השפעת ייצוג נשי בכיר בשלטון המקומי על תקצוב חברתי

Drawing on Representative Bureaucracy Theory, our study focuses on local government in Israel to examine the correlation between Passive Representation ‒ that is, the number of women in key positions ‒ and Active Representation ‒ that is,promoting policy preferences of women voters. We use OLS regression models, with panel data concluding nine years of municipalities and local councils' data (excluding ultra orthodox and Arab local authorities). Passive representation (explaining variables) is measured by four key local government positions, two of which are political positions: members of the municipal council board and the mayor. Two additional key positions are bureaucratic ones at the head of local government bureaucracy: the CEO(Chief Executive Officer) and the Treasurer. Based on accumulated evidence, from the literature, women express a preference for investment in education and welfare.Therefore, active representation (explained variable) is measured as the municipality’s expenditure on education and welfare. No correlation was found between women’s representation and the welfare budget. Correlation was found between women’s representation in key positions (mayor, CEO and treasurer) and municipal expenditure on education .Moreover, findings indicate that the CEO position is the only position with significant positive increase in self-expenditure on education by itself. These findings therefore imply that introducing policies to promote the appointment of women CEOs in municipalities may be more effective in advancing the policy preferences of women in local government decisions.