A study examining the relationship between the gender of local government leaders and their adoption of sustainability practices surveyed 1,672 U.S. local governments nationwide and found that jurisdictions led by women are more likely to implement: community-based energy conservation practices, as well as redistributive programs targeting vulnerable populations that are designed to address income inequality and promote social equity. The authors suggest that female leaders' greater openness to citizen engagement and a focus on communal interests may contribute to these findings.
Positive Correlation
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Jurisdictions with female leaders are more likely to adopt community energy conservation practices, with a 29.2% increase in adoption rates.
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Female-led jurisdictions also exhibit a 12.7% increase in the adoption of redistributive programs aimed at vulnerable populations.
Implications of Findings
- Female leaders may prioritize community-focused initiatives and exhibit greater receptivity to local activists advocating for sustainability.
- The study suggests that women's socialization to value relationships and communal interests may influence governance styles, leading to more environmentally and socially responsible policymaking.
Source ▼
Beyond community characteristics: a leader’s gender and local government adoption of energy conservation practices and redistributive programs
Most research examining factors associated with local government adoption of sustainability practices focuses on the impact of community characteristics. Little is known about whether adoption is also related to the characteristics of the leaders in these jurisdictions. To address this gap in the literature, this exploratory study uses data from a national survey of U.S. local governments (n = 1,672) to examine the potential correlation between adoption of certain sustainability practices and the gender of a jurisdiction’s highest elected official. Our regression models find that jurisdictions led by women were more likely to have adopted redistributive programmes and practices encouraging community-based energy conservation. But, there is no correlation between a local government’s adoption of measures promoting government energy conservation and its leader’s gender. Future research should explore whether female leaders’ greater openness to citizen involvement in the policymaking process and women’s socialisation to focus on communal rather than individual interests help account for our findings.
George C. Homsy
