Representation Of Women In Parliament Research Articles

What makes the substantive representation of women possible in a Westminster parliament? The story of RU486 in Australia

This article explores institutional and other factors facilitating the substantive representation of women in parliament. It engages with a range of indicators of substantive representation, including process/responsiveness indicators, legislative/policy outcomes and attitudinal alignment of women representatives and women in the community. It presents an Australian case study of a successful initiative by a cross-party group of women parliamentarians to facilitate access to the abortion drug RU486. It finds that critical mass, critical actors and a critical juncture were important but so was institution-building, particularly the under-studied role of parliamentary groups.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION DI ERA REFORMASI DAN IMPLIKASINYA TERHADAP PEMBANGUNAN BERWAWASAN GENDER

The low participation and involvement of women in politics has seen some discrimination and injustice against women, because they do not attention development policies are gender oriented. It is well recognized by women in Indonesia, so the post-New Order government women's advocacy movement that gave birth to affirmative action that essentially encourages and guarantees against women to be involved in politics. Significant impact of affirmative action is the birth of a minimal system of representation of women in parliament 30%. This representation system, reinforced in 2009 with the implementation zipper election system, where from 1-3 candidates proposed must be female. But somehow affirmative action, can not be denied as a form be balanced with minimizing the lack of women and men. Keywords : Affirmative action, politics and participation of women Copyright © 2012 by Kafa`ah All right reserved DOI : 10.15548/jk.v2i1.45

Women's Parliamentary Representation in Africa: The Impact of Democracy and Corruption on the Number of Female Deputies in National Parliaments

Although many studies address the representation of women in parliament, few explore gender representation in Africa. Prior research on women's representation conducted in various areas of the world has emphasized the type of electoral system, quotas and the economic affluence of a country, as well as the state's political culture. In this evaluation these commonly used indicators are complemented by two factors that are not that frequently employed – a country's degree of democracy and its level of corruption. Besides quota provisions and the electoral system type of a country, both of these additional variables affect women's representation. Higher containment of corruption fosters higher percentages of women in parliament. In contrast, democratic states have fewer female members in parliament than non-democratic states.

Factors hindering ‘larger’ representation of women in parliament: the case of Seychelles

Female legislative representation in some sub-Saharan African countries surpasses that of most other countries on the Inter-Parliamentary Union's 187 country list by exceeding 20 per cent. While almost all of those African countries achieved such level of representation by implementing gender quotas, Seychelles achieved that level without gender quotas. Its female parliamentary representation, however, is far short of the 50 per cent target set for 2015 by the African Union. This study, therefore, examines the factors hindering ‘larger’ representation of women in the Seychellois parliament. It concludes that the dual burden of women, the longstanding traditional beliefs about women's role, the lukewarm commitment of political parties to nominate women, the authoritarian nature of Seychellois politics, and parliamentarians' financial contributions expected by constituents are the key variables hindering ‘larger’ female legislative representation in Seychelles.

The Sudanese Women's Movement and the Mobilisation for the 2008 Legislative Quota and its Aftermath

This article explores the pathways of political action pursued by the Sudanese women's movement leading up to the introduction of a women's quota in 2008 and its implementation in the most recent 2010 national parliamentary elections, the country's first in 24 years. The article argues that the main achievement of the quota was the extent to which it mobilised women to engage in politics, rather than the increased representation of women in parliament. The form the quota took however, has not significantly challenged political parties to put forth women candidates in core geographic constituencies, restricting them instead to separate women's lists. The need for revisiting the quota, healing divisions within the women's movement and negotiating a robust common programme in the next phase are all critical for translating numbers into positive changes in Sudanese women's lives.

Cross-national patterns of gender differences in mathematics: A meta-analysis.

A gender gap in mathematics achievement persists in some nations but not in others. In light of the underrepresentation of women in careers in science, technology, mathematics, and engineering, increasing research attention is being devoted to understanding gender differences in mathematics achievement, attitudes, and affect. The gender stratification hypothesis maintains that such gender differences are closely related to cultural variations in opportunity structures for girls and women. We meta-analyzed 2 major international data sets, the 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and the Programme for International Student Assessment, representing 493,495 students 14-16 years of age, to estimate the magnitude of gender differences in mathematics achievement, attitudes, and affect across 69 nations throughout the world. Consistent with the gender similarities hypothesis, all of the mean effect sizes in mathematics achievement were very small (d < 0.15); however, national effect sizes showed considerable variability (ds = -0.42 to 0.40). Despite gender similarities in achievement, boys reported more positive math attitudes and affect (ds = 0.10 to 0.33); national effect sizes ranged from d = -0.61 to 0.89. In contrast to those of previous tests of the gender stratification hypothesis, our results point to specific domains of gender equity responsible for gender gaps in math. Gender equity in school enrollment, women's share of research jobs, and women's parliamentary representation were the most powerful predictors of cross-national variability in gender gaps in math. Results are situated within the context of existing research demonstrating apparently paradoxical effects of societal gender equity and highlight the significance of increasing girls' and women's agency cross-nationally.

