Gender and parliamentary activity

Abstract

Does gender matter in the daily work in parliaments? Scholars have inconclusive answers to this question. Using fresh data with a recently developed activity scale, I analyze female legislators' activity levels compared to those of men in three democracies: the US, UK and Israel. While legislation exists in all of them, they differ from each other in their electoral system and the availability of other non-legislative tools. The results show that country matters. US legislators are more active than Israeli or UK legislators. Second, gender matters with regard to the use of some parliamentary tools. Unlike their UK and Israeli counterparts, American female representatives are more active than male legislators, and deliver more one-minute speeches. Furthermore, female legislators make more one-minute speeches than male legislators and pass more private member bills. The study makes three contributions to the literature. First, it demonstrates that activity can and should be assessed using both separate measurements and one scale, because each measurement provides insights into different aspect of the legislators' behavior. Second, gender plays a role in the activity of legislators. Third, combining two theoretical fields—representation and activity—shows the connection between descriptive representation and legislators' activity.