Are Women Commissioners More Compassionate Spenders? Evidence From Florida County Governments

• Published date: 01 October 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/02750740241247566
• Author: Vernise Estorcien,Can Chen,Apu Deb,Milena I. Neshkova
• Date: 01 October 2024
• Subject Matter: Articles

Are Women Commissioners More

Compassionate Spenders? Evidence From

Florida County Governments

Vernise Estorcien

1

, Can Chen

2

, Apu Deb

3

and Milena I. Neshkova

3

Abstract

While the number of women in government has increased, prior research on whether enhancing women’s political represen-

tation alters policy choices has produced inconclusive f‌indings. This study asks if higher women’s participation in electoral

institutions at the local level is associated with a different spending prof‌ile. Using Peterson’s typology of developmental, redis-

tributive, and allocational government programs, we argue that legislative bodies with more female members will spend more

on redistributive programs than on developmental or allocational. Using data from Florida’s 67 counties between 2005 and

2015, our analysis supports this theoretical expectation. In line with critical mass theory, women’s representation in county

commissions must reach a threshold of about 33% to sway budgetary decision-making toward more extensive redistribution.

We also f‌ind that the traditional commission form of government intensif‌ies the redistributive effect of women commissioners

on county spending while having a home rule charter has no signif‌icant effect.

Keywords

gender, distributional equity, commission, county government, Florida, compositional data

Introduction

Democratic values of fairness and equality require that

women be present in political institutions in a way that is rep-

resentative of them in the population. Women’s participation

in electoral institutions increases the legitimacy of political

decisions (Arnesen & Peters, 2018; Lawless et al., 2018)

and has widely been accepted as an indicator of a country’s

level of democratic development (Bush & Zetterberg,

2021). Although women’s representation in the U.S. govern-

ment has increased in the last decades, most legislative insti-

tutions are still dominated by men. In Congress, only 24% of

the Senate and 27% of the House of Representatives are

women (Blazina & Desilver, 2021). The situation is similar

at the state level—just 12 out of 50 states (24%) elected

female governors in 2023 (CNN, 2022). In the state legisla-

tures, women occupy about 30% of the seats. With about

17.3% of commissioners’seats in U.S. counties held by

women in 2018, women’s political representation in local gov-

ernment is lower than in the federal and state governments

(Boex & Walti, 2019). Given that women constitute 51% of

the population, these numbers indicate that women’srepresen-

tation is still disproportionately low at all levels of government.

Moreover, women in both the public and private sectors remain

underrepresented in senior management positions (Bishu &

Headley, 2020; Blazina & Desilver, 2021; Guy, 2018).

While many would agree with the normative desirability

of women’s descriptive representation for reasons of political

equality and democracy, this study goes further and asks

whether women’s electoral representation substantively

impacts budget allocation toward greater redistribution.

Prior research on whether women’s representation affects

policy outcomes produced mixed f‌indings. Scholars reported

that women in elected positions are especially attuned to

issues important to women, children, and families (Dolan,

1998; Osborn, 2012; Swers, 2001). Compared to men,

women legislators tend to support programs in education,

health, and welfare (Berkman & O’Connor, 1993; Dolan &

Ford, 1995; Funk & Philips, 2019; Saint-Germain, 1989).

If female public off‌icials hold distinctive policy preferences

from their male counterparts, increasing their representa-

tion might result in substantive policy changes. Using

data from Brazilian municipalities, Funk and Philips

(2019) show that women in legislatures channel more

funds toward feminine policy areas. Other studies,

however, f‌ind no signif‌icant effect of women’s

1

Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana

University, Indianapolis, USA

2

Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University, Atlanta,

Georgia, USA

3

Department of Public Policy and Administration, Florida International

University, Miami, Florida, USA

Corresponding Author:

Vernise Estorcien, Paul. H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental

Affairs, Indiana University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, USA.

Email: vestorci@iu.edu

Article

American Review of Public Administration

2024, Vol. 54(7) 664–678

© The Author(s) 2024

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/02750740241247566

journals.sagepub.com/home/arp