WOMEN IN REPRESENTATIVE BODIES OF POWER IN 2017-2021: A CROSS-NATIONAL ANALYSIS

Abstract

The paper analyzes similarities and differences in the social portrait of female politicians in the countries of Western, Eastern Europe and North America (Great Britain, Germany, Ireland, Poland, Russia, and USA), as well as the correlation between the state specifics of socio-economic and political spheres and the level of women's representation in politics. A cross-national study of the trajectories of women entering politics was implemented on the basis of the database “Women in representative bodies of power, political parties and activism, 2017-2021” prepared by the research team. The sections of the database help in covering the gender agenda of political parties, the presence or absence of gender quotas at the intra-party or state levels, the representation of women in party bodies and electoral lists for 2017-2021. They also help in providing a detailed portrait of female deputies. Based on the concept of descriptive and substantive representation, the authors identify the key characteristics of the portrait of a female parliamentarian in the selected countries and conclude that parties, in particular their regional branches or youth organizations, are the main channel for recruiting professional female politicians. Activism, despite its visibility in the media, becomes a channel for promotion to parliament for only one in five female parliamentarians in the selected countries. Based on the application of correlation analysis, an assumption is formulated, which needs to be confirmed on a larger sample, that intra-party decisions on gender quotas, rather than state ones, play a more significant role in increasing the representation of women in the party’s faction.