Female Members Of Parliament Research Articles

Gleichstellungspolitik in der Schweiz: Einführung in ein umstrittenes PolitikfeldFuchs, GesineOpladen, Verlag Barbara Budrich (2019), 263 p., ISBN 978‐3‐8474‐0

Gleichstellungspolitik in der Schweiz: Einführung in ein umstrittenes PolitikfeldFuchs, GesineOpladen, Verlag Barbara Budrich (2019), 263 p., ISBN 978‐3‐8474‐0

Effects of Iraq’s Parliamentary Gender Quota on Women’s Political Mobilization and Legitimacy Post-2003

Parliamentary gender quotas have become increasingly prevalent since the 1990s, yet in-depth research illuminating their effects on women’s political agency remains scarce. Iraq’s political evolution offers a unique perspective on feminist, democratization, and gender quota scholarship as related to Middle Eastern women in politics since the US and allied invasion of Iraq in 2003. Throughout Iraq’s modern history, Iraqi women’s ability to pursue legitimate political agency has fluctuated with changes in the country’s political climate. The 2003 invasion set in motion sweeping reforms to the judicial, legislative, and executive governing powers. Women’s potential role in the emerging polity was enhanced by enactment of an electoral gender quota stipulating no less than twenty-five percent of seats in the Iraq parliament to be filled by women. This article presents research that sought to elucidate the impact of that quota on women’s political mobilization since 2003. Data collected included televised interviews, reports, and media articles that were qualitatively analyzed using a critical literary theory approach. Analysis was aided by NVivo qualitative analysis software. The findings indicate that although the gender quota has nominally increased descriptive representation, it has proven insufficient to support women’s substantive and symbolic representation. Issues of women’s socioeconomic position, lack of cooperation among female members of parliament, and ongoing security threats must be addressed for women to achieve full political legitimacy.

When Do Women Speak? A Comparative Analysis of the Role of Gender in Legislative Debates

Do female representatives participate less often in legislative debates, and does it matter which topic is debated? Drawing on the role incongruity theory, we hypothesise that women take the parliamentary floor less often because of the gender stereotypes that are likely to guide the behaviour of party representatives. Such underrepresentation is less likely to be present when debates are dealing with policy areas that can be characterised as feminine. By referring to critical mass theory, we expect women to participate less in debates if they are members of parties with fewer female representatives. The results of an analysis of speechmaking among members of parliament in seven European countries show that female members of parliament are less represented in legislative debates, especially when debates deal with topics that can be characterised as masculine. Furthermore, the effect of gender on speechmaking clearly varies across parties. However, the pattern does not follow the logic derived from critical mass theory. Instead, female members of parliament take the floor less often when they are members of parties with many female representatives.

Recruitment mechanisms for reserved seats for women in parliament and switches to non-quota seats: a comparative study of Tanzania and Uganda

AbstractTanzania and Uganda are among the most cited countries employing reserved-seat quotas. They adopted these quotas in 1985 and 1989, respectively. However, the two countries use different mechanisms to recruit reserved-seat members of parliament (MPs). Drawing on interview data from Tanzania and Uganda, this study compares the two models in terms of their effectiveness in facilitating the transfer of female MPs to non-quota seats in subsequent elections, thereby furthering women's sustainable representation. We find that the Tanzanian model is superior because it compartmentalises quota MPs in reserved seats less than the Ugandan model. The Ugandan model creates a gendered perception that constituency seats are for males and quota seats are for females – as if each sex has a distinct category of parliamentary seats. This perception affects each step of the switch to a non-quota seat, from the decision to switch to party nominations to voters’ decisions at the polls.

Strategies of female members of parliament in developing empathy values to gain constituent support

This qualitative research aims to describe the strategies applied by female parliamentary candidates to develop empathy values to gain constituent support in the legislative general election in 2014. Research subjects comprise 12 female members of parliament from seven regencies/cities in South Kalimantan who were chosen from different regencies/cities and different political parties. The research findings showed that in developing empathy values, female candidates were able to gain sufficient votes to be members of parliament. The strategies applied were as follows: first, the use of political marketing strategies that covered mapping or segmentation, positioning, and campaigns then monitoring and social capital strategies; second, socialization of empathy developing values conducted internally by meeting the constituents directly (door to door), whether individually or in groups; and third, utilizing their good social capital in relating to and working with other people. The social capital referred to covers: ability to build a network, build confidence, and attach themselves to Islamic values.

