Representing Women Female Legislators in West European Parliaments [Paperback]

This work discusses questions on political participation, representation and legitimacy in the European Union national parliaments.This work discusses questions on political participation, representation and legitimacy in the European Union national parliaments. Three major empirical questions structure the book: What affects women's presence in parliaments?, Does the number of women in parliament have an effect? And are women in parliament representing women? Empirical evidences show that institutional reforms need a 'minimal environment' in terms of socio-economic development so as to prove effective. As opposed to the critical mass theory, claiming that a few representatives cannot have an impact on the political outcomes, here the empirical evidences suggest that smaller groups can also influence the different components of the legislative process. The last part turns to the fundamental question of whether a parliament that is descriptively representative, i.e. in which the parliamentarians share certain characteristics with the voters, also is a substantively descriptive parliament, i.e. in which the parliamentarians mirror the voters' opinions.contentsList of figures and tablesxiAbbreviationsxvGENERAL INTRODUCTION1Outline of the book2Comparative strategies6A comment on the data and methods8PART I: WHAT AFFECTS THE PRESENCE OF WOMEN INPARLIAMENT?11Introduction: Mechanisms for obtaining proportional representationin parliaments11Descriptive and/or substantive representation?12How should the problem of under-representation of women be solved?18Classifying the spectrum of institutional reforms23Chapter one: The temporal dimension of womens political participation32A short look at the history of womens movements33Womens rights on the agenda35Self-evident political disparities: an analysis over time38Chapter two: Macro-conditions affecting the presence of women inparliaments50The analysis building-blocks: variables and concepts55Structural conditions and womens lÓ0