although Members of Parliament (MPs) changing their parliamentary party group affiliation is influenced by various factors, the specific role of gender remains underexplored. Existing literature on party switching suggests a potential gender influence, yet evidence remains mixed. This inconsistency largely stems from gender being included as a mere control variable, without clear theoretical expectations about its impact on party switching. In our study, we draw upon arguments in the gender in politics literature that highlight behavioral differences between female and male MPs based on network effects, risk aversion, and political ambition. We position gender as a key explanatory variable in understanding party switching events. Our approach is twofold: first, we investigate whether gender influences the likelihood of MPs switching parties. Second, we analyze the impact of gender on various types of switches, classified based on factors such as the number of switchers, the level of coordination, and the origin and destination of the switch. To empirically test our hypotheses, we employ an original dataset of party switching events from eight European countries, including some in southern and eastern Europe. We focus on both established democracies (Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway) and younger democracies (Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania). The findings of our paper contribute to a deeper understanding of the dynamics behind parliamentary party switching, highlighting the significant but previously overlooked role of gender. The paper also sheds more light on how gender influences political strategies and decision-making processes in contemporary democracies.