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State Feminism and Political Representation
How can women maximise their political influence? Does state feminism enhance the political representation of women? Should feminism be
established in state institutions to treat womens concerns? Written by
experts in the field, this book uses an innovative model of political
influence to construct answers to these and other questions in the
long-running debate over the political representation of women. The
book assesses how states respond to womens demands for political
representation in terms of both their inclusion as actors and the consideration of their interests in the decision-making process. Debates on
the issue vary from country to country, depending on institutional
structures, womens movements and other factors, and this book offers
the first comparative account of the subject. The authors analyse eleven
democracies in Europe and North America and present comprehensive
research from the 1960s to the present.
L O V E N D U S K I is Professor of Politics at Birkbeck College,
University of London. She is author of Women and European Politics
(1986) and Feminising Politics (2005) and editor of Feminism and
Politics (2000). She has co-authored and co-edited a number of other
books and has published numerous papers, articles and chapters on
gender and politics.
JONI
State Feminism and Political

Representation
edited by
Joni Lovenduski
with
Claudie Baudino
Marila Guadagnini
Petra Meier and
Diane Sainsbury
cambridge university press

Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, So Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521852227
Cambridge University Press 2005
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
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without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2005
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Contents
List of figures
List of tables
Notes on contributors
Preface
List of abbreviations
1
page
Introduction: state feminism and the political

representation of women
JONI LOVENDUSKI
106
Gendering the debate on political representation in Italy:

a difficult challenge
MARILA GUADAGNINI
85
WPAs and political representation in Germany

LYNN KAMENITSA AND BRIGITTE GEISSEL
62
Gendering the republican system: debates on womens

political representation in France
CLAUDIE BAUDINO
41
A politics for presence: state feminism, womens movements

and political representation in Finland
ANNE MARIA HOLLI AND JOHANNA KANTOLA
20
The Belgian paradox: inclusion and exclusion of gender issues

PETRA MEIER
Gendering political representation: debates and controversies

in Austria
PL
REGINA KO
vii
viii
ix
xv
xvii
130
High tides in a low country: gendering political

representation in the Netherlands
JANTINE OLDERSMA
153
v
vi
Contents
The womens movement, gender equality agencies and

central-state debates on political representation in Spain
CELIA VALIENTE
10
Party feminism, state feminism and womens representation

in Sweden
DIANE SAINSBURY
11
12
13
174
195
Party government and womens representation debates:

the UK
JONI LOVENDUSKI
216
Womens policy agencies, the womens movement and

representation in the USA
JANINE A. PARRY
239
Conclusions: state feminism and political representation

JONI LOVENDUSKI, CLAUDIE BAUDINO, MARILA
GUADAGNINI, PETRA MEIER AND DIANE SAINSBURY
260
Appendix 1 Tables of womens representation in eleven countries

Appendix 2 The RNGS model: summary of variable descriptors
Index
294
305
308
Figures
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
The elements of the research problem

The RNGS framework
Womens movement impact/state response
Typology of womens policy agency activities
page
9
10
14
15
vii
Tables
1.1
13.1
13.2
13.3
13.4
13.5
13.6
13.7
13.8
13.9
13.10
13.11
13.12
13.13
13.14
viii
Political representation debates by country

page
Content and outcome of policy debates
Gendering of debates
Womens movement impact in thirty-three political
representation debates
WPA activity by country and debate
Womens policy agency activity and movement impact
(N cases)
Characteristics of WPA and WPA activities
Womens movement characteristics and womens policy
agency activity
Womens movement characteristics and impact
Policy environment and womens policy agency activities
Policy environments and movement impact
Womens movement characteristics and policy
environments by womens movement success dual
response
Effects of womens movement characteristics and policy
environments on womens movement success by policy
agency activities
Debates not explicitly about womens political
representation by priority, movement cohesion, left in
power, policy environment and issue frame fit
Debates not explicitly about womens political
representation by priority, cohesion, left in power
and QWPA/WPA activities
13
264
268
270
272
272
274
276
277
279
280
282
282
289
289
received her Ph.D. in Political Science from Paris

IX-Dauphine University in 2000. A member of the French RNGS
(Research Network on Gender Politics and the State) team, she teaches courses on social science, and her research focuses on political and
linguistic representation of women in France. Her publications include
Politique de la langue et difference sexuelle. La politisation du genre des noms
de metier (LHarmattan, 2001), La cause des femmes a` lepreuve de
son institutionnalisation, Revue Politix, 51, 2000, and Le genre gache.
La feminisation de laction publique (in collaboration with Amy
G. Mazur), Revue Espace-Temps, 2001.
CLAUDIE BAUDINO
received her Ph.D. in political science from the

Technische Universitat Berlin and she has been employed as
Research Fellow at the Social Science Research Centre Berlin (WZB)
since 2004. She is also Lecturer (Lehrbeauftragte) at the Technical
University of Berlin and in the winter term of 2004/5 she was guest
professor at the University of Munster. She has worked at several
universities within Germany and the USA. Her research interest is
the relation between citizen and democracy in developed democracies,
especially participation and new forms of governance. She has published on civil and political participation, e.g. on women in parties and
parliaments in Germany, on civil society and on participatory governance. Her recent publications include Dynamiken der politischen
Partizipation. Politische Partizipation von Frauen und Mannern,
http://www.fu-berlin.de/gpo/geissel_penrose.htm, 2003 (with Virginia
Penrose), and Zivilgesellschaft und Sozialkapital, with Ansgar Klein,
Kristine Kern and Maria Berger (VS Verlag, 2004).
BRIGITTE GEISSEL
is Associate Professor of Political Science at the

University of Turin. She is author of II sistema politico italiano. Temi per
una discussione (Il Segna libro, 1997) and La stagione del disincanto?
Cittadini, cittadine e politica alle soglie del 2000 (Il Segna libro, 2001),
co-author of II soffitto di cristallo? Le donne nelle posizioni decisionali in
MARILA GUADAGNINI
ix
Europa (Edizioni Fondazione Olivetti, 1999) and editor of Da elettrici a

elette. Riforme istituzionali e rappresentanza delle donne in Italia, in Europa
e negli Stati Uniti (Celid, 2003). She has published numerous chapters
and articles on gender and politics, and wrote the chapters on Italy
in Comparative State Feminism, edited by D. McBride Stetson and
A. Mazur (Sage, 1995) and State Feminism, Womens Movements and
Job Training: Making Democracies Work in the Global Economy, edited by
A. Mazur (Routledge, 2001).
is currently Researcher (Academy of Finland) at the
Department of Political Science, University of Helsinki. Her major
areas of research are in the fields of public equality policies, women
in the media, and women and politics in general. Her most recent
publications include Discourse and Politics for Gender Equality in Late
Twentieth Century Finland (Helsinki University Press, 2003) and an
edited volume (together with T. Saarikoski and E. Sana) on Finnish
equality policies, Tasa-arvopolitiikan haasteet (WSOY, 2002). She is
also a co-author of Equal Democracies? Gender and Politics in the Nordic
Countries, edited by C. Bergqvist et al. (Scandinavian University Press,
1999), and wrote the chapters on Finland in State Feminism, Womens
Movements and Job Training: Making Democracies Work in the Global
Economy, edited by A. Mazur (Routledge, 2001) and The Politics of
Prostitution: Womens Movements, Democratic States and the Globalisation
of Sex Commerce, edited by Joyce Outshoorn (Cambridge University
Press, 2004).
ANNE MARIA HOLLI
K A M E N I T S A is Associate Professor of Political Science and

Womens Studies at Northern Illinois University. Her previous
research has focused on abortion policy, local womens offices, the
womens movement in united Germany, and womens and other social
movements from the former East Germany. Her work has appeared in
the journals Comparative Politics, Women & Politics, Problems of PostCommunism, Mobilization, and German Politics & Society.
LYNN
obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Bristol

and is currently a researcher at the Politics Department of the
University of Helsinki, where she is also teaching feminisms and international relations. She has published in International Journal of Feminist
Politics, European Journal of Womens Studies and European Political
Science, as well as in The Politics of Prostitution: Womens Movements,
Democratic States and the Globalisation of Sex Commerce, edited by Joyce
Outshoorn (Cambridge University Press, 2004). She is the co-editor of
the Finnish womens studies journal, Naistutkimus.
JOHANNA KANTOLA
xi
is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University

of Vienna, Austria. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Vienna
and has a postgraduate diploma from the Institute of Advanced
Studies, Vienna. She is the author of articles and research reports on
feminism and womens movement organisations in Austria, for example
on the status of women for the Austrian government, Frauen bericht
1985 and 1995. She was the Austrian expert in the European Expert
Women in Decision-Making Network. She contributed the chapter
on Austria in Abortion Politics, Womens Movements and the Democratic
State, edited by Dorothy McBride Stetson (Oxford University Press,
2001). She has also published on subjectivity and gender and on
media and politics, including an essay on subjectivity and political
marketing in Demokratie and Kritik, edited by Helmut Kramer
(Helmut Kramer, 2004).
PL
REGINA KO
is Professor of Politics at Birkbeck College. Her most

recent book is Feminizing Politics (Polity Press, 2005) and her other
work includes Women and European Politics (Harvester Whealsheaf,
1986), co-author of Political Recruitment (Cambridge University
Press, 1995), Contemporary Feminist Politics (Oxford University Press,
1993) and Politics and Society in Eastern Europe (Macmillan, 1987). She
edited Feminism and Politics (Dartmarth Press, 2000), and co-edited,
Women in Politics (HarperCollins, 1996), Different Roles, Different Voices
(HarperCollins, 1994), Gender and Party Politics (Sage, 1993), The New
Politics of Abortion (Sage, 1986), The Politics of the Second Electorate
(Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1981) and numerous papers, articles
and essays on gender and politics. She was co-director of the British
Candidate Study from 1988 to 1992 and the British Representation
Study 2001. She was a founding convener of the Standing Group on
Women and Politics of the European Consortium for Political
Research and of the Women and Politics Group of the Political
Studies Association of the UK.
JONI LOVENDUSKI
is a research fellow at the Politics Department of the Vrije

Universiteit, Brussels and the Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegan. Her
major areas of research are feminist theories on representation, the
conceptualisation of, logic behind and measures to promote social
groups in decision-making and their interaction with electoral systems,
feminist approaches to public policies, the conceptualisation and integration of feminist frames in public policies, the political opportunity
structures of the Belgian womens movement and state feminism. She
recently co-edited (with Berengere Marques-Pereira) Genre et science
PETRA MEIER
xii
politique en Belgique et en Francophonie (Academia-Bruylant 2005) and

(with Karen Celis) Vrouwen vertegenwoordigd, Wetstraat gekraakt?
Representativiteit feministisch bekeken (VUBpress, 2004). She has published in Party Politics, European Political Science, Acta Politica, Res
Publica, Tijdschrift voor Sociologie, Ethiek en Maatschappij and in various
edited volumes.
O L D E R S M A studied politics and communication at the
University of Amsterdam. She is a fellow of the Joke Smit Insititue,
Research Centre for Womens Studies, and teaches at the Department
of Public Administration, both at the University of Leiden in the
Netherlands. She specialises in the study of women in political elites
and in public policy for women. Her Ph.D. dissertation is on the
representation of women in corporatist bodies in the Netherlands:
De vrouw die vanzelf spreekt, gender en representatie in het
Nederlandse adviesradenstelsel. Her published articles and essays
include Can a Woman be Just like a Man? The Representation of
Women in the Corporatist Channel in the Netherlands, in Participation,
Citizenship and Gender, edited by J. Bussemaker and R. Voet (Ashgate,
1998) and More Woman or More Feminists in Politics? Advocacy
Coalitions and the Representation of Women in the Netherlands
19671992, in Acta Politica, International Journal of Political Science
(2002). She co-edited a volume on the use of theories of power in
womens studies, with K. Davis and M. H. Leijenaar, The Gender of
Power (Sage, 1991), and has also published articles on civil society and
social capital, mass culture and feminist detectives.
JANTINE
JANINE A. PARRY
is Assistant Professor of Political Science and Director

of the Arkansas Poll at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. She
completed her BA at Western Washington University, magna cum
laude, and her MA and Ph.D. at Washington State University. Her
fields of teaching and research include gender, politics, and policy and
state and local government, with an emphasis on Arkansas politics. Her
work has appeared in Social Science Quarterly, Policy Studies Journal,
Arkansas Historical Quarterly, National Womens Studies Association
Journal, Review of Public Personnel Administration, Pacific Northwest
Quarterly, Current Municipal Problems, Transportation Quarterly and
various edited volumes.
is Lars Hierta Professor of Political Science at
Stockholm University. She is author of Gender, Equality and Welfare
States (Cambridge University Press, 1996) and editor of Gendering
Welfare States (Sage, 1994) and Gender and Welfare State Regimes
DIANE SAINSBURY
xiii
(Oxford University Press, 1999). Her recent publications include

Rights without Seats: the Puzzle of Womens Legislative
Recruitment in Australia, in Elections: Full, Free and Fair, edited by
Marian Sawer (Federation Press, 2001), Gender and the Making of
Welfare States: Norway and Sweden, in Social Politics (2001), US
Womens Suffrage through a Multicultural Lens: Intersecting
Struggles of Recognition, in Recognition Struggles and Social
Movements, edited by Barbara Hobson (Cambridge University Press,
2003) and Womens Political Representation in Sweden: Discursive
Politics and Institutional Presence, in Scandinavian Political Studies
(2004).
is in the Department of Political Science and Sociology
of the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain). Her major area of
research is gender equality policy and the womens movement in Spain
from a comparative perspective. She has published articles and chapters including Central State Child Care Policies in Postauthoritarian
Spain, in Gender & Society (2003), State Feminism and Central State
Debates on Prostitution in Post-Authoritarian Spain, in The Politics of
Prostitution: Womens Movements, Democratic States and the Globalisation
of Sex Commerce, edited by Joyce Outshoorn (Cambridge University
Press, 2004), Pushing for Equality Reforms: the European Union and
Gender Discourse in Post-Authoritarian Spain, in Gendering
Europeanisation, edited by Ulrike Liebert (Peter Lang, 2003) and
The Feminist Movement and the Reconfigured State in Spain
(1970s2000), in Womens Movements Facing the Reconfigured State,
edited by Lee Ann Banaszak, Karen Beckwith and Dieter Rucht
(Cambridge University Press, 2003).
CELIA VALIENTE
Preface
This book is the result of almost ten years of collaboration by its authors.
Although at first glance it appears to be an edited collection, it is in fact
co-written on the basis of a collaboratively designed research project. The
contributors are all members of the Research Network on Gender Politics
and the State. In the project as a whole some forty scholars from the USA,
Canada and Europe have met over a period of ten years, sustaining a
cross-national, longitudinal research project on gender and public policy.
Since 1995 this network has met to design, conduct and write up research
on state feminism in advanced industrial democracies. As chapter 1
describes, we decided to assess the impact of state feminism on womens
representation by examining the part played by womens policy agencies
in key policy debates since their establishment. In this volume we assess
the impact of those agencies on the issue of political representation itself
to offer a systematically comparative account of how and to what effect
womens movements have engaged the important issue of womens
political representation.
This volume is jointly edited by a team of five. Each member of the
team took responsibility for some country chapters and for assessing and
analysing parts of the model. Each supplied feedback to authors, prepared text that was incorporated into the concluding chapters and supplied feedback on drafts of the concluding analysis. The final manuscript
was prepared by Joni Lovenduski who was responsible for drafting the
introduction and conclusions and preparing the manuscript for
publication.
We accumulated many debts along the way. Our project depended
upon finding time, places and resources to meet, to solve problems and to
share research. A number of individuals and organisations have assisted
us. The American Political Science Association annual conference organisers welcomed us to convene workshops around the annual meetings.
Many early findings were presented at the European Consortium for
Political Research Joint Sessions of Workshops. The American National
Science Foundation International Programmes Grant (#9411142)
xv
xvi
Preface
funded the first meeting in Leiden in 1995. CREDEP of the University of

Paris hosted our meeting in 1998. The European Science Foundation
funded a meeting at Chilworth in Southampton in 1999. Professor Ed
Page made funds available from the ESRC Future Governance
Programme for a meeting on this volume at Belfast in 2000. He also
commented extensively on draft versions of the introduction and conclusions, as did Amy Mazur, Dorothy Stetson and Alan Ware. Both the
American National Science Foundation and the European Science
Foundation supported the group with further grants. The ESF and the
NSF supported the RNGS Network meetings at which the chapters in
this book were reviewed and discussed in Turin in 2002 and Leiden in
2003. The final manuscript benefited from Rainbow Murrays help with
proofreading and data checking. We are all grateful for the support, skill
and patience of an editor, John Haslam, and copy-editor, Carol
Fellingham Webb, at Cambridge University Press who guided us through
the production of this volume.
Our project would not have been possible without electronic communication. It owes much to the support we have been given. Most of all it
has depended on the continuing commitment, good will, intellectual
liveliness and curiosity of its members and the sheer will power of its
conveners, Amy Mazur and Dorothy Stetson.
Abbreviations
QWPA
RNGS
WMA
WPA
quasi-womens policy agency

Research Network on Gender Politics and the State
womens movement actor
womens policy agency
Austria
FPO
OVP
SPO
Austrian Freedom Party

Austrian Peoples Party
Social Democratic Party
Finland
SKDL
SNDL
Finnish Peoples Democratic League

Finnish Womens Democratic League
France
RPR
Rassemblement pour la republique

Germany
ASF
BMFJ
CDU
CSU
FDP
PDS
SPD
Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialdemokratischer Frauen

Ministry for Women and Youth
Christian Democratic Union
Christian Social Union
Free Democratic Party
Party of Democratic Socialism
xvii
xviii
Italy
AN
CC
CNELD
CNPPO
COREL
DS
MSI
PCI
PDS
RC
National Alliance Party (Alleanza Nazionale)

