Analysing Women's Substantive Representation: From Critical Mass to Critical Actors

2009 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Childs ◽  
Mona Lena Krook
Keyword(s):  
Critical Mass ◽  
Substantive Representation ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Structure And Agency ◽  
Female Legislators ◽  
Traditional Approaches

AbstractThis article makes a case for rethinking traditional approaches to the study of legislative behaviour on behalf of women by asking (1) not when women make a difference, but how the substantive representation of women occurs; and (2) not what ‘women’ do, but what specific actors do. The first shift aims to explore the contexts, identities and attitudes that motivate and inform substantive representation. The second seeks to move beyond a focus on female legislators to identify the ‘critical actors’, male and female, who may attempt to represent women as a group. In so doing, this framework calls attention to how structure and agency interact in the substantive representation of women.

Critical Mass Theory and Women's Political Representation

2008 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 725-736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Childs Sarah ◽  
Lena Krook Mona
Keyword(s):  
Research Agenda ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Research Note ◽  
Gender And Politics ◽  
Substantive Representation ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Subsequent Research ◽  
Female Legislators ◽  
The Relationship

In studies of women's legislative behaviour, the concept of critical mass is widely used and, more recently, criticised as a tool for understanding the relationship between the percentage of female legislators and the passage of legislation beneficial to women as a group. In this research note, we revisit classic contributions by Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Drude Dahlerup and outline and discuss their assumptions regarding anticipated connections between numbers and outcomes. We find that later gender and politics scholars have often misconstrued their work, with crucial implications for subsequent research on relations between the descriptive and substantive representation of women. We argue that clarifying the theoretical origins of the critical mass concept is crucial for forging a more coherent and cumulative research agenda on women's political representation.

What Drives Women’s Substantive Representation in Muslim-Majority Countries? Lessons from Turkey

2020 ◽  
pp. 106591292094813
Author(s):  
Alper T. Bulut
Keyword(s):  
Labor Force Participation ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Gender And Politics ◽  
Substantive Representation ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Muslim Majority ◽  
Role Of Religion ◽  
The Relationship

Although a voluminous literature has studied the substantive representation of women, these studies have largely been confined to advanced democracies. Similarly, studies that focus on the relationship between Islam and women’s rights largely ignored the substantive representation of women in Muslim-majority countries. As one of the first studies of its kind, this article investigates the role of religion in the substantive representation of women by focusing on a Muslim-majority country: Turkey. Using a novel data set of 4,700 content coded private members’ bills (PMBs) drafted in the Turkish parliament between 2002 and 2015, this article synthesizes competing explanations of women’s representation in the Middle East and rigorously tests the implications of religion, ideology, critical mass, and labor force participation accounts. The results have significant implications for the study of gender and politics in Muslim-majority countries.

Numbers and Newness: The Descriptive and Substantive Representation of Women

2007 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Beckwith
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Women And Politics ◽  
Substantive Representation ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Organizational Behaviour ◽  
Modèle Théorique ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time ◽  
National Legislatures

Abstract.The concept of “critical mass,” drawn from physics and organizational behaviour literatures, has been employed by women and politics scholars as a potential theoretical underpinning for explaining and predicting women's substantive representation in national legislatures. This article examines two number-based theories of women's substantive representation—critical mass theory and sex-ratio proportional theory—and assesses their theoretical utility. It then proposes the alternative of focusing on the impact of newness, or a substantial increase in the number and proportion of women elected for the first time, on women's substantive representation. The article identifies research design issues and discusses the intersection of “newness” and “numbers” for evaluating women's substantive representation in parliaments. Offering a range of hypotheses for testing, it concludes by identifying an irony for critical mass research and by underscoring the necessarily gendered nature of the newness-numbers intersection.Résumé.Le concept de “ masse critique ” issu de la physique et de la recherche en comportement organisationnel a été utilisé par les spécialistes du rapport femmes et politique comme modèle théorique possible pour expliquer et prédire la représentation substantive des femmes dans les législatures nationales. Cet article se propose d'examiner deux théories quantitatives de la représentation substantive des femmes et d'évaluer leur utilité théorique : 1. la théorie de la masse critique et 2. la théorie proportionnelle du sex ratio, et propose un autre modèle basé sur l'incidence de la nouveauté, ou une augmentation sensible dans le nombre et les proportions de femmes élues pour la première fois, sur la représentation substantive des femmes. L'article se penche sur les questions de méthodologie de la recherche et analyse l'intérêt du point d'intersection “ nouveauté ” et “ chiffres ” pour l'évaluation de la représentation substantive des femmes dans les parlements. À partir d'un choix d'hypothèses permettant d'évaluer ces modèles, l'article conclut en identifiant une ironie en ce qui concerne la recherche de masse critique et en soulignant le fait que la nature du point d'intersection nouveauté/chiffres est forcément marquée par le genre.

