Gendered Package Deals and the Exclusion of Women from Power

Women’s chances of entering political leadership positions remain lower than men’s. We introduce a novel theoretical framework for understanding how gendered political hierarchies are maintained through strategic selection practices. We theorize that selectors engage in what we term gendered package deals–allocating political leadership positions in interdependent ways that signal gender inclusion without disrupting male-dominated power structures. We explore gendered package deals in political appointments across the sixteen German states over three decades using the StatePol dataset. Our findings reveal that low numbers of women in more powerful positions (e.g., leaders of parliamentary party groups or prestigious committees) systematically coincide with higher numbers of women in less powerful roles (e.g., deputy leaders of parliamentary party groups or vice parliamentary presidents). These findings invite a rethinking of women’s limited access to political leadership as a strategic practice embedded in interdependent gatekeeping decisions.