Central Committee (Camitato centrale)
National Commission for Womens Emancipation and
Liberation (Commissione nazionale per lemancipazione e
la liberazione delle donne)
National Commission for Equality and Equal
Opportunities between Men and Women (Commissione
nazionale per la parita` e le pari opportunita` tra uomini e
donne)
Committee for Electoral Reforms (Comitato per le riforme
elettorali)
Democrats of the Left (Democratici di sinistra)
Italian Social Movement (Movimento sociale italiano)
Communist Party of Italy (Partito Comunista italiano)
Democratic Party of the Left (Partito democratico della
sinistra)
Communist Refoundation (Rifondazione Comunista)
The Netherlands
CPN
DCE
ER
MVM
NVR
PSP
PvdA
SGP
TECENA
Communistische Partij Nederland

Directie Coordinatie Emancipatiebeleid
Emancipation Council
Man-Vrouw-Maatschappij (Man-Woman-Society)
National Womens Council
Pacifist Socialist Party
Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij
Tijdelijke Expertise Commissie voor Emancipatie in het
nieuwe Adviestelsel
Spain
CC
ETA
IU
PP
PSOE
WI
Constitutional Court (Tribunal Constitucional)

Euskadi Ta Askatasuna
United Left (Izquierda Unida)
Peoples Party (Partido Popular)
Spanish Socialist Workers Party (Partido Socialista
Obrero Espanol)
Womens Institute (Instituto de la Mujer)
Sweden
SSKF
VPK
Social Democratic Womens Federation

Left Party-Communist
UK
EOC
MSF
NEC
WNC
Equal Opportunities Commission

Manufacturing Science and Finance
National Executive Committee
Womens National Commission
USA
CCWI
ERA
GCSW
LWV
NOW
NVRA
Congressional Caucus for Womens Issues

Equal Rights Amendment
Governors Commission on the Status of Women
League of Women Voters
National Organisation for Women
National Voter Registration Act
xix
Introduction: state feminism and the

political representation of women
Joni Lovenduski
The representation of women in a political system is a good test of its

claims to democracy. The claims that women make for representation are
claims for their citizenship and at the heart of their engagement
with politics. Political representation is therefore a fundamental feminist
concern, although its importance has not always been acknowledged.
The womens liberation movements that began in the 1970s were,
in many countries, ambivalent about formal political representation.
However, by the end of the twentieth century womens movements
were active to secure equality of representation throughout the world.
From the moment that womens movements were making demands on
the state the issue of their political representation was in play. Whilst
suffrage campaigns were explicit movements for political participation
and representation, campaigns over rights to education, to paid work,
to equal pay, to personal dignity and security, to sexual autonomy were
also in part about the inclusion of womens interests in policy-making.
Later movements for representation in legislatures and assemblies were
movements for presence that challenged political arrangements and
sought to insert womens interests into policy-making by ensuring they
were amongst the policy-makers.
The connection between agenda status for womens interests and the
claim for equal political representation continues. Since the nineteenth
century womens movement activists have demanded state action on a
range of issues that includes anti-discrimination policies, anti-violence
policies, reproductive rights, childcare and political equality. In the late
twentieth century governments responded, some more slowly than
others, by developing a set of agencies to take responsibility for such
demands. These womens policy agencies (WPAs) vary in scope, size,
resources, stability and location. They appeared at different times in
different countries but are now part of the political landscape. Their
existence is, at least in symbolic terms, an acknowledgement of womens
demands for representation.
1
Joni Lovenduski
Assessing womens political representation

How should womens representation be assessed? What factors, in a world of
rapid and massive change, might enable us to assess the impact of womens
movement claims for representation? Have democracies become more
representative in the sense that they have incorporated women in ways
which ensure that their interests are advocated and considered? What
mechanisms exist to facilitate gender-balanced policies and how effective
are those mechanisms? How, if at all, do womens movements participate in
processes of decision-making? Have states responded to demands to incorporate women as political actors? Anne Phillips (1995) points out that postindustrial democracies are deficient because they fail to represent womens
interests and needs adequately. They neither include women in positions of
power nor routinely incorporate gender perspectives in the policy process.
Her observations are supported by feminist analysts in Europe and North
America who show that the absence of women in positions of power
may explain the extent to which public policies in many post-industrial
democracies are gender-biased and therefore discriminate against women
(Hernes 1987; Lewis 1993; Sainsbury 1994; Lovenduski and Norris 1993;
Meehan and Sevenhuijsen 1991; Haavio-Mannila et al. 1985; Lovenduski
1986; Bergqvist et al. 1999; Abrar et al. 1999). For these analysts, the
democratic deficit may be addressed by ensuring that an appreciation of
gender differences informs government policy.
Womens political representation as a subject for
comparison
Research on state institutions shows considerable variation in the presence
of women in elected office, even amongst otherwise similar countries. In the
democracies considered in this volume the proportion of women legislators
in 2003 ranged from 12.3 per cent in France to 45 per cent in Sweden
(Appendix 1). These differences invite comparative analysis to determine
the circumstances under which women achieve higher or lower shares
of political office. In addition, comparative research shows that there is
generally a pattern of decreasing numbers of women as decision-making
hierarchies are ascended. There are exceptions: in Sweden there have been
no differences since the 1970s and in the 1980s more women were elected
to parliament than to local councils. Other exceptions are the Netherlands,
Finland and Norway. Finally, this research shows that there is a functional
division of labour between women and men representatives whereby
women are more likely to specialise in soft and less prestigious policy
areas such as health, cultural affairs, education and social welfare while
Introduction: state feminism and representation
men dominate the traditionally more prestigious areas of economic management, foreign affairs and home affairs. Paradoxically the soft policy areas
in which women are more likely to be found constitute the major part of
state activity and absorb the bulk of government budgets. The patterns raise
the important question of what if any influence women representatives have
and where and how they are able to exercise it. They also raise questions
about the nature of political representation.
What is political representation?
Political representation has many definitions and takes many forms.
A standard and widely cited definition by Hannah Pitkin (1967) identifies
four types of political representation: authorised, where a representative is
legally empowered to act for another; descriptive, where the representative
stands for a group by virtue of sharing similar characteristics such as race,
gender, ethnicity or residence; symbolic, where a leader stands for national
ideas; and substantive, where the representative seeks to advance a groups
policy preferences and interests. In this volume we are interested in
womens access to political institutions and the effects of that access
on policy. Accordingly, we investigate the descriptive and substantive
representation of women as concepts that enable us to compare the extent
to which policy processes in democratic regimes are inclusive of women.
Political representation underpins the legitimacy of democratic states.
Ideas about political representation shape institutional arrangements and
definitions of citizenship. The requirements of political representation
are matters for negotiation, and subject to change. Therefore debates on
political representation are part of the process by which democracies evolve.
Such debates include concerns about the nature of political institutions, the
processes of decision-making and the quality of policy implementation.
Frequently they are constitutional debates directly aimed at institutional
reorganisation. In representation debates definitions of citizenship are
invoked and decisions are made about who is and is not a citizen, and who
may and may not be a representative. Debates about the implementation of
representation policy highlight the inclusion and exclusion of social groups
and individuals. In short, claims for representation are part of the process of
claiming membership of a polity; hence the debates they generate illuminate
the way political actors understand democracy.
Womens policy agencies and state feminism
Since the last quarter of the twentieth century there has been a proliferation
of (state) agencies established to promote womens status and rights, often
Joni Lovenduski
called womens policy agencies. WPAs are sometimes termed state feminist.
State feminism is a contested term. To some it is an oxymoron. It has been
variously defined as the activities of feminists or femocrats in government
and administration (Hernes 1987; Sawer 1990), institutionalised feminism
in public agencies (Eisenstein 1990; Outshoorn 1994), and the capacity
of the state to contribute to the fulfilment of a feminist agenda (Sawer
1990; Stetson 1987). In this book we define state feminism as the advocacy
of womens movement demands inside the state. The establishment of
WPAs changed the setting in which the womens movement and other
feminists could advance their aims, as they offered, in principle, the
possibility to influence the agenda and to further feminist goals through
public policies from inside the state apparatus. WPAs could increase womens
access to the state by furthering womens participation in political
decision-making, and by inserting feminist goals into public policy. Thus
WPAs may enhance the political representation of women. WPAs vary
considerably in their capacity, resources and effectiveness, raising
questions about the circumstances under which they are most likely to
enhance womens political representation. To understand them we need to
consider in detail the part they play in processes of incorporating womens
interests (substantive representation) into policy-making, a requirement
that is particularly important when the decisions are about political
representation itself.
Accordingly, the part played by womens policy agencies in securing
womens political representation is the subject of this book. We can expect
WPAs to provide the strongest evidence of the impact of women on the
political agenda because they ostensibly build women into the policy
process. The comparison of WPAs activities in different countries over
time makes possible an assessment of their effects on womens political
representation in both its procedural and substantive senses. The research
that is described in chapters 2 to 12 addresses the roles of womens policy
agencies in eleven post-industrial democracies. The research question is:
how, and under what circumstances, have WPAs furthered the impact of
womens movements on arrangements for political representation?
In addressing this question the book raises issues about the nature of
political representation in different countries. Do the variations in
arrangements for political representation suggest different ways of thinking about democratic representation? Do those differences impact on
womens representation? How do conventions about representation
affect the capacity and mandate of womens policy agencies? Are
womens policy agencies able to represent feminist movements? What
happens to womens movement agendas when activists collaborate with
the state? These are issues that studies of womens movements have
attempted to address (Hernes 1987; Franzway et al. 1989; Watson 1990;

Sawer 1990; Eisenstein 1990, 1996; Outshoorn 1994, 1998).
Such questions invite consideration of method, of how to assess
impacts in policy-making. Feminist political scientists have developed a
common method for assessing such impacts in the collaborative project
on which this book is based. In the Research Network on Gender Politics
and the State (RNGS) scholars met to formulate such a methodology
from the early 1990s. The resulting framework was developed by a network of scholars who participated in an extended series of international
meetings. The starting point was the volume edited by Amy Mazur and
Dorothy Stetson, Comparative State Feminism, published in 1995. The
collection generated a series of debates about what explains the success or
otherwise of state policy machinery. The debates addressed fundamental
questions about the comparative method, case selection, policy analysis
and the nature of democracy. Contributors to the original volume were
soon joined by others in a collaborative effort that makes it difficult
to separate the contributions of any one individual (though Mazur
and Stetson have been central to the projects leadership). One of the
outcomes of the co-operation is the model on which this book is based.
The model, which draws on current approaches to the study of politics to
combine the intellectual concerns of feminist and democratic theory, is
embedded in theories of political representation, the study of social
movements and of public policy. In order to explain the model and
hence the approach of this book, it is necessary first to develop the ideas
presented so far in more detail.
Women and policy-making
Making women more central to government concerns is partly about
electing and appointing more women to public office, that is, descriptive
representation. It is also about incorporating womens concerns into
the policy process, that is, substantive representation. Whilst increasing
womens descriptive representation may lead to the inclusion of womens
concerns, it is only one of the several ways of enhancing womens representation. Hence, in this study, while we take note of womens representation in terms of how many women are in public office, we focus on the
question of whether women are included in day-to-day processes of
decision-making. To do this we have elected to study patterns of debates
about policy decisions over time. So, instead of concentrating on the state
and its institutions as a whole, we are looking at particular decisions and
the policy debates that lead up to them. We identify core activities in the
process of policy-making that we classify according to the inclusion of
Joni Lovenduski
women and womens concerns. We address the question of the roles of

WPAs in debates to determine whether agencies are active or whether they
are symbolic bystanders. We ask whether WPAs participate in debates,
advocate womens movement goals and contribute to successful outcomes
for women. To capture agency variations, for each debate we gather
information on the activities of agencies and on their characteristics.
Our case studies are drawn from eleven countries: Austria, Belgium,
Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the UK
and the USA. The countries included in this volume are all post-industrial
democracies. They represent about half of the twenty-three countries that
fall into this category of systems. They have relatively similar and large
levels of national wealth and, with the exception of Spain, have had
relatively stable democratic political systems since 1949. All the countries
have had stable democratic systems since the 1970s. Within this category
they differ by type of democratic regime, a variation that is reflected in the
selection of countries that we consider. For each debate we identify the
womens movements goals and characteristics. The debate outcome
is assessed as a success or failure for the movement, enabling us to classify
womens movement impacts. From the literature on social movement
impact we developed a set of variables that might explain womens movement success or failure.
Gender and framing
We start by considering the way in which policy debates are or become
gendered, an exercise that requires working definitions of the terms gender,
gendering and framing. Gender is a concept that has acquired several
different meanings (Harding 1986). As originally adapted for social
science, it provided a way to distinguish between biological sexual differences and the cultural and social meanings attached to those differences
(Nelson 1989). In this study, we define gender as the meaning or ideas
people attach to biological and demographic differences between men and
women. Gender is not a synonym for sex, which is also a contested term.
Most simply, sex is a biological category that separates men and women,
while gender is the set of social meanings attached to the categories male
and female. Another way of conceptualising gender is to think of it as a
scale of attributes ranging from masculinity to femininity. Women are
more likely than men to possess feminine attributes but such attributes
do not belong exclusively to women. Gender also expresses the effects of
relationships between and among women and men. These relationships
are manifested in differences of political power, social roles, images and
expectations resulting in recognised characteristics of masculinity and
femininity that differ over time and across cultures. Thus gender is not only
a set of attributes, it is also a process, gendering, that should be thought of as
a changing contextualised social, psychological and political phenomenon that affects the way groups of women and men define and
express their interests. Gendering therefore refers to the way in which
debates are framed in terms of gender. It is the process whereby
phenomena, such as identities, observations, entities and processes,
acquire symbols based on ideas about men and women. Framing, in
this context, refers to the order, logic and structure in which an idea is
enclosed. Framing may be more or less contrived and deliberate, but it
always affects how we understand phenomena, ideas or events. A strong
version of its meaning is found in the slang term frame up which is the
false establishment of blame through a particular description of events.
The frames that are used to express an idea or event play an important
part in the meaning that is conveyed. For example, to paraphrase Carol
Bacchi (1999, p. 5) womens political under-representation may be
described by equality advocates as a problem of discrimination but by
traditionalists as a matter of womens choices. Framing occurs in policy
debates as competing actors offer competing issue definitions and policy
goals. The way a policy is framed or a problem is defined favours some
interests over others: the definition of the alternatives is the supreme
instrument of power; the antagonists can rarely agree on what the issues
are because power is involved in the definitions (Schattschneider 1975:
66). The dominant frame of a policy debate has implications for
decisions because it establishes the nature of the problem to be solved.
Thus gendered debates are those policy debates framed in terms of
ideas about how the problem and proposed solutions will affect women
in comparison with men.
Gender is therefore an important component of the way in which issues
are framed in policy debates. Policy-making can be construed as a set of
arguments among policy actors about what problems deserve attention,
how those problems are defined and what the solutions are (John 1998;
Mazur 2002). In this conflict of ideas only a few issues are taken up for
action. The problem for womens advocates therefore is twofold: first,
they must gain attention for their issues and the ideas they promote, and
second, they must ensure that the problem is defined in terms that are
compatible with movement goals. The public definition of a problem is
amongst other things a frame that affects how an issue is considered and
treated.
Paradoxically gender issues are often framed in gender-blind terms.
Historically the gendering of debates about political representation has
been invisible, built on the unspoken assumption that the political actor
Joni Lovenduski
(the voter, the citizen) is male. Feminist theorists have unmasked this
convention (Pateman 1988; Lister 1997) pointing out not only that
women are citizens, voters and activists, but also that women in traditional
gender roles have made possible the functioning and dominance of the
male political actor. Historically, when issues of political representation
were discussed, traditional gendering went unnoticed until the suffrage
movements claimed votes for women.
Gendering policy debates therefore consists of inserting ideas about
women and men into the discussion. This does not necessarily mean
the debates become feminist, or that their participants support womens
movement goals. Rather, this is a form of process change that, by making
gender differences explicit, provides the basis for a second form of process
change: increased participation by groups of women in the policy-making
process. One womens movement strategy therefore is to insert its frame into
the debate in order to affect policy content and outcome. The purpose is to
frame debates in terms that will highlight the status of women in order
to bring about its improvement. Once successful the movement then acts to
maintain their frames so that the debate is conducted in feminist terms.
Consideration of the gendering of policy debates illuminates how
policy debates are influenced by the womens movement. Do WPAs
insert ideas of gender into the definition of policy problems? And if they
do, are the ideas congruent with those of the womens movement?
Adapting a line of reasoning established by Schattschneider and others
(Przeworski 1991; Schneider and Ingram 1993; Cobb and Elder 1983;
Jenson 1988; Schattschneider 1975), we propose that WPAs may facilitate the goals of the womens movement within the state, not only by
advocating its agenda, but also by changing the terms of debate. In other
words, the WPAs may attempt to reframe the debate to accommodate the
problem definitions made by womens movement actors.
Analysing debates: the model and the cases
To summarise so far, our comparative approach to the study of the
impact of womens movements on debates about political representation
contains a number of elements or variables. For each we expect to find
variation across countries, over time and across debates within countries.
Our model is the product of a cross-national research project in which
authors developed the design collectively, and then individually, as experts,
made assessments of a selected country. The efforts of WPAs are examined
in each country to determine how they behave in relation to womens
movement attempts to affect state action. Each author has selected,
described and classified three debates on political representation, making
Policy debates will vary by

activities and characteristics of the women's policy agencies
and
women's movement impact; policy content and participation
explained by variations in
characteristics of women's movements
and / or
the policy environment
Figure 1.1 The elements of the research problem
an assessment of the impact of the womens movement on the decision and

the role of the WPAs in achieving that decision.
From the literature on social movement impact we developed a set of
variables that might explain womens movement success or failure. To do
this we drew on resource mobilisation theory, which highlights the characteristics of womens movements, and on political opportunity structure
theory, which addresses the policy environment in which the movement
operates. Accordingly each author has also gathered information about the
characteristics of the womens movements and the policy environment at
the time of each of three selected debates.
In all of the countries discussed in this volume, debates on political
representation have led to explicit policies to increase the political representation of women. In most cases, however, the policies did not fully
incorporate womens movement goals. The meeting of womens movement
goals is only one of the criteria that we use to assess the policy impact of the
womens movements. We also consider whether movements affected policy
processes to make them more inclusive of movement concerns and to
provide for the inclusion of women. Finally we consider the extent to
which policy frames have become gendered, the relationships between
frames and movement perspectives, and the extent to which processes
include women and womens movements.
The elements of the research problem are shown in figure 1.1.
A theory of state feminism
The state feminist framework presented here incorporates the variables
we have discussed so far into a theory in which the units of analysis
10
Joni Lovenduski
Women's movement impact
Dependent variable
Activities and characteristics of women's policy agencies
Intervening variables
Characteristics of women's movements
Independent variable cluster
The policy environment
Independent variable cluster
Figure 1.2 The RNGS framework
are political representation policy debates. We use the language of

variables to give precision to our model, which is structured on relationships between dependent, independent and intervening variables.
To construct the theory it is necessary, first, to establish the extent of
variation in the success of womens movements in achieving substantive
and descriptive representation in the state at the end of these debates.
Thus the dependent variable, what we are trying to explain, is womens
movement impact. The next step is to examine patterns of activities
of womens policy agencies in changing the policy-making process on
behalf of womens movements. At this stage the womens policy
agency characteristics are independent variables that explain differences
in movement impact. The third and most important step in our theory
building is to assess the state feminist explanation in terms of alternative
explanations for movement success in political representation policy
debates. When the association between these variables, womens
policy agency activities and movement impacts are examined, womens
policy agency activities become an intervening variable. These associations are depicted in figure 1.2.
The model is built on a set of classifications. Categories from democratic
representation and social movement impact theories are synthesised into
typologies to measure the intervening and dependent variables: womens
policy agency activities and womens movement impact. At the same time,
these typologies analytically separate the variations in agency activities from
the states policy and procedural responses to permit examination of the
effects of one on the other. They also separate substantive representation
from descriptive representation.
11
The classifications illuminate our three-part research question:

