Double-Edged Sword of Female Political Leadership: Gender Diversity–Inducing and Gender Diversity–Reducing Effects in the Workplace

This study examines how the election of a top female political leader affects the representation of women within organizations. We argue that the election of a top female political leader has two countervailing effects. On the one hand, having a top female political leader can increase the representation of women in higher-level positions in organizations, leading to a gender diversity–inducing effect. On the other hand, it can also generate a disproportionate outflow of women from wage employment into entrepreneurship, leading to a gender diversity–reducing effect. Finally, the strength of the two effects will depend on female employee’s qualification signals. Using an exogenous presidential election result from South Korea, we find broad support for our theory and hypotheses.