Women's parliamentary representation: are women more highly represented in (consolidated) democracies than in non-democracies?

Although there have been many studies that address the representation of women in parliament, there are few analyses that compare the current state of gender representation between democracies and non-democracies. Focusing on Africa, Central and South America, as well as Asia and the Pacific region, this paper evaluates whether democracies have more female deputies or whether female representation increases with the maturity of democracy. While controlling for the type of electoral system, quotas, women's participation in the workforce, a state's GDP, as well as its degree of corruption and Communist regime type, this cross-national analysis reveals that the variable democracy does not affect the representation of the genders in parliament. Women's parliamentary representation also does not increase with the maturity of democracy.

Women Acting for Women? An Analysis of Gender and Debate Participation in the British House of Commons 2005–2007

The recent push for more women parliamentarians around the world via positive action measures such as gender quotas naturally begs the question of whether the increased descriptive representation of women in parliament is making a substantive difference, in terms of the types of policies passed, behavioral norms, and procedures. How does the substantive representation of women take place? One way of measuring gendered impacts in politics is to look at the participation of Members of Parliament (MPs) in formal, parliamentary debate on key policy issues. It is reasonable to assume that one (though certainly not the only) measure of a good MP is his or her ability to contribute his or her voice and thoughts to public policy debates in parliament. Furthermore, if we consider women MPs representative of women in particular as a marginalized group, making their voices heard in parliamentary debates is perhaps one of the best ways of acting for women. As Melissa Williams (1998, 138) argues, the unique voice of women is a necessary component for women's political equality: It is not enough that women communicate their perspectives to men; a full respect for women's agency, and a full protection of their interests, requires that they act on their own behalf. Only through their legislative presence can women be sure that the “woman's point of view” on each policy issue is formulated and expressed.

Armed Conflict, International Linkages, and Women's Parliamentary Representation in Developing Nations

Politics is arguably the arena in which gender inequality remains most pronounced. Yet in recent decades, women in some countries and regions of the world have made significant gains in legislative presence at the national level. But for women living outside of the industrialized West, we know little about the processes that facilitate their entry into politics. Through separate analyses of 36 high-income, 86 middle-income, and 63 low-income countries, I demonstrate that past models of women's political representation fail to explain variation across low-income samples. Using multiple methods, I also explore two sets of factors that may be more salient predictors of women's parliamentary representation in low-income nations: civil war and international linkages. Although historically women have been unable to consolidate gains made during wartime into post-conflict political representation, I find that certain types of civil conflict during the 1980s and 1990s positively affect women's representation in low-income nations. Longer, larger-scale wars that contest the political system or serve to alter the composition of the government have the best prospects for creating opportunities for women to gain parliamentary seats. Brief case studies of women, war, and social change in Rwanda, Mozambique, Uganda, and Tajikistan suggest that structural and cultural mechanisms may work in conjunction with political openings to produce post-conflict gains in women's political presence. Both women's lack of political representation and the tragic effects of civil war remain enduring challenges faced by the developing world, but at the intersection of these two problems, there is hope for women seeking political access.

Why are there differences in the political representation of women in the 27 countries of the European Union?

Although there have been many studies that address the representation of women in parliament, few explore gender representation in the 27 countries of the European Union. Prior research on women's representation conducted in different areas of the world has emphasized the type of electoral system, quotas, the economic affluence of a country, the timing of women's suffrage, as well as the political culture. In this evaluation these commonly used indicators are complemented by two factors that are not frequently employed – the percentage of women in managerial positions and the political ideology of parliamentary parties. This cross-national analysis reveals that the electoral system type, the number of women in managerial positions and the years women have had the right to vote are the most important factors in determining women's representation.

Challenging Parties, Changing Parliaments: Women and Elected Office in Contemporary Western Europe. By Miki Caul Kittilson

Challenging Parties, Changing Parliaments: Women and Elected Office in Contemporary Western Europe. By Miki Caul Kittilson. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. 2006. 190 pp. 24.95 paper.This is an ambitious book that takes a comprehensive and multimethod approach to understanding the question of women's participation in parliaments. Miki Caul Kittilson proposes a gendered-institutions argument that focuses on political parties as the key mechanism for increases in women's parliamentary representation. She moves away from supply arguments that place the onus on women to run by instead focusing on how parties can be transformed to encourage women to run. She argues that women will be most effective in their efforts to gain a political foothold where they “recognize favorable conditions within the party and party system, and where they devise context-contingent strategies for inclusion” (p. 2).

