The impact of women’s leadership in local governments: the case of Spain

The main objective of this paper is to analyse whether the gender of the mayor and the municipal council members affects compliance with the principles of budgetary stability and financial sustainability contained in Organic Law 2/2012 on Budgetary Stability and Financial sustainability. We find that in Spanish local governments during the period 2013–2016, the leadership of women mayors contributes to improving the financial situation of the local government. In particular, the presence of women mayors governing with a high proportion of female councillors increases the probability of compliance with regulations on budgetary stability, financial sustainability and the legal debt limit. Thus, the Law for Effective Equality of Women and Men favours compliance with the Law on Budgetary Stability and Financial Sustainability. In addition, the results show that in pre electoral periods, women mayors are less likely to employ strategies designed to enhance their re election chances.