Does size matter? Critical mass and New Zealand's Women MP

Abstract

It is often claimed that women will only influence upon political decisions once they achieve a critical mass within legislative bodies. Assertions about critical mass are made by academics and politicians alike, even though the concept is under-developed and relatively untested. This article outlines the expectations in existing critical mass literature and tests these using the New Zealand House of Representatives as a case study. New Zealand was chosen because women have occupied just under 30% of the seats in the parliament from 1996 and have thus almost reached the level of representation most commonly regarded as constituting a critical mass (30-35%). What the New Zealand case highlighted was the number of complexities that are ignored in existing critical mass literature and the likelihood that different critical masses are necessary depending on the outcome sought.