Council Size Matters: Filling Blanks in Women’s Municipal Representation in New Jersey

2018/12/01 by Ulrik Kjaer, Ulrik Kjær, Kelly Dittmar +1 · 2 citations
Social Sciences · #Electoral Systems and Political Participation #Gender Politics and Representation #Historical Gender and Feminism Studies

paper · pdf · doi:10.1177/0160323x18824387

openalex publication_date 2018/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25

Abstract

This article “goes local” to investigate the representation of women on city councils, seeking explanations for the variation in women’s descriptive representation at the municipal level. Using the State of New Jersey (NJ) as a case, it is asked: what explains why women fare electorally better in some NJ municipalities than in others? More specifically, what explains “blanks”—or councils on which women are absent—in women’s representation in local politics? It is demonstrated that council size is a significant predictor of women’s presence or absence, but not percentage representation, on city councils.

Citations

• Women in Local Government

Cited by

• Councillors’ intentions to seek re-election in a gender-balanced local government system: evidence from Iceland
• Political competition and representation in municipal councils

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