This paper analyses the (long) march of 33 women into 29 post-war cabinets of the Netherlands. Gender balance as a norm has not reached Dutch cabinets yet, but since 2003 one-third has become the acceptable minimum and women did access the male-coded ministries like agriculture and defense. The core question of this research is whether women ministers became more powerful over time, as individual ministers and as a specific group. Referring to the literature – amongst others – on political leadership, part of the paper will discuss how to measure this: which indicators for ministerial power are to be distinguished (portfolio; impact on policy making process; relationship/performance with the press, parliament, civil servants, party leader, etc. ) and which individual, social and institutional conditions effect the degree of power (number of women colleagues; women’s representation in parliament; degree of ‘feminism’ within the cabinet, party and society; party ideology of the cabinet; personal characteristics; support by top civil servants and by male colleagues etc.). Furthermore, the historical approach allows for an analysis of the impact of transformations in the social and political context, such as party and party system change.
In the other part of the paper recent findings on women’s recruitment to executive office and on women’s representation in cabinet, will be confronted with the results of the Dutch case. Of special interest is the Dutch institutional context of coalition cabinets (role of party ideology and gender) and the decisive role of the prime-minister-to-be in the composition of the cabinet.
The empirical analyses will be based on several types of data: in-depth interviews with 28 women cabinet ministers (5 are deceased), statistical background data (individual and institutional) and media reports.
