Political Participation of Western European Women

Abstract

It is curious to note that the evolution of the political rights of women in western Europe as well as their behavior as electors and electees have been the subject of very few studies. In fact, except for a study made in 1955 by Maurice Duverger—done at the request of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) —with regard to four major western European countries, one finds, to date, very little research of scientific value on the subject. However, Mattei Dogan and Jacques Narbonne, in their study "Frenchwomen Come to Grips with Politics," undertaken in the framework of the UNESCO investigation, concluded as follows: "Without the vote of the women, the governments of western Europe, during the years following the Second World War, would have been very different from those we have known." These authors demonstrated that in France, as in Germany or in Italy, only the contribution of the female vote had prevented the establishment of Communist regimes. It would seem useful, then, in 1967, to weigh the importance of the political participation of women in western Europe and to ascertain if the responsibilities which they as sume directly correspond to their general progress and to the influence they have had in balloting.