What is it about?

Is it true that left-wing parties enhance the share of women MPs? Our analysis indicates that this is indeed the case. Why is it so? We distinguish between two mechanisms: opening the gates to women who had not been in parliament yet and maintining women parliamentarians in their seats. The former mechanisms is also supported by the data: left parties are more prone to incorporate new, junior women to parliaments. The latter is not and, indeed, right wing parties are better career-providers to women MPs.

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Why is it important?

Gender is a key topic today. Gender gaps are important because 50 percent of the world population are women. As any other trait that the individual cannot choose, it is crucial that it does not condition her life chances. The political gender gap testifies to the lower opportunities of women in the political realm. Here we show what the effect of party ideology on this gap is, and how does it work.

Perspectives

The link of ideology and women representation can neither be taken for granted, nor forgotten. Our study documents the sate of the art, uncovers the state of this relationship, and shows original, non-obvious results regarding how it works.

Andrés Santana
Universidad Autonoma de Madrid

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Bringing Party Ideology Back In: Do Left-Wing Parties Enhance the Share of Women MPs?, Politics and Gender, October 2018, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.1017/s1743923x1800048x.
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