Similarly, but chiefly in the United States, caretakers are individuals who fill seats in government temporarily without ambitions to continue to hold office on their own.
Also, sometimes they do not wish to be seen as taking sides within a group of party factions or prejudicing of a primary election by picking someone who is apt to become an active candidate for the position.
At the beginning of the 20th century, it was one of the most effective ways of getting women into Congress, even though the widow may have originally only been supposed to act as a placeholder for her dead husband and was only expected to serve for a brief period.
[8] The widows may have been selected to honor the deceased member, tap voters’ sympathy, or exploit name recognition to hold onto a seat while more conventional candidates prepared for the real campaign.
It also may have helped some of the women grieve and make up for the sudden loss of income in a world where few worked outside the home.
Academics Lisa Solowiej and Thomas L. Brunell called it "arguably the single most important historical method for women to enter Congress.