Erosion and transformation in the ecology of gender: women's political representation and gender relations in the Ugandan parliament

ABSTRACTPrevious literature on women's representation in the Ugandan Parliament painted a grim picture of women exploited by political leaders, and brought into Parliament and other political spaces by a benevolent dictator who allowed their entry to extend and deepen his political networks. These women were expected to accept a subordinate and inferior place, and to defer to male authority. Female members cooperated dutifully by ‘knowing their place’ and by actively supporting the ‘hand that fed them’. Studies noted that women lacked gender consciousness and even the analytical power to understand the implications of the policies they helped pass. There was a general consensus that patriarchal attitudes in Parliament diminished women's influence and undermined their political efficacy. This paper analyses gender relations, and examines the status of female members through their words, actions and behaviours in the Ugandan Parliament. The three primary sources of data for this study were surveys, semi-structured interviews of male and female members of Parliament, and the proceedings of parliamentary debates in 2014. Analysis of parliamentary debates and personal accounts of gender relations in the 9th Parliament reveal a changing landscape. Women are moving from marginal roles to more central roles in Parliament, and are becoming active participants in shaping parliamentary discourse and policy outcomes. There is a newfound sense of empowerment among respondents. Women articulated a new sense of being respected in Parliament, a sense of self- and collective efficacy that they can advance policy priorities. There is a change in women's performance on the Chamber's floor. Parliamentary proceedings offer evidence of an ability to successfully engage in vigorous debates, effectively advance their policy agendas, and utilise sophisticated political strategising and manoeuvring. While there are still elements of continuity, a new gender schema is emerging – a schema that challenges traditional values and attempts to reconcile these values with requirements for running a modern government.

Endurance at the Top: Gender and Political Ambition of Spanish and Swedish MPs

The gender gap in political ambition is an important explanation for the absence of women in legislative assemblies. However, previous research on this matter is limited by two facts: it is conducted mostly in the United States and does not pay much attention to cultural and institutional factors. In this article, we test the extent to which established mechanisms behind female politicians' career ambitions—such as differentiated political socialization and family support for men and women—are related to gender inequality among parliamentarians. We also draw attention to other lesser-known aspects, such as political culture and gender policies. To do so, we compare Spain and Sweden, two countries with a relatively high number of female members of parliament (MPs) but different cultures and gender policies. We make use of two representative surveys on Swedish and Spanish MPs. The results show that female MPs in Spain have to sacrifice their family life more than Spanish males and Swedish MPs regardless of sex. In addition, Spanish female MPs' long-term political ambitions are more dependent on family support. Female MPs' ambition in Sweden, in turn, is highly influenced by a politicized upbringing.

Quotas and Women's Substantive Representation: Evidence from a Content Analysis of Ugandan Plenary Debates

Despite the popularity of electoral gender quotas, the substantive impact of quotas on the plenary behavior of members of parliament (MPs) has yet to be thoroughly empirically explored, and in particular, there is a dearth of evidence from non-Western cases. Here we create a unique content analysis dataset from 14 years (1998–2011) of plenary debates, including the contents of more than 150,000 unique MP speeches recorded in some 40,000 pages of the Ugandan parliamentary Hansard to test how MP characteristics affect patterns of gender-related legislative speech. We find that female MPs speak about issues related to women's interests significantly more than male MPs. Further, we find no evidence of significant differencesbetweenfemale MPs elected with and without quotas, suggesting that, in the Ugandan case, gender is a more salient predictor of the tendency to “speak for women” than electoral pathway. To our knowledge, this is the first study that examines the effectiveness of quotas in promoting women's substantive representation in parliamentary debates across all policy domains over a significant time period. We discuss the implications of these findings in the Ugandan context, as well as how our evidence speaks to substantive representation through reserved seat quotas in semi-authoritarian regimes more broadly.

Trends of Democratization of the Macedonian Parliamentary Elite in Seven Mandates

The aim of this paper is to be determined the trends of democratization of the Macedonian parliamentary elite in seven parliamentary terms from 1991 to 2011. The democratization of parliamentary elites is defined as process of giving opportunities to more social group to enter to the parliament. The method of detection of democratization trends is applied by using indicators that measure a few aspects of transformation of parliamentary elites as the number of political parties in the parliament, the percent of female members of parliament, the percent of MPs representatives of ethnic minorities in parliament, the percent of elected young MPs under the age of 40, and the percent of MPs with maximum repeated parliamentary mandates. The results of investigation showed trends in growth of democratization process of the Macedonian parliamentary elite in seven mandates. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s1p341

Enduring Gender Bias in Reporting on Political Elite Positions

In Belgium, like in numerous other democracies, the representation of women in parliament has risen sharply in recent decades, partly because of gender quota legislation. This rapid evolution implies that traditional notions on the presence of gender bias in media reporting need to be re-assessed. Relying on data from more than six thousand full newscasts, we examine the allotted speaking time to members of parliament (MPs) from 2003 until 2011 in the two main television news broadcasts in the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium. Multilevel regression analyses were conducted to determine which factors influence the probability and volume of television news coverage of MPs. The results indicate that—even controlling for alternative explanations—news media persist in a biased treatment of female MPs: Female MPs are significantly less likely to be allotted speaking time, and they receive less speaking time than their male colleagues. Moreover, results show that this gap in media coverage is present especially for elite and thus newsworthy positions. Apparently, gender bias in the media persists, even when the political system evolves rapidly toward equal representation.

