This article investigates the feminisation of local politics. Starting from the obser‐vation that the representation of women in local electoral politics lags behind theregional and federal level, and taking into account the relevance of local partybranches in the recruitment and selection of candidates for elections, we examinethe extent to which there is an ‘internal’ feminisation of local party branches andhow this links to the ‘external’ feminisation of local electoral politics. Based on sur‐veys among local party chairs, the article maps patterns of feminisation over timeand across parties, investigates problems local branches encounter in the recruit‐ment of candidates for local elections, and analyses the (attitudes towards the)measures taken to further the integration of women in local electoral politics. Weconclude that internal and external feminisation do not always go hand in handand that local politics continues to be a male-dominated political biotope.