Advancing the Study of Gender and Political Leadership: Context-Sensitive and Intersectional Approaches

Together with Josefina Erikson (Uppsala University, Sweden)

Special Issue accepted with the European Journal of Politics and Gender

The objective of this special issue is to advance the study of gender and political leadership theoretically and empirically regarding the gendered conditions for political leadership (appointments to as well as performances of leadership), focusing on two dimensions: (1) similarities and differences across institutional and situational contexts of political leadership, and (2) leaders’ intersectional identities. We argue that context-sensitive and intersectional approaches provide new insights to identify key barriers and mechanisms conducive to more gender-equal and inclusive leadership conditions and performances.

The first aim of this special issue is to showcase the benefits of a more context-sensitive approach, bringing together research on gender and political leadership from different political institutions (parties, parliaments, executives, and international organizations) to identify similarities and differences in the possibilities for women’s ascendance to and exercise of leadership across a variety of contexts. An important part of this comparison is scrutinizing the extent to which, as well as how, the institutional context is gendered. A further contextual aspect that needs exploration is how current political situations, such as crises of different kinds, reinforce or disrupt gendered barriers to women’s leadership.

The second aim is to explore how an intersectional perspective can bring new insights into conditions for leadership and the role of gendered barriers. Research in this vein has explored race and ethnicity, as well as sexual identity (Ospina and Foldy 2009; Richardson 2022), but studies on the intersection between gender and other social identities in relation to political leadership are scarce (see, however, Chin 2009). Hence, research needs to advance into a more structured comparative approach to provide a thorough understanding of the role of gender in leadership in connection with other social identities.

Research questions this special issue will address: 

1: How are different contexts (national vs. international) gendered in ways that enable or constrain leaders compared to the national level? 

2: How do the conditions for political leadership differ between highly masculine and more gender-balanced contexts? 

3: How do situational contexts, such as crises, enable or constrain leadership for women and other marginalized groups? 

4: How can we compare the impact of gender and intersecting identities on the exercise of political leadership?

5: How can we integrate gender and other social identities into the concept and theories of leadership systematically?