Abstract
The previous chapter demonstrated that every society and every political system in Europe has its own values, rules and procedures that affect positively and negatively the chances for women to become involved in parliamentary politics. But, despite the uniqueness of each case, it is still possible to present a framework of factors that help or hinder women in gaining access to political functions.1 The overview that follows is based on empirical research carried out to study the limited political participation of women.2
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References
Parts of these texts have been published previously in M.H. Leyenaar, 1997 and in M. Leyenaar, B. Niemöller, M. Laver and Y. Galligan: Electoral Systems in Europe: a Gender Impact Assessment, 1999.
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The validity of these results on gender differences in political discussion are more and more questioned because, when people are asked about the frequency with which they discuss concrete political issues, then gender differences tend to disappear. Politics as an abstract concept is less entertaining for women than for men. But, when it refers to child-care facilities, the combination paid employment and caring, unemployment, poverty or gender equality, then men and women tend to be equally interested. See for example M.J. Koopman and M. Leyenaar, `Het Vergeten Electoraat: Vrouwen en Verkiezingen’, in C. van der Eijk and B. Niemöller (ed.) In het Spoor van de Kiezer. Aspecten van 10 jaar Kiesgedrag, Meppel, Boom, 1984; See also J.Mossuz-Laveau (1995), cited in G. Allwood and K. Wadia, 2000, pp. 120–121.
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See N. Chodorow, The Reproduction of Mothering, Berkely, University of California Press, 1978; C. Gilligan, In a Different Voice, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1982.
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This was done for the already mentioned study on Electoral Systems in Europe: a Gender-Impact Assessment 1999 (see note 1).
For Britain see also P. Norris, E. Valiance and J. Lovenduski, `Do Candidates Make a Difference’, in Parliamentary Affairs, 45, 1992, pp. 496–517 and P. Norris, `Introduction: Theories of Recruitment’, in P. Norris (ed.) Passages to Power: Legislative Recruitment in Advanced Democracies, Cambridge University Press, 1997.
P. Castenmiller, M. Leyenaar, B. Niemöller and H. Tjalma, Afscheid van de Raad, Ministerie van Sociale Zaken, 2002.
A. van Vianen and A. Fischer, 1998, pp. 249–264.
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Leyenaar, M. (2004). An Explanatory Framework for Women’s Political Representation. In: Political Empowerment of Women. Nijhoff Law Specials, vol 59. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-5606-8_3
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