Dependent variable
What is the impact of womens movements on state policy? This question
implies an analysis and classification of the success of the womens movement in framing public policies according to a feminist understanding of
the policy problem under consideration.
Intervening variables
What is the extent to which the WPAs further this impact? This question
implies an analysis and classification of WPAs activities to effect changes
in the policy-making process in order to make the policy outcome correspond to womens movement goals and to establish the WPAs
characteristics.
Independent variables
Which characteristics of the womens movement and which features of
the policy environment provide a favourable setting for womens movement impact on state policy? How do variations in WPA activities and in
the womens movement relate to both the womens movement characteristics and features of the policy environment?
The research question translates into the five hypotheses set out in Box 1.
Box 1: RNGS hypotheses
H.1 Womens movement activists in democratic states have tended to
be successful in increasing both substantive representation
as demonstrated by policy content, and procedural/descriptive
representation as demonstrated by womens participation.
H.2 Womens movement activists in democratic states have tended to
be more successful where womens policy agencies have acted as
insiders in the policy-making process, that is, have gendered policy
debates in ways that coincide with womens movement goals.
H.3 Womens policy agencies with institutional capacity as defined by
type, proximity, administrative capacity and mandate have been
more effective than agencies with fewer resources and less capacity in
providing linkages between womens movements andpolicy-makers.
H.4 Variations in womens movement representatives characteristics
and/or policy environments explain variations in both womens
policy agency effectiveness and movement activists success in
increasing womens representation.
H.5 Womens policy offices have tended to provide necessary and
effective linkages between womens movement activism and
substantive and procedural responses by democratic states.
12
Joni Lovenduski
H.5A If womens policy offices are necessary and effective linkages

between movement activism and state substantive and
procedural responses, then variations in movement
resources and policy environments will have no independent
relation to state responses.
H.5B If womens policy offices are not necessary and effective
linkages between movement activism and state substantive and procedural responses, then variations in womens
movement resources and policy environments will be
directly related to variations in state responses, regardless
of womens policy office activities.
Applying the RNGS framework to debates on political

representation
Each of the cases presented in chapters 2 to 12 follows the format used in the
studies edited by Mazur (2001), Stetson (2001) and Outshoorn (2004).
First WPAs in the political system are identified and the institutions that
make the most important decisions about political representation are
described. Next the major policy debates on political representation that
took place during the lifetime of the WPAs are identified. Debates must have
taken place in a public arena such as legislature, bureaucracy or political
parties; they must have ended in a decision or other output, for example a
law or official report. Once the universe of policy debates is established,
researchers then select three debates for analysis that reflected the decisional
system, the life cycle of the WPAs and the salience of the debates.
A feature of the case selection in this volume is that we are analysing
debates about political representation itself in order to determine whether
political representation arrangements ensure womens inclusion. In other
words we are looking at the heart of the representative process. To do this
effectively we have adapted the debate selection requirements of the
RNGS model. In order to determine whether WPAs raise the issue of
womens representation in wider debates about political representation
authors were asked to include, where possible, at least one debate that
was not explicitly about womens political representation. Eleven such
debates in seven countries are included.
Each selected debate was traced to determine how it reached the public
agenda, what frame dominated at the time and whether the debate was
gendered. Researchers then assessed whether or not new gender meanings
were introduced into the debate and who inserted such new meanings. To
determine the extent to which a debate was framed in terms of gender,
researchers examined the explicit statements of policy actors and noted
13
Table 1.1 Political representation debates by country

AUSTRIA
AU1
AU2
AU3
BELGIUM
BE1
BE2
BE3
FINLAND
FI1
FI2
FI3
FRANCE
FR1
FR2
FR3
GERMANY
GR1
GR2
GR3
ITALY
IT1
IT2
IT3
NETHERLANDS
NL1
NL2
NL3
SPAIN
SP1
SP2
SP3
SWEDEN
SW1
SW2
SW3
UNITED
KINGDOM
UK1
UK2
UK3
UNITED
STATES
USA1
USA2
USA3
Access to the cabinet, 19759

Civil service reform, 198193
Public party subsidies, 19949
Quotas for electoral lists, 198094
Quotas for advisory committees, 19907
Quotas for federal government, 19919
Independent electoral associations to nominate candidates, 19725
Quotas for party executive in the Finnish Peoples Democratic League
(SKDL), 19867 Party debate
Quotas in the Equality Act of 1995, 19915
Change in voting system for local elections, 1982
Change in voting system for parliamentary elections, 1985
The parity reform, 19992000
Quota rules in the Social Democratic Party (SPD), 197788
Second Federal Equal Rights Law, 198994
Reform of Nationality Law, 19989
Creation of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS), 198991
Reform of electoral law for the lower chamber of parliament, 19915
Constitutional amendment to promote equal opportunities for access to
political office, 19972003
Reform of Social Democratic Party (PvdA), 196677
Equality Policy Plan, 19815
Corporatism, 198997
Womens quota of 25% in the Socialist Party (PSOE), 19878
Womens quota of 40% in the PSOE, 19927
Mandatory quotas for all parties, 19982003
Greater democracy and more women in politics, 196772
Quotas for appointed positions, 19857
The establishment of a womens party, 19914
Reform of public bodies, 197981

Candidate selection in the Labour Party, 1993
Parliamentary working hours, 20012
Equal rights amendment ratification in Arkansas, 19727

Term limits in Michigan, 19912
National Voter Registration Act, 198893
14
Joni Lovenduski
Policy and movement goals coincide
Women involved in
policy process
Yes
No
Yes
Dual response
Co-optation
No
Pre-emption
No response
Figure 1.3 Womens movement impact/state response
how they described the policy problem, the solutions they suggested and
whether they mentioned women or groups of women. Attention was paid to
the various ways women were portrayed in the debates, especially to the
images that were invoked of women and men and the significances of gender
differences in the debate. Researchers described the end point of each
debate. This could be a law, or report, or other kind of decision. In the
course of debate tracing, close attention was given to the part played by the
WPAs and womens movement and the characteristics of the movement;
agency and policy environment were classified according to the schemes
sketched out below. To maximise comparability, common variable descriptors were developed for each set of characteristics. These are described in
Appendix 2.
Movement impact
The impact of the womens movement on the outcome was assessed
using Gamsons (1975) two dimensions of substantive responses and
procedural acceptance. The impact of the movement was then classified
in terms of a fourfold typology. When the state accepts individual women,
groups and/or constituencies into the process and changes policy
to coincide with feminist goals, it is a case of dual response. When the
state accepts women and womens groups into the process but does not
give policy satisfaction, it is classified as co-optation. Pre-emption occurs
when the state gives policy satisfaction but does not allow women, as
individuals, groups or constituencies, into the process. Finally, when the
state neither responds to movement demands nor allows women or
womens groups into the process, there is no response.
WPA and QWPA characteristics and activities
The WPAs and their activities and possible interventions are examined
for each debate. For these debates about political representation we also
use the concept of quasi-womens policy agencies (QWPAs). These are
WPAs that are not formally established by the state but operate at state
level to improve womens status and policy influence. All but one of the
QWPAs discussed in the following chapters are located in political parties.
15
WPA advocates movement goals
WPA genders frame

of policy debate
Yes
No
Yes
Insider
Non-feminist
No
Marginal
Symbolic
Figure 1.4 Typology of womens policy agency activities
Each agency is described in terms of a number of characteristics: scope,

type, proximity, administrative capacity, individual leadership, and policy
mandate and orientation. These dimensions have the potential to allow
the agency to enhance movement ideas, promote demands and facilitate
movement actors in the policy process. Scope refers to the policy mission of
the agency; some have a cross-sectional approach and others are singleissue agencies. Type refers to the form the agency takes; there are a large
variety of structures such as commissions, departments, advisory councils
and ministries. Proximity refers to its location within the executive and the
closeness to the major locus of power there. Administrative capacity refers to
budgets, staff and period of mandate, which can be temporary or unlimited. The professional and political background of the leadership can also
determine the activities of the agency on the issue. Some agency heads are
feminist and have close ties to the movement. Finally, policy mandate
and orientation determine priorities of the agency and how the political
representation issue fits these.
The debate is then classified according to agency activities within a
fourfold typology based on two variables: (1) whether or not the agency is an
advocate of womens movement goals in the policy process on the issue; (2)
whether or not the agency was effective in changing the frame of the debate
to these terms. When the agency incorporates the goals of the movement and
is successful in gendering, i.e. inserts the gendered policy definitions into the
dominant frame of the debate, it is classified as insider. If the agency asserts
movement goals, but is not successful in gendering the policy debate, it is
classified as marginal. When the agency is not an advocate for movement
goals but genders or degenders the debate in some other ways, it is classified
as non-feminist. Finally, when the agency neither advocates movement goals
nor genders the policy debate, it is classified as symbolic.
Womens movement characteristics
Womens movement actors (WMAs) are examined to discover characteristics that are considered to be important for mobilisation in policy debates.
Characteristics such as stage of development, closeness to the political left,
priority of the political representation issue on the movement agenda,
cohesion of the movement on the issue, and the strength of a possible
16
Joni Lovenduski
counter-movement were used to assess this first independent variable.

Four stages of development, a combined measure of size, support
and mobilisation (Rosenfeld and Ward 1996), are employed: emerging/
re-emerging, growth, consolidation and decline/abeyance. Closeness to
the political left refers to movement ideology and organisational closeness
to the parties and trade unions of the left. Cohesion is present when
movement groups active on the issue agree on the frame of the debate and
the policy proposal. Issue priority refers to the experts assessment of the
priority of the political representation issue to overall movement concerns.
Policy environment
Policy environment characteristics are divided into three variables. First,
the policy sub-system in which the debate takes place is examined on its
degree of open- or closed-ness. When its organisation is amorphous, with
no formal rules or conventions, allows the broad participation of varying
interest groups and individuals, and has no fixed power balance or chain
of command, it is classified as open. It is classified as moderately open/
closed when it shows some degree of organisation but opportunities are
affected by shifting balances of power. It is classified as closed when it is
bounded by regular procedures and rules, the limited participation of
interest groups and free agents, and typically one major actor in control of
the policy space and area. Second, the dominant policy discourse is
compared with that of the womens movement. This frame can match
that of the womens movement, be partly compatible or incompatible.
Third, the party or coalition in power is classified according to ideological
position on the leftright spectrum of the country concerned. In many
countries party QWPAs established to promote women in the party are
not only more important actors in debates on political representation
than WPAs, but they also have similar characteristics and mandates to
state WPAs. The role of QWPAs is explored in the conclusions.
The RNGS model and democratic representation
How can feminists maximise their political influence? Do WPAs enhance
the political representation of women? Should feminism1 be established
1
Feminism is defined as an ideology that seeks to further the interests of women within a
gender hierarchy and to undermine that hierarchy. The authors are well aware of controversies over the definitions of feminism and over what constitutes a feminist outcome.
Thus we do not offer a universal definition of feminism. Instead we accept the prevailing
definition or definitions in each country at the time of the debate. We return to this issue in
chapter 13.
17
in state institutions to treat womens concerns? Do state equality agencies

diminish womens movements? What can womens advocates expect
from the expansion of the agencies, ministries, departments that have
proliferated in governments since the 1970s? We demonstrate in this
volume that it is possible to treat these questions systematically, using a
genuinely comparative framework.
The model described above enables us to assess how states respond to
feminist demands for political representation. Descriptive representation
is considered in terms of the inclusion of women as political actors and
substantive representation in terms of the consideration of their interests
in decision-making processes. The remainder of this book consists of
case studies of debates in eleven countries followed by a comparative
concluding chapter. Chapters 2 to 12 are country studies, presented
in alphabetical order. Chapter 13 offers a conclusion, in which we return
to the questions raised here by combining the findings for each debate in a
comparative analysis based on the hypotheses generated by the model.
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London: Verso
Gendering political representation: debates