When Do Female MPs Represent Women’s Interests? Electoral Systems and the Legislative Behavior of Women

2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 834-847 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Höhmann
Keyword(s):  
Political Representation ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Legislative Behavior ◽  
Incentive Structure ◽  
Substantive Representation ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Female Legislators ◽  
German Bundestag ◽  
Mixed Electoral System

Research on women’s political representation has repeatedly shown that female legislators represent women’s interest more strongly than their male colleagues. However, a growing body of literature shows that the parliamentary behavior of female members of parliament (MPs) and the relationship between descriptive and substantive representation of women is affected by a number of institutional variables. This paper contributes to this debate by analyzing the effect of the electoral incentive structure on the substantive representation of women. Drawing on the Competing Principals Theory, it is expected that female legislators more frequently act on behalf of women if their re-election does not depend on the representation of local interests in electoral districts. The empirical analysis uses the German mixed electoral system and analyzes the representation of women’s issues in oral and written parliamentary questions tabled in the German Bundestag between 2005 and 2013. The results of a hurdle regression model show that female MPs are more likely to concentrate on the representation of women’s interests if their re-election is secured and if they do not have to fight for additional local votes from their district.

scholarly journals Electoral Incentives, Critical Actors, and the Substantive Representation of Women in Parliament

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Daniel Höhmann
Keyword(s):  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Incentive Structure ◽  
Substantive Representation ◽  
Electoral Incentives ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Female Legislators ◽  
Women In Parliament

When and how does the susbstantive representation of women in parliament occur? This dissertation makes two main contributions in this regard. First, it analyzes when female MPs represent women’s interests in parliament. Regarding the ‘when’ and ‘why’ of women’s substantive representation, this dissertation investigates how the institutional environment affects the parliamentary behavior of female MPs and their opportunities to focus on the representation of women’s interests. In particular, it explores the effect of the electoral system and asks whether the electoral incentive structure influences whether and to what extent female legislators represent women-specific issues more frequently than their male colleagues do. Second, this dissertation broadens our understanding of the potential actors in women’s substantive representation and explicitly analyzes whether, when and why male MPs represent women’s interests in parliament. It examines whether the presence of women in parliament has an effect on male MPs’ behavior and their decision to actively represent women’s interests. Moreover, it analyzes whether the electoral vulnerability of male MPs has an effect on their willingness to pay attention to women’s concerns.

Female Representation in Colombia

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mónica Pachón ◽  
Santiago E. Lacouture
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Political Context ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Female Representation ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Substantive Representation ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Electoral Democracy ◽  
Almost All

Mónica Pachón and Santiago E. Lacouture examine the case of Colombia and show that women’s representation has been low and remains low in most arenas of representation and across national and subnational levels of government. The authors identify institutions and the highly personalized Colombian political context as the primary reasons for this. Despite the fact that Colombia was an electoral democracy through almost all of the twentieth century, it was one of the last countries in the region to grant women political rights. Still, even given women’s small numbers, they do bring women’s issues to the political arena. Pachón and Lacoutre show that women are more likely to sponsor bills on women-focused topics, which may ultimately lead to greater substantive representation of women in Colombia.

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