Time use among New Zealand Members of Parliament

This article provides a first attempt to describe time use among Members of Parliament (MPs). Drawing on an original survey on time use and a time diary of three working days (Wednesday–Friday) collected in 2013 among New Zealand MPs (N = 22), it presents a quantification and description of MPs’ time use. The data indicate that with an average of 13 h 20 min, MPs have long working days and many seem to face work–life balance issues. MPs also undertake a broad variety of activities during their working time, with meetings with various actors taking up a large part of their time. Finally, a correspondence analysis reveals that male and female MPs as well as first term and more experienced MPs display some differences in their time use. Social activities dominate more of the time of male MPs than they do for female MPs. Experienced MPs seem to spend more time in the House than first-term MPs. The latter spend more time on communication than experienced MPs.

Why Can't Women Win? Impediments to Female Electoral Success in Solomon Islands

Executive Summary This paper discusses impediments to female candidate success in national elections in the Western Melanesian country of Solomon Islands. Increased female representation in parliaments is desirable both for reasons of gender equity and because evidence suggests such increases come coupled with development benefits. Yet, while numbers of women members of parliament (MPs) are increasing globally, trends of improvement are much less in the Pacific. At present, Solomon Islands has only one female MP. What is more, the majority of women candidates who have stood in national

TRACING GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES: A GROWTH CURVE ANALYSIS OF UGANDAN MPS’ ACTIVITY LEVELS IN PLENARY SESSIONS, 1998–2008

Participation in legislative debates is potentially an important tool for Members of Parliament (MPs) to communicate policy positions and exert influence on the policy process. Yet there are few studies of legislative speech behaviour, and specifically gendered analyses are sparse. This article examines how gender and gender quotas affect speech activity measured in terms of how much MPs speak on the floor of the Ugandan parliament. An original dataset constructed from transcripts of parliamentary debates spanning a ten-year period (1998–2008) is applied in the analyses. Controlling for other possible determinants of speech activity, it is found that, contrary to expectations, there are no significant differences by gender in overall speech activity, but female MPs who hold parliamentary leadership positions speak significantly more than any other group. Differences between female quota MPs and their counterparts in parliament are also ruled out, countering common expectations in the quota literature.

Who Takes the Parliamentary Floor? The Role of Gender in Speech-making in the Swedish Riksdag

Legislative speeches are an important instrument for parties and members of parliament (MPs) to signal their positions and priorities. This raises the question of who speaks when. We evaluate whether a MP’s presence on the floor depends on his or her gender. We hypothesize that female MPs give in general less speeches in parliament and that this pattern results from debates dealing with “harder” policy issues. Our expectations are supported when analyzing a new data set containing information on the number and content of speeches given in the Swedish Riksdag between 2002 and 2010.

Do Female Representatives Adhere More Closely to Voters’ Preferences than Male Representatives?

We analyze whether female or male members of parliament adhere more closely to voters' revealed preferences using a unique setting. By matching individual representatives' voting behavior on legislative proposals with real referendum outcomes on the same issues, we identify the effect of gender on representatives’ responsiveness to revealed preferences of the voter majority. We find that female members of parliament overall adhere equally close to voters' preferences as male parliamentarians if party affiliations are taken into account. This suggests that observed gender differences in representation may be reduced to an ideological left-right dimension.

Does reputation matter for states' compliance with international treaties? States enforcement of anti-trafficking norms

How and under what conditions do states initiate reforms and comply with international agreements to combat human trafficking? This paper focuses on the post-communist states' compliance with anti-trafficking norms. The first finding demonstrates the importance of female members of parliament in promoting states' compliance with anti-trafficking requirements. The second finding reveals the importance of states' international position and aspirations to join exclusive regional organisations for fostering compliance with the UN Anti-Trafficking Protocols.

イギリス議会における女性議員と代表論

イギリス議会における女性議員と代表論

Occupational gender segregation in Slovenia: sustainable economy perspective

This paper aims to study occupational gender segregation in Slovenia as one of the indicators of social equity, which is one of the bottom lines of sustainable development, and to compare it to other EU countries. Females in Slovenia are still in an unfavourable position and the process towards a market economy has not solved the issue. The historical effects of declarative equality in Slovenia have resulted in a higher rate of female employees in industrial sectors. However, content equality as measured by the number of female legislators, senior officials, managers and female members of parliament, the gender pay gap and contributing family workers indicates that real equality has not yet been reached. Though occupational gender segregation exists in Slovenia, research shows that females in Slovenia are in a better position regarding occupational segregation than their counterparts in the observed countries and that higher economic development results in higher occupational gender specialisation.

Leading by Example: Female Members of Parliament as Political Role Models

One argument advanced in favor of descriptive representation is that female politicians serve as role models, inspiring other women to political activity. While previous research finds female role models affect women's psychological engagement, few studies report an impact on women's active participation, and none have done so in cross‐national research. Our work also is the first to consider whether the impact of female role models is, as the term implies, greater among the young. Using three cross‐national datasets, we find that where there are more female members of parliament (MPs), adolescent girls are more likely to discuss politics with friends and to intend to participate in politics as adults, and adult women are more likely to discuss and participate in politics. The presence of female MPs registers the same effect on political discussion regardless of age, but the impact on women's political activity is far greater among the young than the old.