From Token to Player

Abstract

Apart from wooden shoes, coffee shops and tulips, the Netherlands is perhaps best known for having been ruled — since 1890 — by a queen. The main duties of the monarch however, are ceremonial. The real political players are the appointed and elected politicians: the cabinet ministers, the MPs, the local and provincial councillors, mayors and state-governors. In this chapter I describe the process of political empowerment of women in the Netherlands. Four periods are distinguished: the period of the pioneers the women who entered parliament and other political bodies between 1917–1946. Then there are the tokens or group representatives the women politicians from 1946 until the mid-1970s. In the third period, from 1975–1989, we find the defenders of women’s interests and the 1990s and beyond can be characterised by the players. For each period we analyse progress or lack of progress in terms of the number of women entering parliament and government. We also look at the background of these women and try to find out whether in each period different kind of women were preferred by the political parties to represent them. A third matter that we explore is the possible difference in role orientations (and as a consequence in political behaviour) of women politicians over this period. Especially interesting is the question of whether women MPs differ in their representative role orientations in the extent to which they view themselves as representatives of women.