Men Are From Mars, and Women Are From Venus? Political Ambition of Women and Men Within the Legislature

ABSTRACT Research indicates that women are less ambitious than men to enter politics, but does gendered ambition continue for people in national politics? Using data from the Political Elites in Latin America Survey collected between 2008 and 2017 in 18 Latin American presidential systems, optimal pair matching, and multilevel estimation techniques, we find that women with similar credentials to men are equally likely to want to continue in politics. However, men's desire to continue in politics decreases when women's political presence is high, with men preferring state/local executive posts instead. These findings show that the presence of women not only may have a positive effect on women's ambition but also influences men's political career choice. Moreover, women, but not men, exhibit a stronger desire to remain in the legislature when immediate reelection is possible, while men, unlike women, are more likely to seek national executive office if they represent an urban district.