Women's Representation

Question 1

What is formal representation?

Answer 1

Formal representation is the institutional rules and procedures through which representatives are selected (ie: electoral systems, political parties, quotas)
It involves looking at factors in woman running for office and what factors are involved in women being elected.

Question 2

What is descriptive representation?

Answer 2

Descriptive representation is the presence of individuals who share a certain characteristic (ie: the number of women elected to office)

Question 3

What is substantive representation?

Answer 3

Substantive representation is when representatives act for the interests of a group (ie: ideas and actions; what women do in office)

Question 4

What is symbolic representation?

Answer 4

Symbolic representation is the feelings and attitudes that representatives evoke among citizens (ie: women MPs as role models)

Question 5

Describe Lawless and Fox’s concept of the leaky pipeline

Answer 5

Lawless and Fox’s leaky pipeline describes the many stages in which women may fall away from participating in politics:
- some women will decide to run
- some women will drop out/not be selected by a party
- some women will not be elected by the electorate

Question 6

How does gender socialisation explain the concept of the ‘leaky pipeline’?

Answer 6

• women undervalue qualifications when deciding to run for office
• With 2 equally qualified individuals, one male and one female, women are likely to undervalue their own qualifications.
• Women may perceive the political environment as being more challenging for them than it is for men…

Question 7

How does socialisation impact political ambition, having implications for the ‘leaky pipeline’?

Answer 7

• Women seeing themselves as less qualified, hence diminishing political ambition
• Less likely to be ENCOURAGED to run for office - by parties, activists, etc…
• Young women and girls are less likely to be encouraged to run for office by parents and adults around them. Less likely to be engaged with on political issues.
• Fewer role models to see - less inspiration for women to run.

Question 8

How do resources explain the ‘leaky pipeline’

Answer 8

• Time: women are often more likely to hold the majority of caring/domestic responsibilities (second shift, work at home after completing paid employment). Women do not have time to complete a ‘third shift’
• Money: women spend more time fundraising for political campaigns than men
• Education/Civics skills: women have fewer opportunities to develop the skills needed to run for office
• Networks: women may lack access to political networks or ‘feeder’ careers that tend to lead to political careers (ie: law, business, etc.)

Question 9

How can electoral systems explain the ‘leaky pipeline’?

Answer 9

• More women elected under proportional representation vs majoritarian systems because larger districts helps avoid a zero-sum choice for parties (ie: choosing between a man vs. woman)
• PR systems allow parties to run women alongside men; balance the ticket
• Majoritarian systems prioritise incumbency and name recognition: historical exclusion from representation means that male candidates are more likely to win than women.

Question 10

How can political parties explain the ‘leaky pipeline’?

Answer 10

• Parties/leadership recruit candidates; parties on the left tend to recruit and elect higher numbers of women
• Women party leaders tend to select more women candidates

Question 11

What are quotas?

Answer 11

Policies designed to fast-track women’s representation; require certain % of women to appear on candidate lists, in the legislature, or other positions of power

Question 12

How can voters explain the ‘leaky pipeline’?

Answer 12

Gender attitudes and stereotypes may make certain voters unwilling to vote for women

Question 13

How can the media explain the ‘leaky pipeline’?

Answer 13

The media tends to cover personal lives, appearance, family much more so than policy positions and credentials. It reinforces traditional stereotypes - men as competent, women as not.

Question 14

How can the impact of women’s representation differ between authoritarian and democratic regimes?

Answer 14

In authoritarian regimes, the legislature has virtually no power, and thus women’s representation can lack impact on policy even if it can change perceptions of women in power. In democracies, it is much more likely that women can affect policy.

Question 15

What difficulties are there in studying substantive representation?

Answer 15

Difficulties in defining women’s interests, a heavy focus on western feminist issues, difficulties in distinguishing opinions and preferences of an individual from a party as a whole.

Question 16

What is the descriptive-substantive link? What evidence is there for/against this?

Answer 16

The descriptive-substantive link explores how women being seen in representative politics impacts the acting in the interests of a specific group.
It has been seen that women being in office leads to the formation of ‘women friendly policies’, and that there are differences in the conduct of politics when women are involved.

Question 17

What explanations are there for why women in politics advocate for policies beneficial to women?

Answer 17

• Electoral reward?
• Linked-Fate: individual opportunities and outcomes linked to the whole group
• Gender socialisation: shared experiences may shape identities, interests, perspectives of women in ways that men are not.

Question 18

What issues are there with the descriptive-substantive link?

Answer 18

Issues of essentialisation rise here… the idea that all women will hold identical views on women’s issues and act in the same way is just not serviceable.

Question 19

What is the descriptive-symbolic link? What impact does this have?

Answer 19

The descriptive-symbolic link looks at how women’s representation impacts attitudes of citizens. This can be seen to have improved political knowledge for men and women, improved democratic satisfaction, improved trust in democracy and positively impact attitudes towards women.

Question 20

What types of quotas are there?

Answer 20

Party quotas - those voluntarily adopted by parties to overcome structural barriers
Quota laws - those that require all parties in a country to nominate a % of women to ballot
Political reservations - requiring that a certain % of women are elected to legislature

Question 21

How are quotas implemented through thresholds?

Answer 21

Thresholds require a % of women to appear on lists, or that a number of seats are reserved for women. It is believed that a 30% threshold creates substantive change.

Question 22

How are quotas implemented through sanctions?

Answer 22

Quotas can be implemented through sanctions by enforcing consequences if a party does nit follow a quota. It can include fines, or being barred from running candidates if not complying.

Question 23

How can quotas be enforced through placement mandates?

Answer 23

Placement mandates require parties to position men and women in particular places on a party list… without these, women can be placed on a party list at the bottom, thus being unlikely to get elected.

Question 24

What factors can influence the adoption of quotas?

Answer 24

Parties feeling they may be benefited electorally, the strength of a women’s movement, the diffusion of policies across regions and nations, international pressures, etc.

Question 25

How effective have quotas arguably been?

Answer 25

Quotas have been seen to have a generally positive impact on descriptive representation of women, all without undermining the quality of candidates. They have also succeeded in bringing issues of gender equality and social justice more to the fore.