week 20 - women ! ;) Flashcards
(14 cards)
what are the four types of representation Hannah Pikins defines?
- descriptive representation
- substantive representation
- symbolic representation
- formalistic representation
what is descriptive representation?
where politicians mimic the characteristics of the electorate. Does the composition of government reflect the size of the group? However, this may not be the best explanation of what it means to be represented. For example, countries like Rwanda who do very well on the amount of women in their parliament (56%) , a lot of the policies they put in place still feels discriminatory against women.
^the variation: there appears to be a partisan effect – more left wing parties are more likely to put forward a women candidate than right wing. For example women only make up beloq 10% of republican politicians in the USA.
what is substantive representation?
Elected officials advance the policy interests and values of their constituents, regardless of whether they share demographic traits with them. Is policy reflective of the interests of this group?
^There is a large difference between the types of policies women put forward in comparison to men. Part of the reasoning maybe that women have different interests : they care more about social services and public welfare (potentially).
what is symbolic representation?
symbolic representation in parliament emphasizes visibility, legitimacy, and shared identity, shaping public perception of governance even when direct policy influence is limited. do members of the group feel like politicians stand for their interests? Are they acting in a way that seems like they care about what you care about?
what is formalistic representation?
Formalistic representation centers on how representatives gain authority, not how they use it
do members of the group have equal access to institutional means to influence policy? Is there the same avenues to access power as your male fellow colleagues?
what are the 3 institutional determinants of gender representation?
Electoral systems – if you have a closed list electoral system, that means you are voting for a party rather than a person. You have less chance for the individual biases of gender to influence the outcome of elections. In this sense, proportional representation can solve this issue quite well. PR also works quite nicely with gender quotas. You can have quotas on your party list for example – say 50% of your candidates will be women.
Gender quotas – Rwanda by law states that 30% of the seats are reserved for women only.
Parties – left parties seem to bring more women into parliament than right wing parties. This may have something to do with the preferences of women, they may naturally sympathise with more left wing ideals – or it could be orchestrated via the parties in attempt of greater representation targets.
what is a gender quota?
A gender quota is a policy designed to increase women’s representation in legislative bodies.
This approach aims to promote gender equality and ensure that women’s voices are included in decision-making processes. Globally, over 130 countries have implemented some form of gender quota.
what are the different types of gender quotas?
Reserved Seats: These are legally mandated seats set aside for women in legislative bodies, ensuring a specific number of women representatives.
^Reserved Seats: These are legally mandated seats set aside for women in legislative bodies, ensuring a specific number of women representatives.
Legislated Candidate Quotas: These require political parties to nominate a certain percentage of women as candidates, though they do not guarantee election.
^ In Mexico, political parties must nominate at least 50% women as candidates
Voluntary Political Party Quotas: Adopted by political parties without legal obligation, these quotas set internal targets for female candidates on party lists.
^the Labour Party in the UK has implemented gender quotas through the use of all-women shortlists (AWS) in certain constituencies.
why does there seem to be a glass ceiling for female politicians?
Alot of the bias against women in modern day democracies doesn’t seem to be at the entry level, but rather there appears to be a glass ceiling – how high can women climb up the ranks. This suggests there’s something about the process of selecting political leaders that drives this.
what did O’Brien 2015 study show, in regards to when a female is elected head of the party?
When the party isn’t doing well, this creates larger opportunities for women in two ways:
A. There is fewer men going for the post – not a lot of men interested in the role.
B. You’re willing to take more of a risk when you’re losing than when you’re winning, this opens the door for female candidates who are viewed as higher risk
Women are likely to become leaders when:
1) The party is in opposition
2) The party is in crisis
3) The party is unlikely to win next election
in essence: parties are willing to take ‘more risks’ when already performing badly in the polls. This suggests a lot of the bias against female candidates is driven at the top end of party politics – its driven by leadership. This explains much of the trends in the Uk for when a female candidate is introduced. for example, margaret thatcher and kemi badenoch.
Is there really a difference in preference in policy between women and men? Who did the study to show this?
Clayton 2018
(Clayton 2018) went and did a bunch of surveys of both voters and politicians across 17 African democracies. They asked male and female politicians and voters what they think the top priorities of the government should be, and then they compared. If representation doesn’t matter, we should expect the preferences to be very similar.
What you find:
A large gap between politicians: female politicians are much more likely to care about female centred issues, more likely to care about clean water, health, poverty, etc. Women seem to care more about these social and welfare issues.
Men are more likely to care about agriculture, political rights, etc.
what is some evidence of when you extend female representation, policy changes?
In the USA -> after introducing universal suffrage in the 1920s, there was a huge change in healthcare spending.The change in death rates after universal suffrage – most cohorts in society the mortality rates don’t change too much, but what changes largely is Infant mortality – there is a large drop after the women get the right to vote. Every year on average after the state adopts universal suffrage, you see on average about 20,000 less infant deaths – per year.
^this is supported by contemporary data in Norway - when female representation increases, so does access to childcare benefits, etc.
what is a zipper quota?
A zipper quota, also known as a zipper system, is an electoral mechanism that mandates political parties to alternate female and male candidates on their candidate lists.
^This is used in France.
think i need more
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