We investigate whether term limits can help historically underrepresented groups, such as women, gain faster access to … positions of political power. We exploit evidence from Italian local elections where, in a context of rapidly increasing women … higher if term limits had not been extended. The impact is stronger in municipalities with a larger presence of women at …

The supply of women into senior management has changed little despite well-intentioned efforts. We argue that the … biggest effect is from supply-side factors that inhibit females' decision to enter competitions: Women are under …-confident about winning, men are over-confident; women are more risk averse than men in some settings; and, most importantly, women …