and controversies in Austria
Regina Kopl
Introduction
Historically, political representation in Austria was defined in terms of
inclusion and exclusion. Exclusion corresponded with ethno-linguistic
cleavages but was also based on class and gender. Class restrictions on
mens voting were removed in 1907, and women were granted the right to
vote and stand for election in 1918. Suffrage was now universal and equal,
and elections free and secret. From 1918 to 1934 female MPs, especially
from the highly organised and centralised womens working class movement, which was part of the Social Democratic Party, represented women
as an interest group in decision-making bodies at federal and local levels. In
1934 the Christian Social Party abandoned its commitment to parliamentary democracy, and the parties of the left were outlawed. Between 1938
and 1945 Austria was part of the German Third Reich.
After the Second World War the party system was re-established. In the
decades following the war political representation was primarily understood in terms of economic interest representation, and womens representation in parliament hovered around 6 per cent. It was not until the
emergence and growth of the second wave of the womens movement that
the political representation of women became an issue. In the late 1970s
the movement called for a higher percentage of female MPs by linking
descriptive representation to questions of substantive representation, and
womens parliamentary representation began to increase up to 10 per
cent. By 2003 the proportion of women MPs was 31.7 per cent.
Universe of debates
Modern Austria is a consociational type of democracy characterised by a
party state and corporatism. Parties structure all elections, and all office
holders in representative institutions are party nominees and, mostly, also
party members and functionaries. The cabinet is chosen from the party or
coalition of parties holding a majority in the Lower House of parliament
20
Gendering political representation: Austria
21
(National Council). The parties represented in parliament are highly disciplined, and MPs vote along party lines. Accordingly, the party or the
coalition of parties in government commands a majority of votes in parliament, and it is able to pass and implement its policies (Pelinka 1998).
There is a complex network of formal and informal relations among the
large interest associations and between them and the government/state
bureaucracy. Negotiations with the social partner organisations, the
Wage Earners Associations on the one hand and the Employers
Association on the other, are often part of the pre-parliamentary stage
of the legislative process (Talos 1996). Political decision-making is synchronised not only by structural links but also by personal links. Leaders
of interest associations are usually MPs or even members of the cabinet.
The most important debates on political representation focused on
womens representation, citizenship rights of immigrants, the principle
of equality in the constitution, and changes in the electoral system. In
1971 parliament passed a new electoral law to reduce the number of
electoral districts and increase the number of seats in the National
Council. The measure gave smaller or new parties a better chance of
)
winning seats. Although in 1979 the Social Democratic Party (SPO
owed its victory in the national elections to the support by women,
barriers to the representation of women remained. Womens organisa demanded
tions and womens groups inside and outside the SPO
increases in the number of women in parliament and government.
Responding to womens demands, Chancellor Kreisky asked the 1979
party conference to increase his cabinet in order to accommodate the
appointment of four women as under-secretaries of state, two of them in
charge of the promotion of womens policy concerns. In the early 1980s
an action programme was agreed to promote qualified women for highlevel civil service positions. This programme provides evidence of the
symbolic nature of support by male office holders for womens demands.
The outcome of the debate was the 1992 Law on the Equal Treatment of
Men and Women in the Civil Service. In the same year, electoral law was
changed again. Once more the main focus was on the division of electoral
districts. Additionally, the personal element within the voting process was
strengthened. Voters were still required to vote a straight party ticket but
could now cast one preference vote. However, in the following elections
only a small number of candidates received enough preference votes to
win seats. In 1995 and 1996 Green Party women MPs brought in private
members bills that would connect state subsidies and public party
finance to the promotion of women in politics. Both measures were
rejected by the governing parties and thus settled. In Austria a minimum
standard of basic rights was incorporated in the Federal Constitutional
22
Regina Kopl
Law. Only a very general principle covered equality between men and
women. On the basis of the gender-related principles of the Amsterdam
Treaty of 1997, Austrian feminists mobilised in support of a constitutional amendment on equality between men and women that included
provision for affirmative action to decrease gender inequality. However,
the new amendment was formalised only as a state goal (Staatsziel) and
not as a basic or constitutional right. Universal suffrage is connected to
Austrian citizenship. In the late 1990s, in Austria as in other European
countries, rising immigration prompted questions about the hegemonic
concept of citizenship and led to demands for voting rights for foreign
residents. In 2002 the Council of the City of Vienna decided to allow
foreign residents to vote at city level. However, in June 2004 a supreme
Constitutional Court ruling argued that this reform was unconstitutional.
Debate selection
The first debate selected concerns womens access to cabinet positions
and the chancellors decision in 1979 to expand his cabinet by appointing
four women as under-secretaries of state. The second debate focuses on
the 1993 Law on Equal Treatment of Men and Women in the Civil
Service. The third debate deals with public party subsidies as an instrument to increase womens representation. These debates represent the
life cycle of the representation issue, from the first to the most recent
major debate. They also represent different facets of political representation. The three debates additionally meet the criterion of decisional
system importance given that the debates resulted in decisions made
in the internal party arena, in pre-parliamentary negotiations in the
cabinet and with social partner organisations, and in parliament.
Debate 1: Womens access to the cabinet, 19751979
How the debate came to the public agenda
The first debate on the political representation of women was sparked by
disappointment. During the first half of the 1970s, more and more
) as a party that
women regarded the Social Democratic Party (SPO
supported womens interests, and women became an increasing part of
the partys electorate. In the 1979 national election women of the left,
linked to autonomous womens groups, undertook a great deal of cam and its leader, Bruno Kreisky. In election addresses,
paigning for the SPO
would champion womens struggle for
Kreisky promised that the SPO
not only retained their majority but
emancipation. At the polls, the SPO
23
also gained seats. However, only one female candidate on the partys list
profited from the gain in seats. In the cabinet there were only two female
ministers and one female under-secretary of state. Matters became worse
when only a few months after the electoral triumph, Chancellor Kreisky
announced a cabinet reshuffle, dismissing the Minister of Health, a
woman. At this point, womens movement activists demanded that the
chancellor and the Partys elite set an example and choose a woman in the
cabinet. Initially Kreisky wanted to expand the cabinet by recruiting two
female under-secretaries of state. The resulting interplay between differ saw
ent power brokers, interest groups and traditional wings of the SPO
this number doubled.
Dominant frame of debate
When the issue came onto the political agenda, it was framed in terms of
injustice. Beyond lip-service on the promotion of women, Social
Democratic men refused to share electoral success. Although women
participated in the party organisation at all levels and in election campaigns through support networks and action committees, there was little
increase in their representation on candidate lists or in cabinet appointments. It was men who controlled access to power.
The dominant frame of the debate changed after the chancellors
decision to increase the proportion of women in his cabinet. Womens
were satisfied, but the opposition
activists outside and inside the SPO
parties, the media and also some Social Democratic Party officials complained that the enlargement of the cabinet occurred at the taxpayers
expense. Opponents carefully avoided questioning womens political
representation, and none of the new under-secretaries of state was
attacked personally in public. However, opponents agreed that there
was no need to enlarge the cabinet.
Gendering the debate
Proponents and opponents pointed out that women in political office had
different perspectives from those of their male colleagues and that they
made a substantive difference in public policy. Women were more active
and involved than men in issues that flow from their different life experiences. In particular, womens position in the workplace, influenced by
their experiences as mothers, affected their views on policy. There was a
divergence of attitudes between women and men on social issues including the role of women, social welfare and environmental protection. More
feminist proponents argued that without womens input, issues such as
24
Regina Kopl
battered women, child abuse and rape would have taken longer to reach
the political agenda.
After the cabinet reshuffle, debate gendering concerned the role undersecretaries of state played in government. According to the Austrian
constitution, under-secretaries of state are under the direct control of
federal ministers. With respect to their policy mandate, secretaries of state
participate in the Council of Ministers, where the chancellor, vicechancellor and ministers have a vote, but the under-secretaries of state do
not. Their roles are rather ambivalent as they are both cabinet members
and highest rank bureaucrats. The opposition parties soon focused on
this fact by comparing under-secretaries of state to housewives: both were
little helpers (Gehilfen). Opponents both feminists and male critics
argued that by appointing four women as under-secretaries of state
Chancellor Kreisky had reaffirmed womens traditional role.
Policy outcome
Kreisky was well known for his sensitivity to hot issues. Political
representation of women was a hot issue in most western countries at
the time. Two of the four new under-secretaries of state were explicitly
responsible for womens issues, one for womens affairs in general and
one for working women. Kreisky presented this proposal to the Social
Democratic Party executive, which accepted it. As a result, 26.1 per cent
of the members of the new cabinet were female, which far exceeded
womens representation in other decision-making bodies. Chancellor
Kreisky was correct in presenting his proposal as a venture with multiplier effects. It also created a change in atmosphere and male party
officials could not publicly deny or reject womens demands without
great difficulty.
One further outcome was the integration of womens interests into the
policy-making process for the first time at the cabinet level through the
establishment of two womens policy agencies. The under-secretary
of state for the affairs of working women was abolished in 1983, when
lost its majority in parliament and was forced to form a coalithe SPO
). The undertion government with the Austrian Freedom Party (FPO
secretary of state for womens affairs in general took over the mandate of
the abolished unit, and the agency was granted the status of a ministry in
1992. The Minister of Womens Affairs existed until February 2000
VP)
when the coalition government of the Austrian Peoples Party (O
and the Austrian Freedom Party decided to reduce the number of cabinet
members.
25
Womens movement impact

Women participated in the debate, both as individuals and as group
womens organisation successfully lobbied and
members. The SPO
found opportunities to intervene. They also participated in the decision-making process because the head of the womens organisation was
an ex officio member of the partys highest decision-making bodies. Of
course a male-dominated party executive made the final decision.
Women also participated in the parliamentary debate discussing the
cabinet reshuffle, which was highly reported in the media. Thus, womens
movement impact in this debate is a dual response, satisfying goals of the
womens movement.
The 1970s have been described as the decade of Austrias socioeconomic modernisation. The Social Democrats had promised a
major reform programme covering all parts of society. Two main reforms
had a direct impact on womens lives. The abortion reform, giving women
control over their reproductive capacities (Kopl 2001), and the replacement of patriarchal paragraphs in the marriage code and family law by
gender-neutral ones based on a partnership, enhanced womens personhood and autonomy. Against this backdrop the womens movement
experienced a surge in growth. Feminist consciousness expanded and
women organised events and activities or set up their own groups at the
local level. Gaining access to the political arena had become one of the
major goals of the womens movement close to the left. Most of its leading
. Only small groups distrusted
members were also members of the SPO
traditional politics and formed the autonomous (non-politically
affiliated) wing of the womens movement. Most movement actors
agreed on the demand to increase the number of women in political office
as well as the necessity to establish a womens policy agency at national
level. There was no counter-mobilisation at the time of the debate.
Womens policy agency activities
There was no state womens policy agency during the first debate. The
establishment of two such agencies at national level was an outcome of
womens organthe debate. There was, however, a quasi-WPA, the SPO
). This organisation is directly
isation (Bundesfrauenorganisation der SPO
represented at party conferences as well as in party decision-making
bodies. Its brief was to organise the Social Democratic womens
26
Regina Kopl
movement at local, state and national level. In the decision under ques
tion it was near the power centre. The Bundesfrauenorganisation der SPO
not only advocated but also pushed and organised for more appointments. It had only a small independent budget and marginal administrative resources. The womens organisation was entitled to make policy
recommendations and to forward proposals to the partys annual conference. Historically, its major policy orientations were directed to social
and welfare policies.
At the time of the debate the chairwoman, who was elected by the
womens organisation, was a moderate feminist. She supported most
demands of the new womens movement but was not a second-wave
feminist herself. She and the womens organisation played an insider
role by gendering the policy debate through emphasising womens
under-representation in politics, accusing the party elite of being unwilling to promote womens concerns, and advocating the establishment of
womens organisation
womens policy agencies. The head of the SPO
advocated demanding the increase of womens political representation in
the partys highest decision-making bodies as well as in parliament. At the
time of the debate she was Minister of Science and she was believed to be
one of the few persons Chancellor Kreisky feared.
Policy environment
Between 1971 and 1983 the Social Democrats had held an absolute
majority in the legislature and Chancellor Kreisky headed a single-party
government. The policy sub-system was very closed because government
formation has always been the domain of party politics. Decisions on
cabinet members are formally made in the party executive bodies. Very
strong chancellors, like Bruno Kreisky, have successfully managed to
make the partys approval of their personal decisions a pure formality
(Muller 1996: 32). The matching issue frame at the beginning of the
debate was expressed in similar terms to those of the feminist movement.
Debate 2: Equal treatment of men and women in the
civil service, 19811993
The 1979 Equal Treatment Law established obligatory adherence to the
principle of equal treatment of men and women in terms of employment,
especially regarding equal pay. This law covered only the private sector
since wage statistics underscored that gender-related income differentials
27
were much larger in the private sector than in public administration

where there are set salary scales. For federal employees, the undersecretary of state responsible for womens affairs introduced an action
programme for the promotion of women in the civil service in 1981. The
core of the programme comprised three main goals: to increase the pool
of female applicants through special training programmes, to increase
womens access to professional degrees needed for entry into decisionmaking administrative bodies, and to establish womens networks within
the bureaucracy. Authorised only by a decision of the Council of
Ministers, this programme had little effect. In 1988, an evaluation report
showed some progress in increasing the pool of applicants and in networking. However, the number of women in decision-making positions
had not increased in real terms. Because female officers reported that they
encountered frequent resistance, the experts report also recommended
legalising the action programme by introducing an Equal Treatment
Law for the public service (Kreisky and Walther 1990).
Courts have not traditionally played an important role in Austrian politics. However, in December 1990 the Constitutional Court handed down
a major decision. According to Austrian pension law, women could retire at
sixty and men at sixty five. This was to compensate for prior disadvantages
related to womens familial duties. The Constitutional Court decided to
remove this paragraph from the pension law because they deemed it
incompatible with the general principle of equality laid down in the
Austrian constitution. Therefore the government was obliged to reform
the pension law. The Minister of Womens Affairs used the courts decision
as an opportunity to force government to introduce measures to reduce the
inequality of men and women in economic and social life.
The Minister of Womens Affairs proposed a comprehensive package of
measures related to welfare policies and social issues. Central to this package, known as the equal treatment package (Gleichbehandlungspaket), was
a proposal to reform the Equal Treatment Law for the private sector and
introduce a similar law for the civil service. By combining all these different
policy proposals the minister wanted to push them through as a single piece
of legislation. Only when the whole package was negotiated and passed, she
stated, was she willing to agree to reform the pension law. Otherwise she
intended to make use of her veto in the Council of Ministers to prevent the
pension law reform.
All major actors agreed that there was a need to feminise bureaucracy to
make it more representative. Also there was no dissent on the introduction
28
Regina Kopl
of measures to overcome gender-related job segregation. The new law

was meant to provide the legislative basis for descriptive and substantive
feminisation of public administration. However, there was dissent over
the policy instruments proposed by the WPA and its allies to remove
discriminatory practices as well as to reach the future goal of de facto
equality between men and women in the civil service.
Womens movement representatives exposed existing gendered procedures that worked against women. They asked for objective criteria and
more transparency regarding qualifications and promotion procedures in
public administration. Thereby they directly challenged male-dominated
practices deeply embedded in the bureaucracy. Appointments to administrative bodies were traditionally confined to old boys networks and
determined by patronage politics in political parties. Unsurprisingly,
some high-ranking civil servants countered that recruitment or promotion
decisions are always somewhat arbitrary. They complained that objective
criteria and measurements would erode the role of experience and empathy
in guiding the recruitment process. Proponents defended their demand,
arguing that only by this measure would (male) superiors provide detailed
information on job qualifications. Gender-specific qualifications e.g.
mens experiences in the military vs. womens experiences as mothers
would be described explicitly in terms of their relevance to the job.
One major goal of the Minister of Womens Affairs was to shift the
burden of proof in cases of unlawful discrimination. First, shifting the
burden of proof to the employers would raise their awareness of discrimination. Second, it would help to eliminate recruitment practices that
discriminate indirectly by having a differential impact. Third, a woman
who experiences discrimination is disadvantaged if she must assemble
evidence of a prima facie case. Critics of this proposal feared that the
number of complaints and litigation would snowball. In arguing against
VP and the Austrian Business
the proposal, spokespersons of the O
League pointed out that only big business has the money to pay top
attorneys. Some legal scholars joined the critics, defending the assumption of innocence as a basic principle guiding the rule of law.
Convinced that removing discriminatory barriers alone would not
achieve de facto equality, advocates of affirmative action measures
favoured preferential treatment to overcome the effects of past discrimination, and argued that a change in attitudes and mentalities would take
) took the position that preferential
time. Opponents (MPs of the FPO
treatment of women would result in reverse discrimination.
29
Prominent members of the civil servants trade union opposed some of

the womens movements demands. The trade unions leader rejected
both the demand to nominate equal treatment officers at department
level and the demand to establish an Equal Treatment Commission to
advance womens interests. He saw no need to establish new bodies and
contact persons separate from the existing works councils.
Debate gendering was feminist in the sense that movement actors
focused on de facto equality as the main goal. They also raised taboo
issues, such as sexual harassment.
Policy outcome
In Austrian-style consociational democracy, important decisions are
made prior to parliamentary deliberations. In addition to negotiations
with the social partners, the Minister of Womens Affairs had to clear
controversial issues with the other cabinet ministers. Special agreements,
such as an extended time span to fulfil the 40 per cent womens quota,
were negotiated with the Minister of Internal Affairs and the Minister of
Defence. The most controversial issue was shifting the burden of proof to
the employer. As a compromise, the negotiating partners agreed on a soft
version of this demand. The employer the federal ministries and agencies would not have to prove non-discrimination of women in cases of
conflict; rather they needed only to explain in detail that they did not
discriminate against women, if requested to do so.
The policy outcome was the 1993 Equal Treatment Law for Men and
Women in the Civil Service (Bundesgleichbehandlunggesetz). The law
expressly prohibited both direct and indirect discrimination.
Discrimination was defined as any form of non-objective prejudicial
treatment. The law required positive action in favour of women, which
has been translated into detailed provisions for the preferential treatment
of women in hiring, promotion and training. The ministers must adopt
individual plans for the advancement of women within their units and
submit detailed reports to parliament. To monitor equal treatment and
the various provisions relating to the plans for the advancement of
women, an Equal Treatment Commission as well as equal treatment
officers and working groups at the department level were established.
The womens movements impact was a dual response. Prominent
female MPs and spokespersons from the womens organisations of the
political parties as well as the trade unions promoted the equal treatment
30
Regina Kopl
package not only within their organisations but also in the media. In preparliamentary negotiations, social partnership organisations from the
labour sector nominated women to represent their interests in the negotiating committee. In parliament, women MPs dominated the final reading of the draft. Forming a cross-party network, women successfully
framed the debate. Most of the womens movement goals found their
way into the final policy formulation.
The Ministry of Womens Affairs initiated the policy proposal. Its staff,
together with feminist legal experts, drafted the proposal. The policy
mandate of the WPA was a cross-sectional one, co-ordinating all policies
related to womens issues at a federal level. Clearly, the policy mandate
covered the issue under study. The minister, Johanna Dohnal, like all
cabinet appointees, was politically appointed. She was also the chair womens organisation, and in this capacity was a
woman of the SPO
member of the party executive. Using her veto, she was able to prevent
the passage of drafts proposed by other ministers and was thus at the
centre of power. However, the WPAs administrative capacity was not
great. Three separate divisions supported the minister, and every year
there were struggles to increase a modest budget.
The head of the WPA was a second-wave feminist who supported
autonomous feminist groups. Her major policy goals were to increase
the representation of women in political and administrative bodies and
place controversial issues, such as domestic violence against women
including marital rape, on the public agenda. By networking and interceding, she sought to increase her influence (Dohnal 1992). The role of
the WPA in the policy process is therefore insider.
and the O
VP.
The major womens organisations were those of the SPO
The womens organisation of the Austrian Trade Union Federation also
played an important role in the debate. There was only a small autonomous
womens movement, mostly dealing with single issues and projects such as
rape crisis centres, critiques of patriarchy, and lesbian and gay rights. As a
whole, the womens movement was in a stage of consolidation. At that time
womens organisation was the most powerful. Because of the
the SPO
corporatist structure of Austrian politics it was interconnected with
women organised within the trade unions. For instance, the chairwoman
of the womens organisation of the Austrian Trade Union Federation
31
. Of course these
represented her organisation as an MP of the SPO
womens organisations only hold limited power within the party and trade
union hierarchy and in general have to tailor their ideas to fit the party line.
The advancement of equal treatment policies was an issue uniting most
movements organisations and activists. At the beginning of the debate,
female politicians from the major parties as well as Green Party MPs and
trade union representatives formed a cross-party womens coalition to
promote the WPAs proposal. However, during pre-parliamentary negotiations the womens phalanx collapsed. Brought back into line by their
VP womens representatives as well as female
mother organisations, O
civil servant trade unionists did not support the WPAs efforts to push
through the more radical demand of shifting the burden of proof.
Otherwise, the womens movement can be characterised as cohesive.
The womens movement was feminist insofar as most womens movement actors and organisations portrayed affirmative action and quota
regulations as necessary measures to overcome womens underrepresentation. No counter-movement mobilised to prevent the passage
of the new law. However, there were strong lobbies e.g. employers
associations, some civil servant trade unionists as well as some ministers
and high-ranking civil servants who tried hard to dilute womens demands.
Policy environment
The policy sub-system was closed. Womens movement actors had direct
access to policy formulation as representatives of womens party organisations, as functionaries in social partnership organisations, as cabinet
members or as civil servants involved in drafting the ministerial proposal.
During the evaluation procedure, when all groups involved are asked to
formulate their consent, criticism or rejection of the draft, criticisms came
VP ministers, as well as
from the Austrian Business League and some O
the civil servants trade union, which is OVP-dominated. The most controversial issues were negotiated at the pre-parliamentary stage by several
round tables in which the Minister of Womens Affairs, the Minister of
Social Affairs (male), top representatives of the Austrian Trade Union
Federations womens organisation, a female representative of the
Chamber of Labour, and the General Secretary of the Austrian
Business League (male) took part. The policy frame matched the dominant frame. Especially at the beginning of the debate, it was expressed in
terms that corresponded to womens movement goals. Male allies also
supported womens demands in general. However, on the more controversial feminist issues such as shifting the burden of proof or introducing
detailed affirmative action, support eroded.
32
Regina Kopl
At the time of the debate, Chancellor Vranitzky led a coalition govern . Since the SPO
and O
VP possessed an
ment dominated by the SPO
absolute majority in parliament, the government was able to control
decision-making. Therefore, the policy environment was characterised
by moderate left-wing control.
Debate 3: Public party subsidies, 19941999
The most important source of income for political parties in Austria is
public party subsidies. Donations have traditionally played a relatively
small role, and membership fees are of less importance as a result of the
decline in party membership. Direct and indirect forms of public party
financing campaign subsidies, funding of parliamentary caucuses and
subsidies to the parties political education activities constituted nearly
half of the parties budgets in the mid-1990s (Sickinger 1997).
In the 1990s the federal deficit dominated public discussion.
International recession, which reached Austria in the early 1990s, and
the costs of joining the EU in 1995 deepened the federal deficit. The need
to consolidate public finance was widely recognised. After the 1994
/O
VP coalition government proposed
parliamentary elections the SPO
an austerity programme, cutting back expenditures, e.g. welfare payments. At the same time, the governing parties opted to increase public
party subsidies. Initially the debate centred on the necessity of austerity
measures to consolidate the federal budget, on the one hand, and the
coalition parties demands to increase public party financing, on the
other. An increase of state subsidies to political parties did not seem
appropriate during a period of budgetary restraint. Protesting against
, Jorg
the political establishment, the populist chairman of the FPO
Haider, successfully integrated increasing public party financing into his
strategy of fighting corruption, mismanagement and waste in public
spending.
In the 1994 federal election the proportion of female MPs fell for the
and the O
VP,
first time since the 1970s. The two major parties, the SPO
lost seats and sent fewer women to parliament. Womens representation
in the legislature declined from its peak of 25.14 per cent in March 1994
to 21.85 per cent in 1995. Women also remain vastly under-represented
in elective office at a regional and local level (Bundesministeruim fur
Frauenangelegenheiten/Bundeskanzleramt 1995). Faced with the failure
of the party elites to support women as candidates and office holders, the
chairwoman of the Green parliamentary caucus announced at a
33
conference on women and politics in 1994 that she would introduce a

