Abstract
Parties vary substantially in the proportion of women they send to parliament. I examine how party characteristics affect women's representation in the parliamentary parties of 12 advanced industrial nations over time. Four party-level factors have some explanatory power: organizational structure, ideology, women party activists and gender-related candidate rules. A temporal sequence is proposed in which these factors and electoral rules directly and indirectly affect women's representation. Women party activists and gender-related rules are the more direct mechanisms affecting women's legislative representation. Further, New Left values and high levels of women activists within the party both enhance the likelihood that gender-related candidate rules will be implemented.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 79-98 |
Number of pages | 20 |
Journal | Party Politics |
Volume | 5 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1999 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Gender quotas
- Political parties
- Women's representation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Sociology and Political Science