The merit of party institutions: Women's descriptive representation and Conservative parties in Australia and the United Kingdom
Date
2020-02-23
Authors
Taflaga, Marija
Beauregard, Katrine
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Haworth Pastoral Press
Abstract
Generally, right-wing political parties tend to fall behind their left-wing counterparts on women's representation. Conservative parties emphasize individual merit rather than structural barriers as an explanation for low levels of women succeeding in candidate selection processes. Some right-wing parties have made more progress than others. Comparing parties within the conservative family, we aim to reveal what institutional factors may retard or promote women's representation. We find that the decentralization of the candidate selection process combined with electoral losses created opportunities for critical actors to act to increase women's representation to around 20% in Australia, some 15 years earlier than in the United Kingdom.
Description
Keywords
Gender, Conservative politics, descriptive representation, parties, Westminster
Citation
Marija Taflaga & Katrine Beauregard (2020) The Merit of Party Institutions: Women’s Descriptive Representation and Conservative Parties in Australia and the United Kingdom, Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, 41:1, 66-90, DOI: 10.1080/1554477X.2020.1701934
Collections
Source
Journal of Women, Politics and Policy
Type
Journal article
Book Title
Entity type
Access Statement
License Rights
DOI
10.1080/1554477X.2020.1701934
Restricted until
2037-12-31