Opening the gates, keeping the guards: How intra-party democracy shapes Women’s access to party leadership

Political parties are crucial gatekeepers to power, yet their internal structures often reproduce gendered inequalities. This study examines how specific institutional features –particularly distinct forms of intra-party democracy (IPD)– shape women’s descriptive representation in party leadership across 142 parties in 27 countries. Drawing on scholarship in party organization and descriptive representation, the study disaggregates both IPD into assembly-based (AIPD) and plebiscitary (PIPD) modes of participation, and leadership into two outcomes: women in top party roles and in national executive committees (NECs). Using multilevel regression and causal mediation analysis, the findings show that PIPD is associated with higher gender parity in NECs, but neither form of IPD directly predicts women’s access to top leadership. Instead, the gender composition of NECs mediates the effects of broader institutional variables—such as gender equality rules, women’s sub-organizations, and party ideology—on leadership outcomes. These results refine our understanding of how party institutions shape gendered access to power, highlighting the critical role of structural representation in advancing women’s leadership beyond formal democratic reforms.