The impact of women’s leadership in local governments: the case of Spain

Abstract

The main objective of this article is to analyze whether the gender of the mayor and the municipal council members affects compliance with the principles of budgetary stability and financial sustainability established in the Spanish legislation, for the period 2013–2016. We find that the leadership of women mayors in local governments contributes to improving their financial situation. In particular, the presence of women mayors governing with a high proportion of female councilors (in compliance with the quota law) increases the probability of budgetary stability, financial sustainability and remaining within the legal debt limit. In addition, the results show that in pre-electoral periods, women mayors are less likely to employ strategies designed to enhance their reelection chances.