The literature on vice presidencies fails to explain the women’s inclusion as vice-presidential candidates, as the strategies of ticket balancing predict a higher number of female running mates than what is observed. Based on theories of gender representation, this study develops hypotheses about the inclusion of women as vice-presidential candidates and tests them using an original dataset comprising 471 presidential tickets from Latin America (1978–2022), a region where women’s representation has expanded. The analysis reveals that small and left-wing parties nominate more women as vice presidents than major and right-wing parties. Although female vice-presidential candidates tend to have less political experience than their male presidential counterparts, they often add a diverse and complementary policy expertise to the ticket. The findings underscore that women’s inclusion as vice-presidential candidates depends mostly on partisan calculations, since gender quotas rarely apply to the vice presidency.

How can everyday entertainment shape gender politics in authoritarian regimes? Despite autocrats’ heavy control over media, political scientists studying authoritarianism largely neglect television programming. Particularly surprising given their target demographics, cooking shows are absent in political science gender analyses. Drawing from over 600 hours of Turkish cooking show content, I introduce conservative gender edutainment to capture the mechanisms by which TV shows facilitate authoritarian regimes’ gender construction projects. Using quantitative analysis of cooking show content, I first identify two complementary pedagogies — modeling and othering — that respectively teach adherence to, and vilify deviation from, regime-specified behavioral norms. I then use intertextual analysis to extract content that engagingly instructs viewers in the ideal woman in “New Turkey,” the neoconservative vision articulated by Turkey’s ruling (Justice and Development Party) AKP. Findings provide novel insight into vernacular channels of gender construction, while underscoring the added value TV-as-data holds for studies of identity politics in authoritarian contexts.

LGBTQ+ people remain underrepresented in politics, leading scholars to examine a variety of barriers to office. Based on work on women in politics, this paper focuses on one possible barrier: political finance. Is there a political financing gap between straight cisgender and LGBTQ+ candidates? Are there inequalities among LGBTQ+ candidates? If so, what explains them? This article explores these questions by combining a dataset of out LGBTQ+ candidates in the 2015–21 federal elections with political donations data from Elections Canada. When we examine bivariate financing gaps, we find LGBTQ+ candidates receive less money than their straight cisgender counterparts. These gaps are gendered: queer cisgender women, transgender, and nonbinary candidates receive the least money. When we adjust for other variables, we still find LGBTQ+ candidates in the Conservative Party and transgender and nonbinary candidates across parties receive less money. This article contributes to work on gender and identity in campaign finance and LGBTQ+ representation.

Partisanship is the primary driver of voter decision-making in the United States. Partisans expect to prefer their party’s candidates’ issue stances and personal characteristics. Even when they learn negative information, motivated reasoning often keeps them from changing their candidate evaluations or vote choice. However, there is a “tipping point” at which partisans will update their priors and may vote against their preferred party’s candidate. This study seeks to determine whether voters are more likely to reach that tipping point when they see a woman in their party, and under what circumstances. We use a unique experimental design to vary a candidate’s gender, congruence with major elements of the party platform, and their participation in a scandal. We find that women are often evaluated more negatively and that subjects rely on substantive information more when evaluating women candidates. Our findings suggest that campaigns and campaign information may matter more for women candidates.

Past research alerts to the increasingly unpleasant climate surrounding public debate on social media. Female politicians, in particular, are reporting serious attacks targeted at them. Yet, research offers inconclusive insights regarding the gender gap in online incivility. This paper aims to address this gap by comparing politicians with varying levels of prominence and public status in different institutional contexts. Using a machine learning approach for analyzing over 23 million tweets addressed to politicians in Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, we find little consistent evidence of a gender gap in the proportion of incivility. However, more prominent politicians are considerably and consistently more likely than others to receive uncivil attacks. While prominence influences US male and female politicians’ probability to receive uncivil tweets the same way, women in our European sample receive incivility regardless of their status. Most importantly, the incivility varies in quality and across contexts, with women, especially in more plurality contexts, receiving more identity-based attacks than other politicians.

