Legislative Career Length Differentials between Men and Women

Proportional descriptive representation of women in parliaments is crucial beyond normative goals of numeric parity. However, although the burgeoning literature on gender representation addresses the mechanisms of parties' nomination strategies of female candidates or voters' preferences for them, relatively little attention has been paid to whether and under what conditions sitting female incumbents keep their seat. In other words, are female legislative careers shorter or longer than those of their male counterparts? Is this contingent on institutions? Are the ways legislative career ends gendered? To address these questions, we investigate potentially gendered career lengths and potentially gendered exits from parliament. Drawing on comparative MP data from ten advanced democracies, we investigate general patterns of legislative survival differentials and, using a detailed case study of Germany, explore whether parliamentary exits, including deselection by the party, (electoral) defeat, and (voluntary) retirement, affect men and women differently.