Gender, Ministers and Institutions in Scotland

Government ministers occupy some of the highest rungs of political power. Access to this power is also gendered. Historically, most of the occupants appointed to these positions have been men from majority groups, alongside the prime ministers and presidents appointing them. However, significant changes have occurred globally in recent years, first, through growing numbers of women prime ministers and presidents around the world – though they are still a relatively small club at the top – and second, through increasing political pressure (both national and international) to appoint parity cabinets with equal numbers of men and women. This paper investigates the gendered dynamics of political careers through a study of ministers in post-devolution Scotland, moving the research agenda on gender and the executive in the UK beyond Westminster and Whitehall, and adding an important new case study to the comparative literature. Drawing on quantitative data (1999-2024) on the descriptive profiles and career trajectories of male and female Scottish Government ministers and junior ministers, documentary analysis of the formal rules that ministerial activities and behaviour, and media accounts of cabinet formation, re-shuffles and resignations, we ask who gets to the top, how they are appointed, and what resources are at their disposal. Scotland provides an interesting case study to examine political careers over time, as the establishment of a new Scottish Parliament in 1999 meant that many of the ‘rules of the game’ were in flux, providing a unique opportunity to evaluate the design of, and interplay between, old and new, formal and informal rules in action, as well as to examine how political careers operate in a multi-level political system and at the sub-state tier of government. The Scottish case is also internationally considered to be a case of successful and gender-sensitive ‘constitutional engineering’, where favourable opportunity structures and strategic women’s movement mobilization resulted in concrete gender equality outcomes, most notably in the achievement of high levels of women’s representation in the Scottish Parliament. However, while we find evidence of ‘re-gendered’ ministerial career paths, our analysis also highlights the persistence of gendered inequalities. We conclude by considering the wider implications of these findings for the study of executives and political careers, ‘new’ institutions, and the general and gendered dynamics of institutional continuity and change.