Research on extremism has increasingly incorporated a gender perspective, revealing how the politics of extremism and gender fuel one another. Yet most evidence of the gendered politics of extremism is on far-right and Islamist non-state actors, neglecting other forms, including state-sanctioned extremism in which the state is complicit with the violent effects of extremism. This article investigates a type of state-sanctioned extremism, wherein nationalist movements, supported to varying degrees by governments, seek to “protect” Buddhism across Asia. Gendered motives, forms, and impacts of political extremism can be observed in Buddhist Protectionism movements, manifesting in societal conflict, hate speech and other acts of violence and intolerance against ethnic and religious minorities. We ask to what extent gender norms and structures affect the motives, forms, and impact of Buddhist extremism using an original dataset encompassing nationally representative surveys and qualitative research in selected communities in Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar. We find that extremist discourses and practices exist on a Buddhist Femonationalist Continuum across the three cases with misogyny and anti-Muslim threat narratives played up, both affirming the power of masculine hegemony and justifying the use of violence to control minority populations and women.

Expert institutions are increasingly expected not only to provide the best professional expertise but also to ensure equal presence of women. Yet while descriptive gender representation in bureaucracies and courts is extensively researched, we largely lack studies of women’s presence on expert advisory bodies. Drawing on large-n data on the composition of Norwegian expert advisory commissions, the paper investigates and evaluates how the share of women on these commissions has developed over the last half-century. It finds that while overall gender parity was achieved in recent decades, women remain strongly under-represented among commission chairs, particularly academic chairs, and among academic members from the powerful economics discipline. Normatively speaking, the developments toward parity are promising, and we find no empirical indication that proportional representation and competence requirements are in tension. On the contrary, persistent gender gaps among economists on commissions and academic chairs may endanger adequate provision of expertise into policy-making.

Many countries globally have adopted national policy commitments to address violence against women (VAW). Yet the implementation of these policies largely relies on subnational governments’ actions. Why do some but not all subnational governments adopt policies to implement VAW response services? Surprisingly, few studies have addressed this question. Drawing on norm diffusion and gender policy reform theories, we assess the factors driving the adoption of these local policies in Indonesia. Since Indonesia adopted its domestic violence law in 2004, only one-third of cities/regencies have adopted local regulations (peraturan daerah) on VAW response services. Using event history analysis, we analyzed data from 509 cities/regencies from 2004 to 2022. Our findings show that the presence of local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) connected to national and transnational VAW advocacy networks, and women’s local legislative representation are significant factors. However, province-level morality regulations constrain the progressive effects of the VAW advocacy networks and women’s political presence.

The White House Gender Policy Council (GPC) was established by President Joe Biden in 2021. It built on earlier offices like the White House Council on Women and Girls, which was created during the Barack Obama administration but was dissolved under the first Donald Trump administration, and the White House Office for Women’s Initiatives and Outreach, which existed during the Bill Clinton administration but was eliminated by the George W. Bush administration. The GPC was responsible for the advancement of gender equity and equality in both domestic and foreign policy. Jennifer Klein (JK) and Rachel Vogelstein (RV) served, respectively, as Director and Deputy Director until the GPC was dismantled by the second Trump administration in 2025. This is a slightly edited version of an interview that took place with Mona Lena Krook (MLK) via Zoom on February 16, 2026.

The National Security Council (NSC), established in 1947, advises and assists the President of the United States on matters of national and international security. Members of the NSC include staff seconded from government agencies, like Andrea Freeman (AF) from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Cailin Crockett (CC) from the Department of Defense. During the Joe Biden administration, CC also held a unique position dual-hatted as a Director on the NSC and as a Senior Advisor on the White House Gender Policy Council. This is a slightly edited version of interviews that took place with Mona Lena Krook (MLK) via Zoom on January 5, 2026, and February 2, 2026.

The Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues (S/GWI or GWI) at the United States Department of State was established in 2009 when Hillary Clinton served as U.S. Secretary of State during the administration of Barack Obama. S/GWI’s mandate was to promote the rights and empowerment of women and girls through U.S. foreign policy. During the administration of Joe Biden, Kat Fotovat (KF) served as Senior Bureau Official and, for two years, as Acting Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues. Rachel Wein (RW) was the Women, Peace, and Security Advisor, and Varina Winder (VW) served as Senior Advisor and Chief of Staff. In 2025, the Donald Trump administration eliminated S/GWI as well as the Ambassadorship. This is an edited and compiled version of three interviews that took place with Mona Lena Krook (MLK) via Zoom on January 7, 2026; January 14, 2026; and January 30, 2026.

