Pedro-José Martínez-Córdoba

The effort to close the gender gaps in employment is one of the priorities worldwide to help address the disparity that exists between men and women in terms of rights and opportunities and to grow the economy in a sustainable way. Several academics and international organizations are interested in understanding its evolution, as well as the reasons and consequences of its existence. In this sense, the crisis alters the labor markets, affecting male and female employment ratios to varying degrees. To determine the foundations and consequences of the COVID‐19 in the labor sphere: we first discuss the most relevant international analysis of employment in pre‐and post‐COVID‐19 times. Second, we synthesize the state of the art of the most relevant literature on gender gap in employment and its drivers, especially those related to the impact of the coronavirus. To achieve this, we revised 731 papers since 1989 until January 2024. The reports of different organizations, as well as scientific studies indicate that the coronavirus has represented a setback for female empowerment. This is evident in higher rates of destroyed employment due to the pandemic impact on more feminized sectors, and women have assumed greater responsibilities at home compared to males. With a sample of 394 articles published between 2020 and January 2024, we employed a bibliometric approach to understand the evolution of scientific research on the subject. Our results provide a theoretical and conceptual framework that facilitates academic progress in understanding gender inequality, as well as practical guidance in identifying gaps.

Urban environments are key to mitigating the effects of climate change, contributing to sustainability and improving people's lives. A significant part of the commitment to sustainable development is made by assuming the vital role played by local governments as the administrations closest to citizens and responsible for providing most of the essential services for the community. Therefore, knowing local governments’ levels of spending efficiency in urban environments, as well as the exogenous factors that explain these levels, will allow us to analyse the management carried out in this area and propose improvements to achieve the commitments made (Agenda 2030, the Green Deal, Fit for 55). One of the novelties of our research is considering climate as an exogenous variable in explaining efficiency levels. We find that cities with more extreme climates are more efficient in managing environmental expenditure, and densely populated municipalities are less efficient. We also conclude that local governments with more revenues or where tourism is one of the main economic activities improve efficiency, while the gender of the mayor (in our case, women) and political fragmentation reduce it.

Spanish legislation on gender quotas in electoral candidate lists implies the effective incorporation of women into politics. This measure has created interest in the impact of this law on public service management (substantive representation), especially welfare services. This is due to the influence these services have on work‐life balance. Hence, the objective of this research is to determine the impact of women politicians on the efficiency of municipal welfare services. We estimate efficiency levels in public social service management using non‐parametric techniques over the last three local government legislatures in Spain. We then use truncated regression models to estimate the impact of women's substantive representation on these efficiency levels. The results confirm that more women in local government and female leadership in the opposition result in better levels of efficiency through reduced spending. In contrast, female leadership in the government and many women in the opposition reduce efficiency by supporting spending without increasing welfare services.

This article investigates whether citizens reward those politicians who achieve better results in public management with re-election. It analyses the last three electoral processes in Spanish local governments, a period that runs from the beginning of the economic crisis (2007) to the last municipal elections (2019). For periods of financial crisis, the results indicate a higher probability of re-election for governments that have better managed public services. In periods of economic growth, citizens do not take into account the capacity that rulers have shown in public management.

The COVID-19 pandemic represents the largest health and economic crisis in recent history. It has particularly affected the countries of the Mediterranean area, with serious repercussions in terms of not only infections and deaths, but also economic losses. In particular, social distancing measures, severe restrictions, and lockdowns imposed by governments have had serious repercussions on the labor market. The impact of the pandemic on the labor market has prompted numerous researchers to examine and quantify its consequences. However, mainly macroeconomic analyses have been carried out and there is a lack of studies aimed at examining the impact on the labor market in the individual municipalities. This study aims to bridge this gap by examining the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on the supply and demand of labor in Spanish municipalities, and the factors that can influence these levels of employment. The results show the relevance of the characteristics of the business fabric in the supply and demand for employment during the first months of the pandemic. In addition, they show that the economic activity of the municipality and the demographic features of the population condition the labor market.

Background: The pandemic generated by Covid-19 has changed the way of life of citizens around the world in a short time, affecting all areas of society directly or indirectly, which is facing a global health crisis with different national responses implemented by governments. Several months into the pandemic, the first after-effects of Covid-19 are beginning to be felt by citizens, who are questioning the management carried out so far. In order to improve the performance of governmental decisions to reduce the impact of the pandemic during the coming months, we calculated the levels of efficiency in the management of health resources. In addition, we identify some country characteristics that may condition efficient management. Results: We obtained significant differences according to the geographical location of the country, with European and American countries being less efficient than Asian and African countries. Likewise, we can affirm that greater freedom of expression, a higher median age and an unstable economy and labor market reduce efficiency. However, female leadership of the government and greater compliance with the rule of law offer more efficient management, as do countries that derive more revenues from tourism. Conclusions: These results provide an opportunity for political leaders to reflect on their management during these months of the pandemic in order to identify mistakes and improve the implementation of effective measures. It has been shown that using more resources does not mean managing better; therefore, policymakers need to pay special attention to the use of resources, taking into account the budgetary constraints of the public sector.

The commitment of governments to sustainable development was materialised in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and later in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the latter being a more ambitious project that positions local governments as the main agents for its implementation. With the aim of improving the sustainability of cities, this research analyses the commitment of Spanish local governments to the SDG-11, indicating possible improvements with the aim of complying with Agenda 2030. We use the X-STATIS study technique with graphic representations. The results indicate a positive trend towards achieving SDG-11, in which progressive governments are concerned with issues of inclusive and sustainable urbanisation as a result of increased citizen participation, and conservative governments focus on slum upgrading and safety in inclusive and accessible public spaces. In addition, the ideological coincidence between different administrative levels is an impetus to the fulfilment of SDG-11.