Gender inequities in public organizations manifest in various forms, including gaps in leadership roles and compensation. Increasing women’s representation in elected offices may reduce gender inequities in the public sector. This study examines whether women’s representation in local elected offices reduces gender wage disparities among men and women serving in Brazilian municipal executive bureaucracies. The findings suggest that municipalities with women mayors and larger proportions of women on the city council have smaller gender wage gaps in the municipal executive bureaucracy than those with men mayors and few women councilors. Furthermore, statistical models that account for diversity among men and women mayors in terms of their age, education, and partisanship suggest that even men mayors that likely hold progressive attitudes do not reduce gender disparities to the same degree as most women mayors. These findings underscore the importance of women’s representation for reducing gender inequities in the public sector.

公共组织中的性别不平等表现为多种形式，包括领导角色和薪酬方面的差距。妇女在民选办公室中的代表人数增加可能会减少公共部门中的性别不平等现象。这项研究调查了妇女在当地民选办公室的代表人数是否减少了在巴西市政行政官僚机构任职的男女之间的性别工资差异。调查结果表明，与市长人数少，女议员人数少的市长相比，市长人数较多的市镇和市议员中女性比例较高的市镇的性别工资差距较小。此外，统计模型可根据市长的年龄，受教育程度，党派关系表明，即使是可能持进步态度的男市长也无法像大多数女市长一样，将性别差距缩小。这些发现强调了妇女代表制对于减少公共部门性别不平等的重要性。