IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v10y2021i4p128-d527798.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Women Mayors in Spain: An Analysis of Gender Differences in the Management and Quality of Information on Municipal Websites

Author

Listed:
  • Francisco-Javier Herrero-Gutiérrez

    (Department of Sociology and Communication, Faculty of Social Science, University of Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain)

  • Núria Simelio

    (Department of Journalism and Communication Studies, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain)

  • Lara Carrascosa Puertas

    (Department of Communication Sciences, University of La Laguna, 38200 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain)

Abstract

This article analyses the differences in the level of transparency and quality of information on the institutional websites of Spanish councils depending on whether the mayor’s office is held by a woman or a man. We focus on 605 Spanish municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants in which women mayors represent 26.3% (n = 159) of the total. The method is based on 52 quantitative indicators divided into two thematic blocks related to municipal transparency and to information for participation. The principal results reveal that municipalities led by women yield better results in terms of compliance with the indicators evaluated, with 50.68%, compared to the municipalities in which the mayor is a man, with 38.13%. In addition, a more detailed analysis reveals how women mayors obtain better results in all groups of indicators: transparency, quality of the information published on municipal websites and tools provided for citizen participation. The study reveals how the increase in elected women has a positive influence on the implementation of policies that allow for more transparent information and communication and that promote greater inclusion of citizens in the public debate.

Suggested Citation

  • Francisco-Javier Herrero-Gutiérrez & Núria Simelio & Lara Carrascosa Puertas, 2021. "Women Mayors in Spain: An Analysis of Gender Differences in the Management and Quality of Information on Municipal Websites," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-13, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:10:y:2021:i:4:p:128-:d:527798
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/4/128/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/10/4/128/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Clots-Figueras, Irma, 2011. "Women in politics: Evidence from the Indian States," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7-8), pages 664-690, August.
    2. Karpowitz, Christopher F. & Mendelberg, Tali & Shaker, Lee, 2012. "Gender Inequality in Deliberative Participation," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 106(3), pages 533-547, August.
    3. Clots-Figueras, Irma, 2011. "Women in politics," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7), pages 664-690.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Baltrunaite, Audinga & Bello, Piera & Casarico, Alessandra & Profeta, Paola, 2014. "Gender quotas and the quality of politicians," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 62-74.
    2. Mavisakalyan, Astghik & Tarverdi, Yashar, 2019. "Gender and climate change: Do female parliamentarians make difference?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 151-164.
    3. Benjamin Marx & Vincent Pons & Vincent Rollet, 2022. "Electoral Turnovers," NBER Working Papers 29766, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Raphael Bruce & Alexsandros Cavgias & Luis Meloni & Mario Remigio, 2021. "Under Pressure: Women's Leadership During the COVID-19 Crisis," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2021_19, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    5. Elisabetta Lodigiani & Sara Salomone, 2015. "Migration-induced Transfers of Norms. Political Empowerment?The case of Female Political Empowerment," Working Papers 2015:19, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    6. Francisco Pino, 2014. "Is There Gender Bias Among Voters ?Evidence from the Chilean Congressional Elections," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2014-53, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    7. Kirsten Burkhardt & Pascal Nguyen & Evelyne Poincelot, 2020. "Agents of change: Women in top management and corporate environmental performance," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(4), pages 1591-1604, July.
    8. Sofia Amaral & Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay & Rudra Sensarma, 2015. "Public Work Programs and Gender-based Violence: The Case of NREGA in India," Discussion Papers 15-09, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham.
    9. Prakash, Nishith & Rockmore, Marc & Uppal, Yogesh, 2019. "Do criminally accused politicians affect economic outcomes? Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    10. Bagues, Manuel & Campa, Pamela, 2021. "Can gender quotas in candidate lists empower women? Evidence from a regression discontinuity design," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    11. Ascensión Andina-Díaz & Paula Penalva & M. Socorro Puy, 2020. "Women’s Preferences for Social Spending: Theory and Evidence from Spanish Political Representatives," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 235(4), pages 119-151, December.
    12. Oasis Kodila-Tedika & Simplice A. Asongu, 2015. "Women in Power and Power of Women: the Liberian Experience," Research Africa Network Working Papers 15/021, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    13. Braga, Michela & Scervini, Francesco, 2017. "The performance of politicians: The effect of gender quotas," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 1-14.
    14. Elisabetta LODIGIANI & Sara SALOMONE, 2020. "Migration-induced transfers of norms: the case of female political empowerment," JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 86(4), pages 435-477, December.
    15. Bhalotra, Sonia & Clots-Figueras, Irma & Cassan, Guilhem & Iyer, Lakshmi, 2014. "Religion, politician identity and development outcomes: Evidence from India," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 4-17.
    16. Yuko Mori, 2013. "More Political Parties, More Redistribution? Empirical Evidence from State Governments in India," Global COE Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series gd12-286, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    17. Bhalotra, Sonia & Clots-Figueras, Irma & Iyer, Lakshmi, 2013. "Path-Breakers: How Does Women’s Political Participation Respond to Electoral Success?," Economics Discussion Papers 9008, University of Essex, Department of Economics.
    18. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo, 2016. "Field Experiments on Discrimination," NBER Working Papers 22014, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Sonia Bhalotra & Irma Clots-Figueras, 2014. "Health and the Political Agency of Women," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(2), pages 164-197, May.
    20. Saeed, Abubakr & Riaz, Hammad & Liedong, Tahiru Azaaviele & Rajwani, Tazeeb, 2022. "The impact of TMT gender diversity on corporate environmental strategy in emerging economies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 536-551.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:10:y:2021:i:4:p:128-:d:527798. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.