private members bill to make 15 per cent of public subsidies contingent
upon the number of female representatives being proportional to their
presence in the population, which is more than 50 per cent. At that time
nearly 60 per cent of the MPs of the Green Alternative (GAL) were
female. She also announced that public party finances should also fund
concrete action plans and training programmes to promote women.
Shortly after the first reading of the bill, the cabinet resigned and new
elections took place in 1996. After the election the Greens launched a new
parliamentary initiative on this subject.
All actors involved in the debate, mainly female representatives of the
political parties, believed that representation of both men and women was
a basic criterion of democracy. All agreed that increasing the number of
women in politics was essential. Their main concern was how to do this.
Were strong measures such as quota rules appropriate and most important was it the task of the legislature to intervene by linking quota
regulations and party finances? In 1996, the inherently gendered structure of politics was explicitly questioned. Old boys networks and high
incumbency rates coupled with no term limits for legislative offices were
only a few of the factors contributing to lower percentages of women in
politics. At the end of the debate, the main emphasis was on legislative
intervention.
Proponents of the bill, mainly members of the Green Party, justified
their demand by arguing that political leaders had failed to increase the
number of women in elected offices. Although there was no formal/legal
discrimination and party officials declared their support for women, the
increase in the number of female representatives was only very gradual.
Quota rules, they argued, while not desirable, were an auxiliary engine
towards equality. Linking quotas for women to public party subsidies at a
federal level could provide an example for regional and local legislative
bodies and social partnership organisations.
Only two parties in the Austrian parliament, the Green Alternative and
, have introduced gender quotas into their party statutes. In 1986
the SPO
the GAL established a quota system committed to a strict 50 per cent
representation of women by the principle of gender alternation. In 1985,
first introduced a 25 per cent quota for women on candidate lists
the SPO
and for appointed offices. In 1993, the party decided to increase the quota
VP is verbally committed to
to 40 per cent and make it mandatory. The O
a 30 per cent quota for women but there are no regulations in its statutes.
34
Regina Kopl
rejects gender quotas, arguing that they are discriminatory

The FPO
towards women because they imply that women are less capable than
men. The female founder and head of the Liberales Forum (LIF), a group
in 1993, described quota rules as a
of MPs that split away from the FPO
contradiction of the principle of self-regulation (Bundesministerium fur
Frauenangelegenheiten/Bundeskanzleramt 1995: 593).
Not surprisingly, female speakers from the Liberals and the FPO
rejected the term incentive. They described linking quota regulations
to public party subsidies as a coercive measure. Public subsidies should
not determine the composition of political parties or the extent to which
they represent social interests. In the debate during the final reading,
and O
VP representatives declared that parties interest in
female SPO
votes (of the female electorate) should govern recruitment practices
rather than legislative intervention.
Both proponents and opponents focused on barriers to womens repre VP womens organisation, as well as
sentation. The chairwoman of the O
some female SPO speakers, considered womens disadvantaged political

position to be an outcome of the division of housework and constraints
posed by womens domestic duties. Preconceptions of proper female
behaviour hindered women from pursuing public office, especially in
the more Catholic, rural parts of Austria; and socialisation effects led to
less confidence about becoming a candidate.
Opponents claimed that a targeted transfer of party subsidies was not in
womens interests. Compulsory intervention would not only undermine
the principles of the market economy and self-regulation, it would also be
misused. Party elites would promote token women rather than qualified
party
ones. Women would thus be reduced to a financial product. FPO
officials were not alone in stressing the qualification argument; they were
MP. Contrary to those women put in an elected
joined by a senior SPO
office by quotas, he stated, successful female politicians must be highly
VP
qualified and politically committed. The chairwoman of the O
womens organisation also argued that gender should not matter in
politics. Personal commitment was a much better criterion for
promotion.
Proponents responded by pointing to hidden quota rules that have
traditionally regulated access to political office. Besides regional representation, the impact of economic interest group representation (mainly
employers and unions) moderates the extent to which women can gain
and the O
VP, a certain
representation. In the two major parties, the SPO
35
number of seats have been traditionally reserved for prominent members

of the social partnership organisations.1
The importance of women in politics now extended beyond influencing policy. Women were seen as agents of change, who not only bring
different experiences and perspectives to their jobs but will also change
legislative style. Female opponents, who would not label themselves as
feminists, agreed that women in office operate differently from their male
peers. Women, it was said, tended to favour co-operation rather than
confrontation, were less aggressive and approached the world more contextually. Dealing with gendered stereotypes such as womens tendency
VP womens organisatowards harmony, the chair of the conservative O
tion noted that women displayed a style of consensus rather than one of
command and control. Feminist proponents of the proposal stressed
arguments based on critical mass theory to give weight to their demand
for quota regulations. When womens representation reached parity with
mens, they would transform the way in which legislators do business.
Changing the norms and rules of legislative life would alter the gendered
nature of the political institutions.
Policy outcome
During the first reading of the Greens bill in 1996, prominent female
speakers from all parties agreed that womens participation was important to democracy and that political parties must promote womens entry
and the O
VP, but also the SPO
into politics. Speakers of the SPO

Minister of Womens Affairs, explicitly welcomed the Greens initiative.
opposed the bill. After the first readOnly Liberals and MPs of the FPO
ing, the bill was assigned to the parliamentary committee on equality. In
June 1999 the equality committee, dominated by the governing parties,
and the O
VP, advised parliament to reject the bill. In the final
the SPO
,O
VP, FPO
and LIF argued against
debate, female speakers of the SPO
the proposal. The bill was rejected all female MPs voted along party
lines. There has been no further effort to introduce quota rules by legislation or to link public party subsidies with the advancement of women in
politics.
Internal party rules make the inclusion of womens organisation representatives on every
list mandatory. But the number of seats reserved for womens organisation officials is
limited. Therefore, increasing the number of female MPs in the national parliament
depends on opening up conventional means of access to elected offices.
36
Regina Kopl

After the introduction of the bill, womens movement actors were integrated into the decision-making process. All parties found it important to
have women play visible roles in the process. Women were thus party
spokespersons on the issue throughout the debate. Some female speakers
and the O
VP were representatives of their parties womens
of the SPO
organisation. Two female participants were chairwomen of their partys
parliamentary caucuses the GAL and LIF. The Green Party has always
had strong connections with social movements, including the more radical autonomous branch of the womens movement. Since the head of the
GAL proposed the bill, feminist womens movement interests gained
direct access to the policy sub-system. Women were also accepted as
experts in committee hearings. In short, women were involved in the
policy process, but feminist goals of the womens movement were not
achieved. Accordingly, this debate was a case of co-optation.
The Minister for Womens Affairs would have been able to play a role in
the policy process by virtue of the ministrys cross-sectional policy mandate. As a minister, she also had a veto right in the cabinet and was
formally close to the centre of power, but she was dependent on the
party that appointed her. During the third debate the minister was mod . She did not initiate debates on
erately feminist and appointed by the SPO
controversial issues such as domestic violence or parity in housework as
had some of her predecessors. Attempting to avoid conflict, the minister
refused to take a position on public party subsidies as an instrument to
promote women in politics. On this issue, the WPA did not support
feminist goals, e.g. by forwarding a ministerial proposal to the Council
of Ministers. The role of the WPA can thus be classified as symbolic.
In the 1990s the womens movement was consolidated but fragmented.
Women had successfully entered the bureaucracy; the number of
womens projects with regular state support had increased. Femocrats
were working on the regional and local levels to implement womens
programmes and set up womens offices. Most feminist womens move and
ment actors were allied with the left-wing political parties, the SPO
GAL, and they viewed quota regulation as a means to achieve the feminist
VP, the
goal of equal representation. Female representatives of the O
37
did not conchairwoman of the LIF and the spokeswoman of the FPO
sider themselves feminists and opposed legislative intervention on
gender relations. In other words, linking public party subsidies and
womens political representation did not unite the womens movement.
Furthermore, many movement actors gave priority to social issues. Faced
with cutbacks in the public sector and welfare payments, which were
detrimental to womens economic situation, feminist womens groups
and actors tried to force parliament to deal with womens demands
by organising a womens popular initiative (Frauenvolksbegehren) in
1997. Increasing womens political representation through mandatory
quotas was a priority only for some activists. During the third debate
no overt counter-movement against womens issues emerged but the
climate changed and anti-feminist attitudes slowly re-emerged.
Policy environment
The policy sub-system in the third debate was closed. The site of the
debate was parliament and the main actors were political parties. Only
high-ranking party officials took a position in public discussion and
legislative deliberations. Non-institutionalised participants were present
as experts at committee hearings, workshops or in the media. With a
and O
VP) were sucmajority in parliament, the coalition parties (SPO
cessful in voting down the oppositions parliamentary initiative.
However, having lost seats in all federal elections since 1979, and con in the 1990s, the SPO
had to cater to
fronted with the success of the FPO
its coalition partner. At the time of the third debate, left-wing control was
further weakened. In that all actors agreed that increasing the proportion
of women was a step towards democracy, the policy frame that initially
shaped the debate met the goals of the womens movement. However,
strong, mandatory measures were not party executives main interest.
Neither male allies nor non-feminist decision-makers supported the proposals to introduce quota regulations and action programmes for women
through the vehicle of public party subsidies.
Conclusion
Comparing the three debates on political representation discussed in this
chapter we find changing patterns of movement impact and state
response. In the first debate (representation of women at the cabinet
level) and in the second debate (Law on the Equal Treatment of Men
and Women in the Civil Service), the womens movement succeeded in
38
Regina Kopl
getting its demands on to the political agenda and keeping them there. In
both cases the state enacted policies that reflected the movements goals.
On the issue of public party subsidies and the promotion of women in
politics (the third debate), however, the state refused to act on womens
claims even though as in the first and second debates womens movement representatives were involved in decision-making and Social
Democrats had a major say. How can these findings be accounted for?
Analysing the first and second debates we find movement actors networking to achieve their demands. In both cases the issue was of top
priority to the major branches of the womens movement. During the first
debate autonomous feminist groups and individuals joined with women
womens organisation, which promoted the
organised within the SPO
plea for more women in politics. In enlisting the support of the chancellor
had an absolute majority in 1979 the
and the partys elite the SPO
SPO womens organisation, led by a long-established and very prominent

party official, played the role of a quasi-WPA. However, there was no
state womens policy agency at the time of this debate. In the case of the
second debate the heads of the political parties womens organisations,
supported by spokespersons of the Trade Union Federations womens
organisation, forged a cross-party alliance to force government to deal
with the equal treatment package. In the early 1990s the Social
Democrats had lost absolute control but still dominated in cabinet and
parliament. Neither in the first nor the second debate was there any
counter-movement in existence that mobilised to defeat womens proposals. Of course, individual men and also some women opposed movement
goals, in particular feminist ones. Nevertheless, most political actors
portrayed womens demands in terms of justice and democracy. Thus,
the cultural environment was more encouraging for movement activists
to make claims. In the second debate on Equal Treatment in the Civil
Service, the policy was initiated and shaped by the WPA. Seasoned by
many years of experience in politics, the head of the agency played a key
role in networking and pushing the proposal through pre-parliamentary
negotiations. She did not hesitate to threaten to use her veto in the
cabinet. The Minister of Womens Affairs, who was also in contact with
autonomous movement activists, operated as a veritable insider. As the
chairwoman of the Social Democratic partys womens organisation she
was also a member of the Partys executive bodies at a federal level.
Accordingly, the second debate not only testifies to the fact that state
feminism exists but also indicates how it works. In the third debate
women also played a visible role in persuading party leaders tacitly to
recognise the importance of including women in the public discussion.
Backed by their parliamentary caucus, female MPs of the Green Party
39
introduced the bill on linking public party financing to the increase of the
number of female candidates and MPs. Nevertheless, the Green Party
was in opposition. As a result of the power structure in Austrian politics,
opposition proposals are only adopted when supported by the majority.
In contrast to the second debate, no womens cross-party network or
alliance was in existence to force their party elites to deal with the
proposal. During the late 1990s the proposal was a priority only for
some individual women and womens groups, but it was not on the
agenda of the major womens organisations, which focused on welfare
policies and social issues instead. The Minister of Womens Affairs, a
newcomer in cabinet, neither advocated nor rejected the bill in public.
womens
Nor did she make use of her position as chairwoman of the SPO
organisation to start a debate on the subject within her party. Compared
with her predecessors she was not supported by feminist groups outside
the party and she was not in close contact with the womens spokespersons of the other parties.
, which had held
Still dominating cabinet and parliament, the SPO
power for almost thirty years, had lost much of its attraction. Unlike in
was at its peak, younger well-trained urban
the 1970s, when the SPO
people, academics and intellectuals shifted their votes to the LIF or the
,
Greens. Blue-collar workers, who historically sympathised with the SPO
became increasingly attracted by Jorg Haider, the populist leader of the
, who by successfully playing upon peoples emotions was able to
FPO
define the dominant discourse.
Summing up, the Austrian debates provide evidence that the success of
movement actors in achieving state responses, in line with movement
goals, depends on the following key factors:
* The role taken by the WPAs leader. Is she willing to go against the
party that appointed her in advocating movement demands? Is networking within as well as outside the political parties one of her main
goals? Do (male) allies holding power positions support her?
* A strong left that is not only in power but also willing to frame issues in
a way that is not always popular.
* A womens movement that treats the issue as a high priority, is unified
in its demands and connected to institutionalised womens bodies
operating within political institutions, such as political parties, social
partnership organisations, parliament and the cabinet.
References
Bundeskanzleramt (ed.) 1995, Frauenbericht 1995. Bericht uber die Situation der
sterreich, Vienna: Bundesministerium fur Frauenangelegenheiten
Frauen in O
40
Regina Kopl
berwindung des Patriarchats. Grenzen und

Dohnal, Johanna 1992, Die U
Moglichkeiten staatlicher Frauenpolitik, Zukunft 4: 57
Kopl, Regina 2001, State Feminism and Policy Debates on Abortion in Austria,
in Dorothy McBride Stetson (ed.) Abortion Politics, Womens Movements and
the Democratic State: a Comparative Study of State Feminism, Oxford: Oxford
University Press, pp. 1738
Kreisky, Eva and Ingrid Walther 1990, Quantitative und Qualitative Evaluierung
des Forderungsprogrammes fur Frauen im Bundesdienst fur den Zeitraum 1981/
1988, Vienna: Forschungsbericht im Auftrag des Bundeskanzleramts
Muller, Wolfgang C. 1996, Political Institutions, in Volkmar Lauber (ed.)
Contemporary Austrian Politics, Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 2358
Pelinka, Anton 1998, Austria: Out of the Shadow of the Past, Boulder: Westview
Press
sterreich. Ein Handbuch, Vienna:
Sickinger, Hubert 1997, Politikfinanzierung in O
Thaur.
Talos, Emmerich 1986, Corporatism the Austrian Model, in Volkmar Lauber
(ed.) Contemporary Austrian Politics, Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 10324
The Belgian paradox: inclusion and exclusion

of gender issues
Petra Meier
Introduction
The Belgian understanding of representation is intimately related to the

conception of citizenship, which itself is connected to the specific history
of the Belgian state. In 1830 Belgium became a unitary constitutional
monarchy, but Belgian society has never been homogeneous. Its political
and institutional landscape is characterised by a segmented pluralism,
reflecting basic social cleavages. Religious and economic divisions played
a predominant role until the 1960s when the cleavage between the
Flemish and the Francophone language groups gained priority.
Although both the economic and religious cleavages led to descriptive
representation, it was above all the increasingly salient linguistic cleavage
that led to a redefinition of the institutions of political representation. The
federalisation of the Belgian political system, a process that started in the
1960s, led to an institutionalisation of the prevailing interpretation of
citizenship (on the Belgian political system see Deschouwer 2002, 2004).
Belgian citizenship is believed to be embedded in its social groups. Like
the Netherlands, Belgium is a consociational society that integrates social
groups into processes of decision-making. Such recognition supports provision for descriptive representation according to which the membership of
public bodies and elected assemblies should mirror the society by containing the salient groups, although not necessarily in proportional terms.
Whereas segmentation of political and civil society is decreasing, the
balanced representation of key social groups continues to be seen as an
essential legitimising feature of the political system (Paye 1997). There is,
furthermore, a consensus that it is legitimate to institutionalise the presence
of specific social groups (Meier 2000). There is no reluctance to enshrine
structural measures in party statutes, legislation or the constitution to
ensure the presence of particular social groups in bodies of representation.
Compared with other European countries female suffrage came late.
From 1919 widows, women active in the resistance and single mothers of
soldiers who died during the First World War were awarded the right to
vote, but only until they (re)married. In 1921 women gained the right to
41
42
Petra Meier
vote in local elections. Universal female suffrage began in 1948. From

