Understanding Substantive Representation of Women in Consociational Post-Conflict Political Systems

Abstract

Feminist critics of power-sharing argue that consociational structures privilege ethnic groups and that power-sharing is “bad for women.” This article identifies a gap in the relatively new field of research on gender equality and ethno-national power-sharing, as the focus so far has been mainly on women’s political exclusion, with limited attention on the representation of women’s needs and interests through policy. In bringing together power-sharing literature, representation theory and a gendered understanding of institutions and change, this article issues a call for further research. The article proposes an analytical framework, to be applied in empirical research on: Where, why, and how substantive representation of women in post-conflict consociational political systems occurs? An initial examination of a case from Bosnia and Herzegovina is presented, demonstrating how the analytical framework can be applied on violence against women policy research. Even though Bosnia and Herzegovina was a lead in the Istanbul Convention ratification, in the implementation, the consociational conditions in decision-making have led to disparate directions. The article makes a contribution to existing analytical debates at the intersection of consociationalism and women’s representation and has a practical goal: drawing the attention of scholars to the study of substantive representation of women.