Off-campus WSU users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your WSU access ID and password, then click the "Off-campus Download" button below.
Non-WSU users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.
Access Type
WSU Access
Date of Award
January 2022
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Department
Political Science
First Advisor
Sharon F. Lean
Abstract
Women are under-represented in all aspects of politics and all areas of the world. A growing body of research has focused on explaining the reasons for this under-representation by asking why we have so few women in politics and examining the challenges they face once they are in office. Much of this research has focused on national level politics, even though we know that in systems of multi-level governance with multiple points of decision making, the decisions local officials make will have a profound impact on citizens’ lives (Smith 2014; Vengroff, Nyiri, and Fugiero 2003). Research on gender and politics is also heavily focused on women in the U.S. and in Western Europe. We know that there is a gender gap in political representatives’ attitudes, preferences, and views but we have controversial data as to whether this is because women act like women or because they follow patterned characteristics over time and perceive and experience the local office differently than men (Duerst-Lahti 2002, 2010). In my dissertation I create and develop a framework to study the gendered nature of local executive office in Bulgarian municipalities. Based on detailed study of Bulgarian mayors, I ask: (1) Whether (and how) gender and gendered characteristics affect local executive officials’ road to power; (2) how gender influences the way in which local executives experience and perceive of their day-to-day work and responsibilities; and (3) whether (and how) gender and gendered characteristics affect local executive representatives’ preferences, attitudes, and behavior in office.
To answer my research questions, I bridge together theories of local politics, women’s representation, and gendered experiences and performances to study and understand the role of gender and gendered characteristics in local executive government in Bulgaria. I apply representation literature by focusing on local executive perspective which argues that while we have begun to address the nexus of executive leadership and participation of women within it, we are still far behind in addressing diverse levels of government (Rose,2013).
Recommended Citation
Gancheva, Silviya Stefanova, "Achieving Equality: Women And Men In Local Government In Bulgaria" (2022). Wayne State University Dissertations. 3779.
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/3779