1921 onwards women were entitled to run for elections. Until the middle
of the 1970s elected women were an exception; at the beginning of the
1990s they comprised about 10 per cent of the representatives. Only in
the 1990s did the percentage of female representatives begin to rise. In the
federal Lower and Upper Houses about 35 per cent of MPs are women.
In the regional assemblies the percentage varies from 45 per cent
(Brussels Capital Region) to 18 per cent (Walloon Region). On average,
about 30 per cent of representatives at the local and provincial level are
women.
Selection of debates
The Belgian political system is a paradigmatic case of the allocation of
presence in decision-making institutions on (mainly) linguistic, ideological and philosophical grounds. Thirty-five years of constitutional reform
turned the Belgian state into a federal system reflecting debates on the fair
representation of the linguistic groups. Reserved seats were introduced
for the linguistic groups in the European parliament, in the federal Upper
House and in the council of Brussels Capital Region. Similar arrangements were made for the federal government and for the government of
the Brussels Capital Region. The representation of linguistic groups is
also required in the composition of public administration, advisory committees and public boards. Debates about the institutionalisation of
gender quotas in politics began at the beginning of the 1980s. The need
for more women in politics and especially in government was an issue in
1973 when the two female secretaries of state did not survive a reshuffle of
the Leburton government. From then onwards the womens movement,
and later also the womens policy agency, tried to mobilise both public
opinion and decision-makers on the issue of increasing the presence of
women in politics. From the beginning of the 1980s, gender quotas for
the composition of electoral lists, of advisory committees and of the
federal government were debated at regular intervals. In addition debates
on positive action took place, mainly regarding the public sector and the
political parties.
The most recent such debate concerned the constitutionalisation of
parity democracy. Since the first half of the 1990s feminist intellectuals
have defended the principle of parity democracy, defined as the explicit
recognition of the equality of both sexes. To enshrine the principle of
parity democracy in the constitution would oblige the government to act
to achieve equality between the sexes (Vogel-Polsky 1996, 1997). Both
equality and difference arguments were invoked to justify parity
The Belgian paradox
43
democracy. The argument is that there are as many women as men and
this proportion should be reflected everywhere in society. The Belgian
advocates of parity democracy emphasise that the concept fits well with
the Belgian conception of a citizenship with many faces, and their concern is to ensure gender is recognised as one of those faces. A less salient
debate in the second half of the 1990s concerned the voting and participation of foreign citizens and was partly influenced and crosscut by the
EU agenda on these matters. The issue of representation also arises in
economic and labour market decision-making. Whilst not all of the
examples refer to political representation in the strict sense of the term,
between them they show how the Belgian political and institutional landscape is full of procedures distributing positions on descriptive grounds.
Thus Belgian debates on representation involve several institutions.
The main institutions of political representation are the federal Lower
and Upper Houses of parliament as well as the federal government. In
practice the most important institutions are the governing parties.
Decision-making is strongly dominated by the political agenda of the
parties and the elements of most policies are set out in coalition-formation
agreements.
This chapter examines three debates about gender quotas in three
different institutions. Debate selection was constrained by the late establishment of the womens policy agency and the nature of debates on
representation that have dominated the agenda since it was established.
Neither the debates on the representation of the linguistic groups nor those
on multiculturalism meet RNGS selection criteria. While several claims by
linguistic groups were settled in the 1990s, those debates had their roots in
the 1960s and were well advanced by the time the womens policy agency
was established. The debates on multicultural society have not yet reached
their end point. Moreover, as we will see, studying other debates than those
on gender issues would make it impossible to understand the way in which
the organisational logic of the Belgian political system influences the
potential scope and activity of the womens policy agency.
Debate 1: Quota for electoral lists, 19801994
The question of the political representation of women first made it to the
political agenda in January 1980. Paula DHondt, a Flemish Christian
Democrat senator, introduced a bill stipulating that no more than 75 per
cent of the candidates on local lists should be of the same sex. The issue
was described in terms of the desirability of political equivalence.
44
Petra Meier
Advocates sought a society in which both sexes would have the same
political rights and duties (Senaat Gedr. Stuk. 197980: 370/1). The
Council of State rejected the bill on the grounds that a gender quota
would violate the principles of equality and of non-discrimination.
Ten years later, in March 1991, Trees Merckx, also a Flemish
Christian Democrat MP, introduced a new bill. She advocated only a
maximum of 80 per cent of candidates of the same sex, but wanted it to be
applied to all except local and European elections. She also suggested that
at least one winnable seat on electoral lists be designated for the underrepresented sex (Kamer Gedr. Stuk. 19901: 1538/1, 1539/1). The
Belgian electoral system is a proportional list system. And although the
closed character of lists has declined, voting behaviour still tends to
reinforce the list order. Hence, only winnable seats are interesting,
which explains Merckxs focus on eligible list positions. The bill, along
with many others, fell when elections were called a few months later.
From then on the government took the lead on electoral gender quotas.
The first government of Jean-Luc Dehaene declared its intention to
stimulate an improved participation of women in political decisionmaking in 1991. The (Flemish male Social Democrat) Minister of
Internal Affairs, Louis Tobback, supported by the (Flemish female
Christian Democrat) Minister of Equal Opportunities, Miet Smet, proposed to impose gender quotas on electoral lists through legislation.
The bill they submitted to the Council of Ministers stipulated that
electoral lists may contain a maximum of two-thirds of candidates of
the same sex. This principle would apply to the list as such and to the top
and most winnable list positions (De Win 1994). Parties that did not
respect these stipulations would face sanctions, losing, amongst other
things, part of their state subsidy and financial advantages (Leye 1992).
The Council of State did not condemn the idea of a gender quota but
argued that the sanctions were disproportionate (Kamer Gedr. Stuk.
19934: 1316/1). Following disagreement within the Council of
Ministers, a working group was set up, consisting of the chairmen of
the parties in the government coalition. This group seriously reduced
the scope of the bill. It wanted the act to be a temporary measure and
applicable only to local and provincial elections. It dropped the stipulations on the distribution of fe/male candidates over the lists. And it
offered only one sanction: parties that did not find enough candidates
of the under-represented sex had to present incomplete lists (Carton
1995). The Council of Ministers accepted the new formulation of the
sanction and retained the idea that the quota should be applied to all
elections, but only from 1999 onwards. With these alterations the
government submitted the bill to parliament.
The Belgian paradox
45

It took nearly two years to prepare the bill, an indication of difficulties in
securing a majority within the government willing to submit a bill stipulating gender quotas on electoral lists to parliament. Although all actors
involved thought the under-representation of women in politics to be
problematic (Marques-Pereira 1998), opinions on what should be done
diverged. There are no accounts of discussions within the government, but
the parliamentary debates reflect these divergences. Not all of the advocates of gender quotas thought that quotas were ideal. Rather, many took a
pragmatic view of quotas, as the most efficient and reliable solution,
reasoning that without structural measures nothing would change. Their
case was that quotas were the only means to overcome the subtle mechanisms of discrimination women encounter when trying to find their way in a
mans world (Kamer Hand. 29/3/1994; Senaat Hand. 6/5/1994). A few
female MPs explicitly mentioned mens desire to preserve their dominant
power position, and cited the weakening of the initial draft of the bill as an
example (Senaat Hand. 6/5/1994). Advocates of gender quotas were
mainly found among MPs of the governing majority. But the Greens, an
opposition party, also defended quotas. Later on, however, they would
vote against the bill, employing the argument that it did not go far enough.
The opponents of quotas, mainly MPs from the Liberal and far right
opposition parties, claimed they preferred sensitising and training measures for women, or even a neutralisation of the list order1 because a quota
would diminish the status of women so elected. They saw the problem in
terms of both a lack of concern by the electorate, and a lack of aspiration to
political office by women. They argued that women lacked interest in
politics by comparison with men, probably because of the demanding
rules of the political game. Womens putative lack of interest was sometimes overtly invoked, but it was mainly disguised by an argument often put
forward by the Liberals, that there were no barriers to women (Kamer
Hand. 29/3/1994). In addition, the opponents of quotas explicitly rejected
the idea that men would not be willing to share power.
Although both advocates and opponents gendered the debate, they did so
in different ways. While everybody claimed to consider women and men
1
A neutralisation of the list order implies that the number of preferential votes for an
individual candidate determines his/her chances of being elected whereas the position
on the list plays no role.
46
Petra Meier
to be equal, the opponents of quotas thought women and men had

different interests and needs and that as a result, women might not be
interested in politics. The advocates of quotas did not reject the idea of
gendered interests, but did not think that it explained the different positions of men and women in politics. A womans choice not to be interested in politics was not an individual one; it was structural. Making this
case, quota advocates referred to an argument invoked by their opponents, namely the rules of the political game. However, advocates
approached the rules argument differently. They argued that politics is
a male world that is difficult for women to enter, precisely because they
are not male. This is so because male politicians accept a gendered profile
both of the ideal representative and of the political world as a whole.
The very dominance of male power serves to maintain an androcentric
norm. Advocates and opponents situated the problem of womens underrepresentation at different levels, and hence preferred different solutions.
Policy outcome
Despite the parliamentary debates and various amendments to stipulate
the positions of both sexes on the lists, the parties of the majority adopted
the bill in May 1994 without changing its content.2 From 1999 onwards
no electoral lists should contain more than two-thirds of candidates of the
same sex. Between 1996 and 1999 electoral lists had to respect a maximum of three-quarters of candidates of the same sex on their lists. The
same temporary quota was applied to the 1994 local and provincial
elections. The most women-friendly parties criticised the lack of ambition
of both the act and the governing coalition (Kamer Hand. 29/3/1994).
For the Greens this was a reason to reject the act, although their rejection
of the bill might also have been inspired by the fact that they were in the
opposition. But on the whole, the voting behaviour of parties in the
opposition corresponded with their perception of quotas. The Belgian
Liberals and the far right are generally opposed to any form of gender
quota.
Womens movement characteristics and impact
The most conspicuous feature of the Belgian womens movement is
its fragmented nature as it reflects the traditional cleavages that characterise Belgian politics. It is further divided into an integrated and an
2
Wet van 24/5/1994 ter bevordering van een evenwichtige verdeling van mannen en
vrouwen op de kandidatenlijsten voor de verkiezingen. BS 1/7/1994.
The Belgian paradox
47
autonomous wing. Whereas the first is part of the pillars structuring

Belgian civil society, the second consciously dissociates itself from traditional power institutions (Hooghe 1994). The autonomous womens
movement is to a large extent co-ordinated by the Flemish and the
Francophone Womens Council respectively. Within the Flemish sector
another important umbrella is the Womens Consultation Committee
(Vrouwen Overleg Komite) (VOK 1997). Although the autonomous
womens movement was partly set up as a reaction to the highly sectarian
character of Belgian society, most womens movement branches are close
to parties that espouse social equality. Many womens organisations had
their origin in the second feminist wave of the 1970s, though some date
from the beginning of the 1900s. While the integrated womens movement has steadily grown since the 1970s and was partly consolidating
during the 1990s, the autonomous movement has weakened since its
heyday between 1979 and 1984.
On the whole, the womens movement advocated an equal or balanced
participation of both sexes in decision-making. The evolution of its claims
has been similar over time for both parts of the movement. The demand for
representation escalated from at least some via more to an equal share of
women. Between 1980 and the 1990s actors from both the autonomous
and the integrated womens movements claimed a greater, and from the
middle of the 1980s an equal presence of women in politics. One of the
best-known claims was made in March 1988, when the presidents of
the political womens organisations, at the invitation of the State
Secretary of Social Emancipation, proclaimed the charter of women in
politics, requesting an equal representation of women in (the top positions
of ) electoral lists (Staatssecretaris voor Maatschappelijke Emancipatie
1988). However, although the autonomous womens movements claim
is generally more progressive (Van Mechelen 1996), the issue is of greater
priority to the integrated womens movement. Arguably equal political
representation is of moderate priority to the autonomous womens movement although it gained in weight in the 1990s. For the integrated
womens movement, the issue had greater priority, not least because of
its direct involvement in politics. On the whole, the womens movement
characteristics did not change substantially between the first and the
other two debates. Finally, the Belgian womens movement does not
face an organised counter-movement with respect to the issue of democratic representation.
The integrated womens movement in the governing coalition welcomed the bill as a step towards parity. The view of the Minister of
Equal Opportunities better this act than no act at all (De Morgen
1993) was typical of their position. The Green womens political
48
Petra Meier
organisations, as well as the autonomous womens movement, rejected

the act, regarding it as a step backwards. They feared that the male
majority could hide behind an act that offered no feminist outcome at
all (Het Volk 1993).
Thus the policy was one of co-optation. The policy content did not
coincide with the womens movement goals even though women were
involved in the policy-making process. Indeed the integrated womens
movement was involved both through MPs and through the Minister of
Equal Opportunities. However, although they participated in the policymaking process, the womens movement had no direct say in the
decision-taking process. It was the group of the ruling coalitions party
chairs who mainly determined the content of the legislation. This group
contained no women, all party chairs being men.
What is generally considered to be the first real Belgian womens policy
agency was set up in the wake of the 1985 Nairobi UN world conference
on women. However, as far as the womens movement and the political
womens organisations were concerned, there had been a Minister of
Equal Opportunities since the 1980s. When Miet Smet, a former president of the Flemish Christian Democrats political womens organisation, became State Secretary of Environmental Affairs in 1985, she
negotiated an Equal Opportunities portfolio. At this point the state
secretary of Social Emancipation was established. A year later the government also established an Emancipation Council (Hondeghem and Nelen
2000). When compared with earlier consultative committees the council
can be seen as an early version of a womens policy agency. The sphere of
action and the potential of the State Secretary and of the Emancipation
Council had substantially increased. The scope of issues covered everything related to social emancipation. The State Secretary focused not only
on violence against women but also on womens economic and political
position. It is therefore not surprising to find that the womens policy
agency itself helped to bring the debate to the political agenda in the final
stage. However, a state secretary is the lowest level of the governmental
hierarchy and subordinate to a minister, in this case the Minister of Public
Health and Environment (as is the Emancipation Council; in this respect
it did not differ from former advisory bodies on womens issues). When
Miet Smet became Minister of Labour and Employment in 1991 she
retained the Equal Opportunities portfolio. Since then the portfolio has
been officially termed Equal Opportunities and is linked to the Minister
of Labour and Employment, where a Unit of Equal Opportunities has
The Belgian paradox
49
operated since 1992. Hence, we can see that the government took up the
quota act at the same time as a Minister of Equal Opportunities was
established. However, there is no direct link between these two facts, as
will become clear below. In 1993 the Council of Equal Opportunities for
Men and Women replaced the Emancipation Council and the older
Committee on Womens Employment. It can advise on its own initiative,
but its advice is (still) not binding (Raad van Gelijke Kansen voor
Mannen en Vrouwen 1997). In summary, over time the federal Belgian
womens policy machinery rose in the government hierarchy, in autonomy and in scope. In terms of resources such as budget and personnel,
however, it has always been marginal compared with those awarded to
other ministers and state secretaries.
When the 1994 bill finally made it through the political process, the
womens policy machinery was an important actor, represented by the
Minister of Equal Opportunities herself. She was not the official initiator
of the act but she strongly defended the bill introduced by her colleague
responsible for electoral matters. She did so within the Council of
Ministers, within the parliamentary assemblies, vis-a`-vis the press and
last but not least within her party, one of the coalition partners most
opposed to the bill. The womens policy agency gendered the debates.
Like the other advocates of quotas it did so by recognising and criticising
the underlying gendered power relations that characterise politics and
society as a whole. Although the final act was much weaker than that
initially suggested by the Minister of Internal Affairs and backed by the
womens policy agency, we can say that the womens policy agency
promoted feminist goals and acted as an insider. But it had no alternative other than to accept the act.
Policy environment
The Belgian political system is a typical example of a consensus democracy, ruled by a political elite subscribing to a fragile consensus. This
implies a rather rigid allocation of resources. The political system is
closed to outsiders and new actors in the field (Hooghe 1998). Many
issues are dealt with by a small but select club of insiders, most of the time
directly linked to and often mandated by the governing parties. This is
well illustrated by the impact that the chairmen of the governing parties
had on the bill. This logic underlying the policy environment has an
important impact on the womens policy agencies potential scope for
activity.
On the whole, the characteristics of the policy environment did not
change substantially between the various debates. Throughout this
50
Petra Meier
debate Christian Democrats were in power, forming a coalition first with

