<p>We examine how executive gender influences firms’ management of political risk using a sample of executive transitions in U.S. firms. We find that perceived political risk increases by 13.68% following the appointment of a female executive, while non-political and idiosyncratic risks remain unchanged. We find that incoming female executives withdraw from the political process by reducing their firms’ lobbying expenses and by scaling back hiring and capital investments. Female executives also appear to adjust their actions to the local institutional environment. They undertake more substantial disengagement when operating in less corrupt settings but adopt a more cautious approach in highly corrupt environments, where retaliation is more likely and the associated costs are higher<b>.</b> This measured withdrawal does not seem to affect the CSR ratings, reduce share of government contracts, or draw undue attention from institutional investors or analysts. Our findings highlight that female executives respond to political risk by rebalancing it across political and organizational domains. Female executives strategically cut lobbying while increasing stakeholder orientation; they reduce politically motivated investments while improving focus on internal operations and transparency. We show that female executives handle political risk very differently than their male counterparts.</p>