Quota election system as a way of achieving descriptive and substantive representation of women in parliaments

In ten chapters of the text are analyzed issues of under representation of women in legislative bodies (descriptive representation) matched with possibilities of their substantive representation. The substantive representation means contribution of women MPs in development and promotion of "women's politics" and politics of representing specific interest of women's part of population. In chapters under the titles, Underrepresented sex, Quota term, and Myths on quotas, are presented the main characteristics of the issues of women's under representation from political mainstream and decision-making bodies. There is also analyzed quota preferential electoral system as a solution. The gist of the text is comprised in the chapter Why Quotas where are presented the classical arguments for quotas as a specific measure of affirmative action. The way from increasing quantitative presence of women in legislative bodies to increasing the qualitative level of their activities in there is elaborated in the chapters Increasing numbers and achieving quality, Issues of women's political efficiency, Criteria of changes, and Inter parliamentarian activities of women. In the chapter Women's issues and women's perspectives is defined difference between these two aspects of women's MPs activities. Women's issues are those issues influencing directly women on physical or social way (e.g. breast cancer, reproductive rights, gender based discrimination, politics of child's care). The women's perspectives are specific women's interest and views of all other political issues.

The Politics of Consumption: The Housewives' Associations in South-eastern Australia Before 1950

Seeking to redirect working-class women's discontent but also genuinely outraged by post–World War I profiteering, Australian Housewives' Associations engaged in boycotts, cooperative buying, concessional agreements with businesses, and, increasingly, lobbying for representation of women in parliament and on all boards, tribunals, and committees of inquiry concerned with the home and the cost of living. Liberal and progressive women in Melbourne formed the first Australian Housewives' Association in 1915, but by the 1920s politically conservative women had reinvigorated the movement. This article examines the models these groups drew on for organization and strategy, and the visions of the ideal society that evolved in their work up to 1950. It argues that the Housewives' Associations demonstrate the permeability of boundaries between radical and conservative ideas and strategies in many feminist—or "female collectivist"—organizations.

Political Governance and Conflict Management: Why Developing Polities and the Poor Need a Stronger State Structure?.

Political governance and quality management are often contested concepts, meaning different things to different people; and often their meanings have shifted historically. The collapse of the governance system behind the iron curtain countries triggered an avalanche in international politics and instituted new governance and management system to fit within the evolving political dispensation of the 21st century. Even in the post-cold war era, the political sociology of the greater part of the continent began to acquire a mournful guise of repetitive failure. The reality, as the facts show, is one where the nature of society has failed to meet the requirements of the democratic and parliamentary models by which the New-States are supposed to function. We must appreciate that 50 years in the life of a nation is a short period. We should not expect Africa to accomplish within this relatively short period what took the currently democratic states to achieve. Even within this defeatist or pessimistic view, there is a reality of optimism of progress though slow that points towards increasing democratisation and eventual public participation in governance, as well as important modes for integration into global systems of information, technology, knowledge and commerce, bode well for the acceleration of African development in the 21st century. The demand for drastic changes in the state system within this short period may be asking too much. After all, what the old democracies exhibit today took them thousands of years to accomplish. Taking just a couple of examples, women in Switzerland received their rights to vote not long ago. Comparatively, African States have made tremendous strides in this area. Rwanda, a decade after the genocide, has the highest number in the world of women representation in parliament. This does not mean that the plight of women in Africa is resolved. Women are still marginalized in spite of them commanding almost 52 percent of the population on the continent. No one is advocating the adoption of a Rostow “stages of development” approach for Africa. The strides made so far by Africa are due to advances in science and technology, which enable the continent to move forward more rapidly than the West did. Africans are equally contributing to advances in science and technology –the Internet for example, which is an African invention. This paper addresses pertinent issues –governance and consolidating the democratic process - and why the people need a stronger involvement. Power belongs to the people. Democracy belongs to the people. The State must create the enabling and levelling playground for civil society to be an integral part of the governance process. The conceptual frame builds on system thinking approach and conflict management maintaining that participation, partnership and responsibility sharing provides the best way for building a Strong State capable of meeting its obligations to the people. Proactive strategies policy measures are advanced as the way forward to reconstructing and reconstituting a viable State that is first and foremost peopleoriented, that is inclusive and with an open governance system that creates choices and possibilities for its citizens. Key words: Democracy, consolidation, civil society, partnership, participation, responsibility sharing, conflict management/prevention, media, choices, inclusion and social justice.