the Liberals (until 1988) and then with the Social Democrats.
Throughout the second and third debates, the Christian Democrats
continued to form coalitions with the Social Democrats.
Debate 2: Quota for advisory committees, 19901997
In contrast to the previous case, no individual MPs submitted a bill to
regulate the composition of federal advisory committees. In March 1990
the State Secretary of Social Emancipation, Miet Smet, submitted a bill
requiring that for each mandate in a federal advisory committee, all
nominating bodies would present a male and a female candidate
(Kamer Gedr. Stuk. 198990: 1129/1). She argued that the underrepresentation of women in advisory committees did not coincide with
the principle of equality between the sexes (Kamer Gedr. Stuk. 198990:
1129/2). The Council of State received the bill favourably. But it pointed
out the weakness of this type of quota, emphasising that since there was
no obligation to appoint the women nominated, the bill did not automatically interfere with the actual composition of advisory committees
(Kamer Gedr. Stuk. 198990: 1129/1).
The Lower House debated the bill in June 1990 and the Upper House
did so a month later. Compared with the previous case, there was little
discussion, a fact reflected in the limited duration of the debate, in the
small number of interventions and in the lack of amendments. However,
not everybody agreed on the mechanism suggested by the state secretary.
The far right were against any such mechanism, while the Greens wanted
to apply a quota to the composition of the advisory committees as such.
They further argued that the act would remain ineffective as long as it did
not stipulate sanctions for non-compliance (Senaat Hand. 13/7/1990).
Nonetheless, the bill was passed in July 1990.3
Six years later the issue reappeared on the political agenda. It was again
Miet Smet who presented a bill, but by now she was Minister of Equal
Opportunities. The new bill provided for a maximum of two-thirds of
members of the same sex on federal advisory committees. This bill also
provided for sanctions. Mandates would remain vacant and advice would
lack binding force where the quota was not respected. The reason for a
new bill was that the previous act had no impact. The number of women
3
Wet van 20/7/1990 ter bevordering van de evenwichtige aanwezigheid van mannen en
vrouwen in organen met adviserende bevoegdheid. BS 9/10/1990.
The Belgian paradox
51
had not risen on advisory committees. And even the nomination of female
candidates was not taken seriously in all cases. Male candidates were
deliberately nominated with less-qualified women. The advice of the
Council of State contained only technical remarks. It included both the
principle of applying a quota to the composition of advisory committees
and provision for strong sanctions (Kamer Gedr. Stuk. 19967: 860/1).
The Lower House debated the bill in May 1997, and the Upper House
did the same two months later.
Once again, advocates conceived quotas as a tool necessary to put into
practice what theory and law promised. But the opinions diverged over
what made quotas necessary. At the beginning of the 1990s the state
secretary referred to inequality in the functioning of democratic institutions. In a normally functioning system more women would be members
of advisory committees. Specific measures were necessary to overcome
the gender bias of the system. The underlying assumption, therefore,
was that the presumed equality of the sexes should translate itself in a
numerical equality at the level of fe/male participation in decision-making.
But the causes of the problem were not analysed. By 1997 quotas were
considered to be necessary because six years of practice had shown
that the 1990 soft approach of stimulating the nomination of
female candidates had not been successful. The Minister of Equal
Opportunities herself explicitly stated that men hindered women from
reaching the top. She cited the notorious example of an organisation
that nominated a male director and a cleaning lady as candidates for the
same function (Kamer Hand. 15/5/1997). Hence, what was considered
to be the cause of the problem and the justification of quotas was
explicitly named. The discourse was no longer on theoretical principles
and in this respect it was more open and radical. Advocates of quotas
also justified their claim by referring to the panoply of quotas characterising the Belgian political system. To them sex was a defining social
characteristic equivalent to the other social characteristics that underlay traditional cleavages (Senaat Gedr. Stuk. 198990: 989/2; Kamer
Hand. 15/5/1997).
The opponents of quotas wondered why gender should constitute a
basis for representation when many other social characteristics, for example,
age, carried no such entitlement to particular attention. They further
argued that being nominated as a member of an advisory committee is
an issue of capacity and not of sex. Finally, they wondered whether
women face discrimination on sexual grounds, or whether they encounter
52
Petra Meier
problems of combining professional and family life. This last argument

can actually be read as a version of the claim that women were not
really interested in political decision-making, an argument also encountered in the first debate. During the 1997 debates, Alexandra Colen,
a female Flemish far right MP, argued that many women might want to
lead a life away from a career. She stated that the entire bill was based
on the prejudices that men are not willing to share power with women and
that women absolutely want to obtain power (Kamer Hand. 15/5/1997).
She argued that the real issue was to determine the extent to which
these prejudices are correct. Like in the previous case such ideas
were marginal.
Overall, the debates were more technical and less intense than those
about electoral quotas. Arguably the path was smoothed for the 1997
debates both by the fact that the new bill provided for what had been the
major request some years before and also because the 1994 debates on
electoral lists had established the acceptability of gender quotas.
However, the lack of intensity of the debate is more likely a result of the
fact that those concerned were not present. Within the advisory committees themselves there was considerable opposition to any form of legally
imposed quota.

To a large extent the debate followed the same pattern of gendering as did
the first debate. While the opponents of quotas gendered the issue of
political interest, their advocates gendered the power relations underlying
society. However, the advocates of quotas did so most explicitly in 1997
and more extensively than in the debates on electoral lists, a consequence
perhaps of the bad experience with the 1990 act.
Policy outcome
The bill adopted in July 19974 was an update of the 1990 bill. All federal
advisory committees had to consist of at least one-third of members of the
under-represented sex. In the case of non-compliance seats would remain
vacant and advice would not be binding.
Wet van 17/7/1997 tot wijziging van de wet van 20/7/1990 ter bevordering van de
evenwichtige aanwezigheid van mannen en vrouwen in organen met adviserende bevoegdheid. BS 31/7/1997.
The Belgian paradox
53

Advisory committees, uniting specialists and/or interest groups, are an
important element of the Belgian political system and can considerably
influence politics at the highest level. Given their repeated demands for
more women in politics, it is not surprising that the womens movement
criticised the dominant male composition of advisory committees. For
example, the charter of women in politics also included a demand for an
equal representation of both sexes on advisory committees. Despite the
claims by the womens movement, most of its members took a different
position as an MP. Although the womens movement demanded such
quotas, many female MPs, including those belonging to the womens
movement, defended a more moderate point of view, even though
women dominated these discussions. The intervention of Miet Smet
during the 1990 debates explains this difference in attitude. She declared
that she herself would not have objected to a gender quota applied to the
actual composition of advisory committees. But she had adapted her
position to that favoured by the government, which rejected any form of
quota on the advisory committees and chose what it called a softer
method (Senaat Hand. 13/7/1990). The Lower Houses Advisory
Committee for Social Emancipation, made up entirely of female MPs,
also subscribed to this softer approach, arguing that it might be more
effective than a quota that defined the composition of advisory committees. The opinion of the womens movement was actually best reflected
by the Greens who argued both for a quota to be applied to the composition of advisory committees and for sanctions to enforce implementation.
A similar discrepancy was apparent during the 1997 debates. While the
womens movement demanded an equal participation of women at all
levels of decision-making from the 1990s onwards, the 1997 act imposed
only a one-third quota (Coordinatie van politieke vrouwengroepen voor
paritaire democratie 1994; Raad van Gelijke Kansen voor Mannen en
Vrouwen 1997; De Morgen 1994). Thus although the 1990 bill had
imposed the nomination of an equal number of candidates of both sexes,
the proportion was reduced when the measure was made compulsory. The
Advisory Committee on Social Emancipation of the Lower House was
asked for advice but formulated no criticism. And the Advisory Committee
on Equal Opportunities of the Upper House, established in 1995, did not
intervene in the debates although it included many members of the integrated womens movement. Thus although the womens movement had a
voice in the parliamentary debate, female MPs who belonged to the
womens movement took a moderate stance in the parliamentary debates.
The womens movement impact was co-optation.
54
Petra Meier

In this case the womens policy agency was more active than in the
previous one because the State Secretary of Social Emancipation and
later Minister of Equal Opportunities not only defended the bills and
gendered the debates in a feminist way, she also brought the issue to the
official agenda. Nevertheless the womens policy agency should be considered as non-feminist because it did not advocate the womens movements equality goals. In defence of the womens policy agency we should
emphasise that the attitude of the integrated womens movement itself
was ambiguous, because it had not used the numerous opportunities
available to criticise the bill from a womens movement perspective.
The lack of criticism reflected the party loyalties of the integrated movement, a sensibility that had previously prevented the state secretary from
claiming a quota for the composition of advisory committees.
Debate 3: Quotas for the federal government, 19911999
The issue first appeared on the political agenda of the Lower House in
March 1991, as an amendment to the revision of article 86 of the constitution. Trees Merckx, who had introduced a bill on electoral quotas in
1991, proposed that at least one minister and one state secretary of the
federal government be of the under-represented sex. The underlying idea
was a perceived need for measures to increase the participation of women
in decision-making because their actual number is not only low but also
stagnating. The first woman in the federal government held office
between 1965 and 1966. In the period from 1980 to 1981 and from
1985 onwards there were about two to four female ministers, slightly
more than 10 per cent of the ministers. But their number did not rise. The
bill was aimed at actively promoting the reduction of the gap between
formal and substantive equality (Kamer Gedr. Stuk. 19901:
10/861464/2). Initially, the revision of article 86 was meant to limit the
size of the federal government. Legal and technical discussions reduced
the revision to a resolution that a minimum representation of each sex in
the federal government was to be promoted (Kamer Gedr. Stuk.
198990: 961/3). Such a resolution does not have the same legal status
as an article of the constitution. While a resolution can be interpreted as
advice to the federal government, Trees Merckxs initial idea was to
impose a minimal presence of each sex in the federal government through
the constitution. The Lower House adopted the resolution in May 1991.
The Belgian paradox
55
Two legislatures later, in 1996, the issue made it to the political agenda
again, this time in the Upper House. Flemish Christian Democrat Sabine
de Bethune submitted a proposal to declare articles 99 and 104 (formerly
86) of the constitution open for revision. This time the demand was for
equal representation of both sexes. The underlying argument was that of
parity democracy, and comparisons were made with the federal governments policies of linguistic parity (Senaat Gedr. Stuk. 19967: 1657/1).
The Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities of the Upper House
adopted the proposal (Senaat Gedr. Stuk. 19989: 1584/2) and sent it to
the Committee on Institutional Affairs of the Upper House where it was
ignored. It was not considered during the subsequent debates and was
rejected when votes were taken (Senaat Gedr. Stuk. 19989: 11374/2).
The issue received much the same treatment during the debates in the
Upper Houses plenary in April 1999, which was the end point of the
proposal to declare articles 99 and 104 open for revision (Senaat Hand.
30/4/1999).
Touching on the composition of the federal government and embedding it
in the constitution is a delicate matter. As in the two previous debates, the
issue at stake was the under-representation of women and the need to
increase their presence. During the 1991 debate this claim was not successfully justified. Eight years later the advocates of an equal representation of
both sexes in the federal government argued in terms of parity democracy
and of a new political culture. Contrary to the two previous cases, no
explicit reference was made to the causes of womens under-representation.
The argumentation was an abstract theoretical plea for a constitutionally
embedded quota. Actually, the most comprehensive justification for
increased participation of women in political decision-making appeared
towards the end of the decade and not at its beginning when it might have
helped better to justify the claim. Throughout the decade a theoretical
discourse on the issue of equal representation evolved. By the end of the
decade it was known and used by the advocates of gender parity in the
federal government. Arguably this debate was more of a discourse because
there was no explicit discussion of the issue. In the Advisory Committee
on Equal Opportunities of the Upper House, the principle of parity as
well as quotas meant to translate parity into practice was accepted. Their
discussion was of a strategic nature: although the original request was
for parity, some members preferred to claim a balanced presence of both
sexes, arguing that a 60:40 repartition of ministerial and state secretary
posts might be more acceptable (Senaat Gedr. Stuk. 19989: 1584/2).
56
Petra Meier
Although certain female MPs are convinced advocates of parity democracy, including a strict equal participation of both sexes in all institutions
of political decision-making, they tend to claim less far-reaching measures.
The underlying idea is that the majority might more easily accept a weaker
measure. Thereafter, in the rest of the parliamentary process there was no
debate; instead the proposal was simply ignored. The Advisory Committee
on Equal Opportunities debates were probably framed in such a favourable
way because only advocates of the issue were present. Most of its members
are in favour of an improved promotion of gender equality. Also different
from the previous two debates is the fact that all female MPs present in the
Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities were in favour of the measures discussed, regardless of whether their party was a member of the
majority or of the opposition. This does not necessarily imply that female
MPs of the opposition became more feminist. Rather, it could be argued
that they spoke in their name and not on behalf of the party.
It is therefore not surprising that the issue was gendered in a way different
from that of the two previous cases. What had been implicit in the first
two debates now became explicit. The focus was no longer directly on
gendered power relations. There was a consensus that equal gender
power relations were a problem. But the advocates of parity democracy
went a step further and tried to provide an explanation for these imbalances, thereby highlighting the gendered nature of the basic concepts
underpinning contemporary state institutions.
Policy outcome
The final outcome was the decision within the Upper Houses plenary not
to declare articles 99 and 104 open for revision. This decision was not
defended, arguably because the majority of (male) MPs did not even
think it necessary to explain this decision. While the gender quotas for
electoral lists and advisory committees of the first and second debates had
become an issue associated with a notion of political correctness, the
same could not be said for sex parity in the federal government. Hence, it
was not an issue worth considering.
Higher, and later equal, participation of both sexes in the federal government was just as much on the agenda of the womens movement as in the
The Belgian paradox
57
two previous debates. For decades the womens movement demanded

more female ministers and on numerous occasions from the 1980s onwards
they pointed out the low female presence in government and demanded
correction. After the middle of the 1990s the entire womens movement
without exception demanded parity democracy (VOK 11/11/1997; De
Standaard 1996). The integrated womens movement also pushed its parties to appoint more female ministers. This goes especially for the political
womens organisations of the Flemish Christian Democrats (De Standaard
1995a, 1998) and Social Democrats (Socialistische Vrouwen 1991), the
two dominant Flemish coalition partners in the time span of this debate.
In contrast to the previous cases, women were the only participants in
the debate. Female MPs with an explicit link to the Flemish Christian
Democrat political womens organisation submitted both proposals and
the integrated womens movement generally participated in the debate.
And the other actors of the integrated womens movement were well
represented in the Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities of the
Upper House. The autonomous womens movement was not officially
represented in the debates but the demand perfectly reflected its claim.
On the whole, therefore, not just women but women with a link to the
womens movement were the only participants in the debate. The
womens movement was the motor behind the debate but it did not
achieve its feminist goal. The reason for this is that although it had a
stake in the policy-making process, the womens movement had only a
limited presence in the decision-taking process. Even though the point
was adopted in the Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities of the
Upper House, the governing parties did not take it up in the plenary for
the reasons already mentioned. Hence, again the womens movements
impact was co-optation.
The womens policy agency was the big absentee in the debate. It neither
came up with an initiative, nor (with the exception of one member of the
ministerial cabinet participating in the debates held within the Advisory
Committee on Equal Opportunities of the Upper House) did it intervene
in the issue. Theoretically there was nothing to prevent the womens
policy agency from intervening. This point is well illustrated by the fact
that in 2001 Laurette Onkelinx, a Francophone Social Democrat who
had taken over the portfolio of Equal Opportunities from Miet Smet in
1999, brought the issue to the agenda and pushed for an act requiring a
minimal presence of members of each sex in the executive. However,
during the 1990s the womens policy agency influence was symbolic.
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Petra Meier
Conclusion
The three debates map an evolution in the thinking on the underrepresentation of women in decision-making, escalating from the request for
at least one woman, via the need for more women, towards the conviction
that men and women should equally share all functions of political decisionmaking. There is also an evolution in the way in which the political
establishment reacted to the claims. In the first instance the feminist
claim was ignored. When ignoring it was no longer possible, the claim
was minimised. When minimising was no longer politically acceptable,
rhetorical correction was offered. When rhetoric was shown to be hollow,
a real measure was taken. But the measures did not necessarily correspond to feminist claims; hence the issues reappeared on the agenda. We
described this pattern for the case of the advisory committees, but it can
also be found in the case of a quota applied to electoral lists. In 2002 the
government coalition that emerged from the 1999 elections passed a
series of laws to require future electoral lists to comprise an equal share
of fe/male candidates, including the two top positions.
Linked to the evolution of attitudes towards feminist claims, we can
also see that the identity of the actor putting the issue on the agenda
indicates the extent to which it is accepted. Except in the case of the
advisory committees, MPs put the issue on the agenda first but these
attempts were rejected or minimised. However, when the State Secretary
or Minister for Equal Opportunities puts the issue on the agenda it is a
formal measure. This pattern obtained both in the case of electoral lists
and for the composition of the federal government. As we saw in 2001 the
federal coalition voted for an initiative by Laurette Onkelinx to make
executives include at least one member of each sex, whereas earlier
attempts of individual MPs did not succeed. And once the government
had agreed on the modalities of a gender quota for electoral lists at the
beginning of the 1990s and submitted a bill to parliament, it was accepted
by the legislature. The point is that by the time the State Secretary or
Minister for Equal Opportunities defends an issue, it has the necessary
support within the coalition to be accepted by parliament. For instance,
in the case of the electoral lists several male MPs of the majority openly
admitted that they voted for the bill only because it emanated from the
majority. But this also means that the womens policy agency can defend
an issue only once it has the necessary support within the coalition. Miet
Smet is arguably more of a feminist than Laurette Onkelinx. But when the
last debate first appeared on the agenda Miet Smet would not have found
enough support within the government to impose a gender quota in the
federal government.
The Belgian paradox
59
All these patterns explain why the influence of the womens policy agency
was respectively labelled as insider, non-feminist and symbolic. Our assessment expresses neither a change of attitude of the womens policy agency
nor a decrease of its power. The apparently less impressive influence over
time of the womens policy agency actually reflects the stage of acceptance
of the issue debated and the functioning of the Belgian political system.
Thus the characteristics of the womens movement are less influential than
the policy environment in securing the desired state response and womens
policy agency activities. Both the womens policy agency and the womens
movement function within a particular policy environment, which to a large
extent determines their scope of action. What is politically acceptable or not
is prescribed by the governing parties. The State Secretary or Minister for
Equal Opportunities, other members of the womens policy agency and
feminist MPs are in the first instance members of their political parties.
This leads to a gap between what they want from a feminist perspective and
what they could defend as coalition partners. In both the first and the
second debate we saw the extent to which the womens policy agency was
unable to achieve what it thought would be a valid solution.
Submission to the general rules of the political game is required from
both the womens policy agency and the integrated womens movement.
During the debates the political womens groups had an important forum
to express their claims in both the Lower and the Upper Houses. But
when it came to voting on an issue, the female MPs mainly followed their
parties. Party positions were inspired more by majority versus opposition
conventions than by gender relations. Attempts to go against the dominant party line, as in the case of the revision of the constitution, proved
impossible. In such cases women were simply outvoted. The problem of
submission to the parochialism of the party elites is part of the reason for
the existence of an autonomous womens movement. They are not bound
by party opinion. They thus have more room to advance far-reaching
claims but at the expense of limited or no formal impact. It seems that the
Belgian policy system to a large extent determined the outcome of the
debates. In this respect the Belgian case presents a paradox. On the one
hand the specific character of Belgian society facilitates a representation
of women as a social group. Yet other facets of this character limit the
scope and effectiveness of the activity available to the womens policy
agency and to the womens movement.
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Senaat, gedrukte stukken: GZ 197980: 370/1; GZ 198990: 989/12; GZ
19934: 1053/15; GZ 19967: 1633/12, 1657/13; GZ 19989:
1584/2, 11096/14, 1374/2
Senaat, parlementaire handelingen: 13/7/1990, 6/5/1994, 10/7/1997, 28/4/1999,
30/4/1999, 28/4/1999, 30/4/1999
Socialistische Vrouwen 1991, Persmap, Brussels: Socialistische Vrouwen,
7 March
Staatssecretaris voor Maatschappelijke Emancipatie 1988, Persmap, Brussels:
Staatssecretaris voor Maatschappelijke Emancipatie, 22 March
The Belgian paradox
61
Van Mechelen, Renee 1996, De meerderheid. Een minderheid. De vrouwenbeweging

