The indirect effect of gender on perceived career and influence among German national parliamentarians

Abstract

This article investigates mechanisms behind career and influence (in)equality among men and women in the German Parliament (Bundestag). The German members of parliament (MPs) comprises a particularly interesting political elite to study as the parliament already contains a critical mass of women, although the gender regime setting of the country is relatively conservative. To collect the data required for this study, a survey was conducted on the entire German Parliament. This article employs a Structural Equation Model which was confirmed to fit the empirical data well, and shows that, although no general effects of gender were apparent, gender indirectly, through housework demands, affected career and influence as perceived by the MPs themselves (self-assessed).