"Feminist icon" or "not a sister"? Women leaders and their (better) cabinets

From 1966 to 2023, about 5\% of all government leaders worldwide were women — a strikingly low figure. Although women’s access to political power has improved over time, they remain significantly outnumbered by men and are often assigned to less influential ministerial positions. Previous research has shown that female-led governments tend to appoint more women to their cabinets. We extend this literature by demonstrating that this pattern holds when applying more rigorous statistical models and that appointing more women does not come at the expense of qualifications. Using the WhoGov and Paths to Power datasets, which enable a comparative analysis of leaders and their cabinets across 177 countries from 1966 to 2023, we find that female-led governments not only appoint a higher share of female cabinet members but also tend to select ministers with stronger credentials.