The Korea Local Administration Review

This study explored the relationship between the district magnitude and thewomen’s representation in local councils. The local governments, with femalecandidates for local councils in 2010 local election, were investigated. In theresearch model the dependent variable was the ratio of female representativesin a local council. The independent variable was the district magnitudemeasured by the average number of representatives of electoral districts ineach local government. The characteristics of local governments and femalecandidates for local councils were employed as control variables. The finding isthat the district magnitude of local governments has an effect on therepresentation of women in local councils. An increase in a district magnitudeleads to an increase in the ratio of female representatives of a local council.From this empirical finding it is concluded that the electoral district system canplay an important role to enhance the women’s representation in local councils.
□ Keywords: women’s representation, local election, electoral district, districtmagnitude, local council