Faculty Name: Diana O’Brien

Preferred contact information: dzobrien@usc.edu

Project Title: Where Women Lead: Female Party Leaders in Developed States

Position description: This project examines political party leadership in developed countries. In particular, we will explore the factors that allow female politicians to become party leaders. The aim of this research is to identify the party- and country-level characteristics that permit women to ascend to these roles. These include party ideology, previous electoral success, mode of leadership selection, and electoral system rules. The role of the research assistant in this project will be to identify and evaluate existing studies on party leaders and to help with the collection of relevant data.

Required skills: The student should be able to conduct basic bibliographic research, identify and collect data, and write in a clear and concise manner.