A Discursive Struggle—The Swedish National Federation of Social Democratic Women and Gender Quotas

In 1993, the Social Democratic Party in Sweden adopted the zipper system, a gender quota system whereby women and men are placed alternately on all party lists. The National Federation of Social Democratic Women had, however, as early as in 1928 proposed that the Social Democratic Party introduce gender quotas so that women would be placed in safe positions on the party lists. In this article, the struggle of The National Federation of Social Democratic Women for an increased parliamentary representation of women and its demand for gender quotas during the period 1970–1993 is analysed. Its strategies to put the issue of women's under‐representation on the political agenda are outlined as well as the major discursive frames that the debate was embedded within. The article suggests that the discursive controversies over gender quotas can best be understood in the context of competing conceptions regarding historical development, equal opportunity, local autonomy and cooperation between women and men. One main point is that the zipper system, despite its radical institutional effect, can be seen as a discursive solution to the norm of cooperation.

Gender, religion and happiness

Using an infrequently used sample of 60 countries this paper attempts to gauge the importance of religion and gender on the levels of happiness across countries, after controlling for a set of quality of life variables. The results suggest that both religion which is represented by the degree of religious fractionalization, and gender as represented by the percentage of women in parliament, have important effects on the degree of happiness. Specifically the paper finds that higher levels of religious fractionalization reduce happiness, but greater representation of women in parliament robustly increase happiness levels.

A politics of accommodation

For the first time since achieving Independence in 1965, women now make up more than 10 per cent of parliamentary representatives in Singapore. While this figure still lags behind international benchmarks, it is a significant improvement on the last election in which women made up less than 5 per cent of MPs. This article explores the factors that led to the increase in women's parliamentary representation. I examine the attitudes of senior leaders within the ruling People's Action Party (PAP), as well as recent constitutional reforms, including the introduction of the Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs) scheme and the creation of a Group Representative Constituency (GRC) system. I argue that while these reforms provide improved opportunities for women to participate in politics, it is the PAP that largely determines women's electoral chances. Despite party protestations to the contrary, women do not enter a level playing field, but one in which the terms of engagement are largely PAP defined. It is a political environment in which women are always primarily identified with the family. While both culture and politics are important factors in determining women's political representation, the manipulation of ‘culture’ for political purposes by a male-dominated party elite is more significant. Until the issue of gender inequality is directly addressed, women's opportunities to participate in politics will thus remain limited.

Parliamentary Representation of Women in Indonesia: the Struggle for a Quota

The right to vote and stand for parliament has existed since the first Indonesian elections in 1955, but has not resulted in significant numbers of women MPs (members of parliament). This low representation has been challenged by women activists, who have undertaken a long struggle. They were finally able to obtain a 30 percent non-compulsory quota, which was included in the law on general elections (Indonesian Law No. 12 on General Elections, 2003). In the 2004 elections, the success in getting the quota enacted seemed likely to provide momentum for Indonesian women activists to win 30 percent of the parliamentary seats. However, only a small proportion of the seats were won by women in the national, provincial and local parliaments in 2004 (for the 2004–2009 period). Poor participation by women in political parties, which have been dominated by men, and the nature of the electoral system appear to be factors underlying the failure of women in gaining greater representation in the Indonesian parliaments.

Equalizing Opportunities for Women in Electoral Politics in Ireland

Abstract This paper examines the attitudes of women political elites in Ireland toward positive action initiatives that would assist in increasing women's legislative presence. An earlier study isolated family responsibilities and lack of finance as significant barriers for Irish women wishing to enter, and stay in, political life. In addition, scholarly and policy debates on boosting women's parliamentary representation focus on manipulating electoral or party selection rules along with strategies for making a political career more compatible with women's socially determined responsibilities. This paper examines how Irish women politicians respond to various suggestions for positive action in these three arenas: combining legislative and family responsibilities, funding a political campaign and getting elected. The paper highlights the broad consensus among women politicians, irrespective of party, self-interest, or length of service, favoring certain positive action initiatives, as well as their relucta...

Vrouwen vertegenwoordigd: de vertegenwoordiging van vrouwen in de Kamer van Volksvertegenwoordigers tijdens de jaren zestig en zeventig

This contribution offers a detailed investigation of the substantive representation of women in Parliament in the 1960s and 1970s. The article presents evidence that although the speeches of women MP's deal with women's interests in a more interrelated manner and are more often feminist in intend, the defence of women's interests nor feminist issues is an exclusively female domain. The heterogeneity of the representatives in terms of party affiliation and sex, is responsible for the diversity of groups of women that receive political attention, the wide range of issues and topics addressed by the MP's, and the presence of different visions on how the situation of women could and should be ameliorated. The material for the analysis was drawn from the speeches of MP's during the budget debates in the Lower House (1960-1980).