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Gendered Leadership: The Effects of Female Development Agency Leaders on Foreign Aid Spending
Author(s) -
Jones Robert C.,
Swiss Liam
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
sociological forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.937
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1573-7861
pISSN - 0884-8971
DOI - 10.1111/socf.12104
Subject(s) - agency (philosophy) , gender mainstreaming , context (archaeology) , sociology , gender and development , power (physics) , gender studies , gender analysis , leadership style , leadership development , managerialism , political science , public relations , economic growth , gender equality , economics , social science , politics , law , democracy , paleontology , physics , quantum mechanics , biology
This article examines the effects of gender on the leadership of bilateral development aid agencies, particularly their official development assistance ( ODA ) allocations toward gender‐related programming. Drawing on earlier research on gendered leadership, the article tests the hypothesis that female director generals ( DG s) and ministers responsible for aid agencies will allocate more ODA than their male counterparts toward gender programming. This existing literature on gendered leadership is divided: some scholars argue that women and men have distinct leadership styles on account of their gender, while others argue that the only distinguishing factor is the institutional context in which they lead. Drawing on data collected on aid flows and agency leadership within the major Western aid donors of the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development ( OECD ) Development Assistance Committee ( DAC ) over the period from 1995 through 2009, we use pooled time series analysis to examine the effects of gendered leadership on aid allocation. Our analysis reveals a tendency for female DG s and ministers to focus ODA on gender‐mainstreaming programs, while male DG s focus ODA on gender‐focused programs. We argue that these divergent priorities reflect the women's desire to reform gendered power structures within their respective aid agencies, and the men's desire to maintain existing gender power structures from which they benefit.