Electing female mayors significantly shifts political patronage and 'kickback' jobs toward women rather than men.
In Brazil, when a woman wins a close election, female campaign donors are 27% more likely to land a government job than they would be under a male mayor. This suggests that female representation doesn't just change policy; it fundamentally redirects the entire 'spoils system' of political networking to favor women for high-ranking bureaucratic roles.
Female Leadership and the Market for Representation
SSRN · 6504455
This paper estimates the causal effect of electing a female mayor on the gender composition of discretionary bureaucratic appointments within political donor networks. I study close mayoral elections in Brazil between female and male candidates and link electoral outcomes to individual-level campaign donation records and administrative employment data covering the universe of formal public-sector jobs. When a female candidate narrowly wins, campaign donors become more likely to enter municipal p