In Their Own Words: New Labour Women and the Substantive Representation of Women

Abstract

Political representation is an essentially contested concept. Contemporary feminist conceptions claim a link between the presence of women and the potential for a feminised transformation of politics. Previous empirical research in the UK, which examined the question of women representatives' attitudes, concluded that women representatives were attitudinally more liberal/feminist than male representatives. This article extends the existing literature through a consideration of how the new intake of Labour women MPs conceptualise political representation. Three different dimensions are explored. First, the article examines constituency-level representation focusing upon the women MPs' perceptions of shared identity, affinity and their relationships with women constituents. Secondly, the question of whether women representatives perceive that women's presence will effect a feminisation within parliament by regendering the political agenda is considered. Finally, the impact of women representatives' presence in and on government is examined in relation to the women representatives' understanding of the role of the minister for women. The research suggests that the new-intake Labour women MPs acknowledge a feminised dimension to political representation, albeit a secondary one. This supports, in a qualified way, theoretical and empirical arguments that women's presence in politics has the potential to transform women's political representation.