Mehr Frauen im Bundestag? Deskriptive Repräsentation und die innerparteiliche Herausbildung des Gender Gaps

Abstract

Lately, the parliamentarian presence of women more and more has been a topic in public debates . These debates draw more on theoretical arguments instead of on empirical findings . How the gender gap between the German Bundestag’s composition and the population can be explained is analyzed on the basis of candidate selections in all seven Bundestag parties . A clear majority of all parties with the exception of the right-wing populist AfD show sensitivity to a fair gender presence . In three consecutive steps, the recruitment stages are examined, beginning with the shift from society to party and ending with the election of MPs . The problem of females being under-represented starts at an early stage, i .e . already with the share of female party members . In contrast, there are hardly any significant differences between the sexes in party participation . Considering the nomination decisions, positive discrimination against women, especially on state level lists, is more common than negative discrimination, especially in electoral districts .