The United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues led the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues at the U.S. Department of State. The position was created in 2009 when Hillary Clinton served as U.S. Secretary of State during the administration of Barack Obama. Ambassador Geeta Rao Gupta (GRG) was the fourth Ambassador-at-Large and the first woman of color to hold the position. In 2025, the Ambassadorship and Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues were eliminated by the Donald Trump administration. This is a slightly edited version of an interview that took place with Mona Lena Krook (MLK) via Zoom on February 4, 2026.

The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) at the United States Department of State focuses on the interlocking issues of democracy, human rights, and workers’ rights. It is also responsible for producing annual reports on the state of human rights in countries around the world. During the administration of Joe Biden, Tambria Schroeder (TS) was the Gender Equality Policy Advisor, and Andrea Gillespie (AG) served as Senior Advisor in the Office of the Special Envoy to Advance the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons and in the Office of Multilateral and Global Affairs. This is an edited and compiled version of interviews that took place with Mona Lena Krook (MLK) via Zoom on January 8, 2026, and January 27, 2026.

The United States Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons was established by presidential mandate and sat in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor at the U.S. Department of State. The position was established in 2015 when John Kerry served as the U.S. Secretary of State during the second Barack Obama administration. It did not exist during the first Donald Trump administration. Special Envoy Jessica Stern (JS) became the second person to hold this position when she was appointed by President Joe Biden in 2021. The post has not existed since January 2025. This is a slightly edited version of an interview that took place with Mona Lena Krook (MLK) via Zoom on January 5, 2026.

The Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was established during the first administration of Barack Obama to coordinate gender equality policy and programs across USAID bureaus and missions. Susan Markham (SM) was appointed Senior Coordinator during the second Obama administration, 2014–2017, while Jamille Bigio (JB) served in this role during the administration of President Joe Biden, 2021–2025. This is a slightly edited version of an interview that took place with Mona Lena Krook (MLK) via Zoom on March 23, 2026.

The Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) led the Agency’s work on LGBTQI+ issues, integrating LGBTQI+ people across all inclusive development programs, policies, research, and training. The position was created in 2014 during the administration of Barack Obama to ensure that the promotion and protection of LGBTQI+ rights were fully incorporated into all aspects of USAID’s work. Jay Gilliam (JG) was appointed during the Joe Biden administration as the second Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator, as the position remained vacant during the first Donald Trump administration. In 2025, Trump dismantled the entire Agency, including the LGBTQI+ portfolio. This is a slightly edited version of an interview that took place with Mona Lena Krook (MLK) via Zoom on January 28, 2026.

The Bureau on Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG) at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) advanced democratic development around the globe, with a focus on building strong institutions and protecting citizens’ rights. Julie Denham (JD) served as Senior Advisor on Elections and Political Transitions. The gender team at DRG included Caroline Hubbard (CH) as Senior Gender Advisor and Team Lead, Rebecca Gordon (RG) as Senior Gender Specialist, Alessia Stewart (AS) as Gender Advisor, and Meg McClure (MM) as Coordinator of the Network for Gender Inclusive Democracy. In early 2025, the Donald Trump administration officially shut down USAID, including the democracy, human rights, and governance portfolio. This is an edited and compiled version of five interviews that took place with Mona Lena Krook (MLK) via Zoom on December 16, 2025; January 9, 2026; January 15, 2026; January 27, 2026; and January 28, 2026.

The Women, Peace, and Security Policy Advisor at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) served as the agency’s lead responsible for implementing the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Act of 2017 and the 2023 U.S. Strategy on Women, Peace, and Security. Tazreen Hussain (TH) served as the USAID Women, Peace, and Security Policy Advisor from 2024 to 2025. In early 2025, the Donald Trump administration officially shut down USAID, including the women, peace, and security portfolio. This is a slightly edited version of an interview that took place with Mona Lena Krook (MLK) via Zoom on December 12, 2025.