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Political Power in Spain pp 43–59Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Gender and Parliament: The Impact of the Political Presence of Women

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Abstract

Based on an integrated perspective of political representation, this chapter identifies the main gender differences in MPs’ traits and seniority in politics and investigates whether the feminization of parliaments impacts on how representation is exercised. We find that female and male MPs have a similar preparation, which debunks the meritocracy argument against gender quotas. Yet, it is tougher for women to strike a work-life balance, as can be seen in dominant family models across MPs. Results also indicate that the legislative agenda has been engendered, with more attention being paid to social issues. Concerning representational styles, female MPs are found to connect more often than male MPs to civil society organizations but they are not considered to make parliamentary practices more consensual and less aggressive.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain

    Tània Verge

  2. Universidad de Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain

    Amparo Novo

  3. Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, La Coruña, Spain

    Isabel Diz & Marta Lois

Authors
  1. Tània Verge
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  2. Amparo Novo
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  3. Isabel Diz
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  4. Marta Lois
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Pablo de Olavide University, Seville, Spain

    Xavier Coller

  2. Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Malaga, Málaga, Spain

    Antonio M. Jaime-Castillo

  3. Department of Political Science and IR, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Fabiola Mota

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Verge, T., Novo, A., Diz, I., Lois, M. (2018). Gender and Parliament: The Impact of the Political Presence of Women. In: Coller, X., Jaime-Castillo, A., Mota, F. (eds) Political Power in Spain. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63826-3_3

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