Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.51680/ev.39.1.4
Women in local politics and budget credibility in Croatia and Slovenia
Simona Prijaković
orcid.org/0000-0001-7835-582X
; Institute of Public Finance, Zagreb, Croatia
*
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Purpose: The position of women and their participation in political life are among the key issues in global gender equality debates. This paper examines the relationship between female representation in local politics and budget credibility in Slovenia and Croatia, addressing whether greater female involvement enhances budget transparency and accountability at the local level.
Methodology: The share of female council members is expressed as the percentage of all councillors, while the presence of a female mayor is represented by a dummy variable equal to one if the mayor is female, and zero otherwise. Budget credibility is assessed by budget deviations, calculated as the absolute difference between planned and actual total expenditures divided by planned total expenditures. Cluster analysis was conducted for all 212 Slovenian urban municipalities and municipalities and 556 Croatian cities and municipalities for the year 2023.
Results: The analysis reveals a negative relationship between the share of female councillors and total expenditure deviations. Local governments with a greater proportion of women in representative bodies tend to have higher budget credibility, indicating improved budget credibility associated with greater female representation.
Conclusion: Enhancing female representation in local councils promotes higher budget credibility, offering important policy implications for gender equality and fiscal governance in Slovenia and Croatia. These findings underscore the value of women’s political participation in strengthening local financial management.
Keywords
female representation; budget credibility; cluster analysis; local councils; local governments
Hrčak ID:
348457
URI
Publication date:
28.6.2026.
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