in Vlaanderen: feiten, herinneringen en bedenkingen omtrent de tweede golf,
Leuven: Van Halewyck
Vogel-Polsky, Eliane 1996, Les actions positives, les quotas au crible du droit de
legalite, in Kathrin Arioli (ed.) Quoten und Gleichstellung von Frau und
Mann, Basle: Helbing & Lichtenhahn, pp. 10937
1997, Democratie, femmes et citoyennete europeenne, Sextant 7: 1739
VOK 1997, 25 vrouwendagen in beelden en woorden, Brussels: VOK
1997, Persmap, Brussels: VOK, 11 November
A politics for presence: state feminism,

womens movements and political
representation in Finland
Anne Maria Holli and Johanna Kantola
Introduction
In Finland women gained the right to vote by 1906, and womens parliamentary representation has increased steadily since (Karvonen and Selle
1995: 5; Raaum 1999), rising from 9.5 per cent in 1907 to 30 per cent in
1983 and 37.5 per cent in 2003. In contrast, womens representation at
the local level and in the corporatist structures of Finnish society has
remained lower (Raaum 1999; Haavio-Mannila et al. 1985).
The high proportion of women in parliamentary politics has been
explained by socio-economic factors (womens high education level and
their full-time participation in the labour market), the existence of relatively strong and independent womens political organisations and, last
but not least, the structural characteristics of the Finnish political system
(Bergqvist et al. 1999; Karvonen and Selle 1995; Dahlerup 1989;
Haavio-Mannila et al. 1985). Finland is a parliamentary democracy
with a unicameral parliament and a multi-party system. The electoral
system is based on proportional representation and multi-member constituencies. The open list system and mandatory preferential voting also
make it possible for the electorate to express their gender preferences at
the polls. Traditionally, women have voted for female candidates and
men have voted for male candidates.1
In this chapter, we will analyse the substantive impact of womens
movements and the role of state feminism on debates concerning political
representation. The results suggest a link between womens descriptive
International political research has so far failed sufficiently to take notice of this tendency,
which has been important in increasing womens political representation, although Elina
Haavio-Mannila (1979) initially drew attention to this phenomenon (see also Pesonen
1991, 1995; Pesonen et al. 1993: 74).
62
A politics for presence: Finland
63
and substantive representation in issues that explicitly concern strengthening womens presence in decision-making arenas. The analysis shows
how in such cases, a token female presence translated into critical acts
and a critical mass turned into womens successful co-operation across
party lines (cf. Dahlerup 1988).
Although internationally rare, in Finland cross-party alliances between
women became more prominent during the 1990s on issues that were
regarded as womens common interests, for example, day-care arrangements (Aalto 2003), prostitution (Holli 2004), gender equality policies
and womens representation. Several factors have contributed to the
emergence of such co-operative mechanisms; for instance, the strong
presence of women in parliamentary politics, the relatively strong
womens party sections and the greater independence of parliamentary
representatives vis-a`-vis the party.
Political representation
In the Finnish context, political representation can be understood on two
different levels which, however, are deeply intertwined. First, there is
formal democratic representation in both directly (municipal, national
and the European Union) and indirectly (regional councils, intermunicipal joint companies) elected bodies and politically appointed posts.
The electoral laws, party laws and citizenship laws have shaped formal representation in Finland. Three crucial debates have concerned limiting the
power of parties, restraining presidential powers and extending citizenship rights to non-natives. Gender has hardly featured in these debates.
Second, there are the corporatist structures of Finnish democracy. In
Finland, the descriptive and substantive representation of interest groups
is guaranteed through institutionalised co-operation with the state
(Nousiainen 1998: 106). The stages of Finnish policy deliberations typically include an initial committee proposal, a remittal process, and expert
and interest group statements. The descriptive representation of minority
groups (the Roma and the Sami people, immigrants) is moreover secured
through the establishment of special advisory representative bodies. Two
recurrent themes in the corporatist arena have been criticisms of trade
union power and male dominance.
The legalistic nature of Finnish political culture is demonstrated by the
strict legislative control of both formal democratic representation and
64
party activity. The electoral and party laws were set in place at the end of
the 1960s, and thus before the era of Finnish state feminism (from 1972
onwards). Only minor amendments have been made since then, although
in 1998, a single act was created to combine the four separate electoral
laws. The laws regulate the procedures of candidate selection, party
democracy and party funding. Therefore, the cabinet, the parliament
and the Ministry of Justice are the most central decision-making arenas.
Parties are prominent actors but, as a result of legislative regulation, their
influence is restrained (Sundberg 1995, 1997).
For the first debate, a change in the electoral law in 1975 was chosen.
The 1969 electoral law gave the parties a monopoly over candidate
nominations for elections. This received huge criticism. In 1975, the
law was changed to allow again the nomination of candidates by independent electoral associations. The change in the law thus restricted the
power of the parties, which, at the time, was at its peak.
As the second debate, a decision that shaped the internal decisionmaking process of a party is analysed. In 1987, the Finnish Peoples
Democratic League (SKDL), as the first established party in Finland,
decided to adopt gender quotas for internal decision-making bodies. The
SKDL followed in the footsteps of the Green League, which had made
the same decision earlier when it was still a grass-roots movement. The
decision of the Greens set a precedent on internal quotas, followed by the
SKDL, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) (1996), the Christian
Democrats (1997) and the Swedish Peoples Party (2001).
In contrast to formal representation and the functioning of political
parties, the corporatist channel is much less regulated. It has been the
focus of state feminism and womens movements since the 1970s, fuelled
by a growing realisation of the disparity between womens high level of
representation in parliament and their low share in policy preparation
processes. In the third debate, the 1995 Equality Act prepared by the
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health is examined. The final law included
a minimum of 40 per cent of both sexes in all publicly nominated bodies.
As a result of this single decision, the proportion of women in newly
appointed public bodies almost doubled.
The selection of debates thus includes one debate from each decade
of the existence of the womens policy machinery in Finland. The
sample also represents some of the most salient debates on political
representation, as well as two central decision-making systems on the
issue, the party arena and the parliament. The two selected parliamentary laws were also prepared administratively by different policy subsystems, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Social Affairs and
Health.
65
Debate 1: Change in the electoral law, 19721975

In 1969, a new electoral law was enacted in Finland. One of the most
important changes was that the law granted parties a monopoly over
nominating candidates in parliamentary elections (Tarasti 1998: 41).
Previously (since 1955), the electoral law had provided for independent
electoral associations, which registered at times of elections and had the
right to put forward one candidate each (Nousiainen 1998: 158). In
1966, an electoral law commission suggested that the right to nominate
candidates in parliamentary elections should be given to parties alone,
which would strengthen their position in relation to elections.2
The new law was resented from the beginning by the people and by
many MPs. The debate fully emerged in 1972 when the first parliamentary elections were held according to the new 1969 electoral law. The
Supreme Administrative Court had to settle a number of disputes resulting from the elections and it wrote a letter to the Ministry of Justice
criticising the 1969 electoral law as problematic from the point of view
of democracy in the country. The government was obliged to change the
law. The initial government position was hostile towards granting independent electoral associations the right to nominate candidates.
However, in 1974 the Constitutional Law Committee took the opposite
view, and in the end the government gave in and drafted a new proposal
that recognised the right of independent electoral associations to nominate candidates (Gov. prop. 178/1974).
In its new proposal, the government accepted independent electoral
associations but did not want to allow alliances among them, either with
one another or with other parties. However, the Parliamentary Standing
Constitutional Law Committee changed the governments proposal so
that the independent electoral associations were allowed to make an
electoral alliance with other independent electoral associations, though
not with parties.
The debate was framed in terms of democracy. Supporters of the change
in the law understood independent electoral associations to be a source of
democracy. Most citizens did not belong to any parties and, the argument
went, if these citizens could not participate fully in parliamentary
2
Independent electoral associations were allowed in municipal elections.
66
elections, it was bad democracy. If participating in the elections required

establishing a new party in order to nominate alternative candidates, the
threshold for participation would be too high.
The debate took place at a time when Urho Kekkonen had been the
president of Finland for almost twenty years. This period was generally
perceived as undemocratic. J. Juhani Kortesalmi (Rural Party) argued:
The Finnish people and electorate have been turned into servants, overpowerful parties have replaced the Finnish people and electorate. The
basic rights of citizens have been moved to the few registered parties, and
at the same time it has been made very difficult to establish new competing parties (Parliamentary documents 1975: 774).
In parliament the governing parties, the SDP and the Centre Party,
backed up by the Liberals, supported the governments proposal. The
radical left-wing parties and the populist Rural Party thought that the
government did not go far enough in enhancing democracy. They argued
that independent electoral associations should be allowed to form electoral alliances with parties, not just among themselves.
For the government, the issue was one of unity and disunity. The
ministers saw independent electoral associations as a force that could
divide the unity of Finnish party politics. Before the government changed
its proposal, Matti Louekoski (Minister of Justice, SDP) argued: To
allow for electoral alliances between the independent electoral associations in practice signals the strengthening of the forces of disunity both
between the parties and within the parties (Parliamentary documents
1975: 759).
In 1974 there were forty-three female MPs in the Finnish parliament
(21.5 per cent). What is remarkable in this debate is the absence of
womens voices. Only one woman, Terttu Tuominen (Finnish Peoples
Democratic League, SKDL), spoke briefly in the parliament on the issue.
Male MPs from the Rural and Communist parties led the debate. In her
speech, Tuominen focused on democracy and stressed the right of every
citizen to participate in elections, but did not try explicitly to gender the
debate (Parliamentary documents 1975: 900).
The electoral law was perceived as a gender-neutral issue. It was part of
high politics, like security issues, and was not thought to have anything to
do with gender. Some parliamentarians, however, resorted to sexist language to emphasise the importance of the issue: Establishing a party
should not, of course, be as easy as establishing some kind of sewing
society because parties are bodies which fundamentally influence society
67
and political decision-making (Olavi Borg, Liberals, Parliamentary

documents 1974: 897).
Policy outcome
As a result of the debate, the government had to change its proposal and
to accept both independent electoral associations and alliances between
them. However, the government did not agree to electoral alliances
between independent electoral associations and political parties. In the
1979 elections, an independent electoral association put only one candidate forward. However, in 1983, when the Green movement was gathering momentum, some fifty candidates were nominated by independent
electoral associations (Nousiainen 1998: 159), which prefigures their
later significance. In the 1999 parliamentary elections, sixty-eight candidates came from outside the party system (3.4 per cent), fifty of them
being men and sixteen women. Of these, one male candidate was elected
to parliament.
There were no womens movement goals in this debate. No womens
movement activists participated in the debate, and no one tried to gender
it. Therefore, there was no response from the state.
Womens policy agency characteristics
The Council for Equality between Women and Men was established in
1972 and its role was to prepare and propose reforms for gender equality.
The agency was a cross-sectional, national, permanent government
advisory body with a secretariat and a small budget. Institutionally, the
secretariat was placed in the planning section of the Prime Ministers
Office and, therefore, it was near to the top in the governmental hierarchy. However, its administrative capacity was limited by its small budget
(Holli 2001). The council consisted of twelve members and a chairperson, all of whom were political nominations. During the highly politicised
era of 19725, partisan fights characterised the work of the council.
During this debate, Meeri Kalavainen (SDP MP, chairperson of SDP
womens section) headed the council. The secretary general was Leila
Rasanen, a member of the Finnish Peoples Democratic League. She had
been a prominent feminist activist in the 1960s womens movement and
also, earlier, a secretary of the Committee on the Status of Women (Holli
2001: 198). During this period, the right-wing council representatives
68
often accused the secretariat of serving left-wing interests only (Holli

1991: 74).
Changes in the electoral law were not excluded from the councils
policy mandate and the council was concerned with issues concerning
womens political status. However, the electoral laws, and proportional
representation in particular, were considered to work for women and
were not mentioned in the councils statements. A clear priority at the
time was the fight for funding for the womens sections of the parties. In
addition, on a more general level, the council had adopted the policies
and ideas of the womens movement, Association 9, and it believed that
general societal reforms, such as education, social policies and labour
market policies, would automatically increase womens political representation to equal mens (Council for Equality between Men and Women
1973; Holli 1988, 1991). Therefore, the womens policy agency played a
symbolic role in this debate. There were no movement goals and the
policy agency did not gender the debate.
The womens movement was going through a period of growth when the
debate took place. Second-wave feminism gave rise to new consciousnessraising groups which, however, had little public visibility or impact
(Jallinoja 1983). The older womens sections in political parties remained
the central players in the arena. Some of them were inside, while others
were in conflict with the left. The change in the electoral law was not a
priority for any part of the womens movement and there was no countermovement. The womens movement was therefore also unified in its
agreement that this was a non-issue from a gender perspective.
Policy environment
The policy sub-system was moderately closed during the debate. Political
parties and lawyers were the main actors. Nevertheless, there was a public
debate on the topic and all the political parties participated. In parliament, 46 per cent of the MPs came from left-wing socialist parties and 54
per cent from non-socialist parties. The government was an SDP-Centre
Party coalition government. The political parties, the womens policy
agency and the womens movements shared the view that womens low
political representation resulted from inequalities in education and the
labour market, not from the electoral system as such. The electoral law
was not a gender issue for anyone in this debate.
69
Debate 2: Gender quotas in SKDL, 19861987

The Finnish Peoples Democratic League (SKDL) was the first established
party in Finland to debate and to introduce gender quotas for its decisionmaking bodies in 1987. At the beginning of the 1980s, the SKDL was the
fourth biggest party in Finland and women comprised 32 per cent of its
members (Tuominen 1984). The SKDL was a radically left-wing hierarchical party, with clear traces of a communist legacy (Sundberg 1997:
111). In its report to the party congress in 1988, the SKDL described itself
as a male-dominated party of the working population (Finnish Peoples
Democratic League 1988). Nevertheless, general equality goals formed a
central part of the party ideology and the SKDL was one of the first parties
in Finland to include new feminist ideas into its party programme in the
early 1970s (Nupponen 1968: 512; Jallinoja 1983: 17881; Holli 1988:
1401). The party also had a separately organised womens section, the
Finnish Womens Democratic League (SNDL).3
The introduction of quota regulations in the SKDL coincided with the
introduction of the Finnish Equality Act (1986). Both the party and its
womens section had strongly supported the act. The aim of the Equality
Act was to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex. The new law also
promoted proactive measures to improve the position of women in
society. In the parliamentary debate, the SKDL advocated a wider definition of discrimination that would have included the private sphere of the
family (Saarikoski 2001: 37).
The SKDLs commitment to the Equality Act generated pressures for
the party to achieve gender equality in its own male-dominated party
structures. However, the idea for quotas did not come from the partys
womens section.4 Instead, the general secretary of the party, Reijo
Kakela, asked Sinikka Mustakallio, who was working in the party administration at the time, to formulate a statement which would appeal to
female voters and enhance the partys image among women in the 1987
elections (interview with Mustakallio 2002).
Mustakallio was active in a feminist group Naytit (Tokens) that was
set up in 1986 as part of the SKDLs self-governance project, whose aim,
in turn, was to enhance political participation in society in general. In its
3
4
For a brief history see Katainen (1994).

For example, there are no references to quotas in the womens sections publication
Pippuri during the years 19868. Instead, Pippuri wrote about the Equality Act and its
significance to womens labour market participation (see for example Pippuri 4, 1986).
70
meetings, the feminist group discussed in particular how patriarchal

structures discriminated against women in the party. The women were
disappointed with the SKDL as a gender equality movement and
Mustakallio felt that there was conscious resistance against appointing
women to top positions. With the support of the feminist group, and
particularly Ulla-Leena Alppi, MP and another party activist,
Mustakallio wrote a statement that argued for the introduction of gender
quotas into the party (interview with Mustakallio 2002). The introduction of quotas was heatedly debated in the party executive, and initially, in
December 1986, there was strong resistance to the idea. However, in
January 1987, the executive recommended a quota rule for the decisionmaking bodies of the party.
The debate was framed in terms of different conceptions of equality.
There were differences in emphasis between the women who brought
forward the idea of quotas, and the partys official line. For the women
active in Naytit, the quotas would challenge the patriarchal structures of
the party. Equal representation of women and men in the party was a
basic principle as such for these women (interview with Mustakallio
2002). Quotas were regarded as the only effective way to transform the
male domination in the party and in politics.
For the party leadership, the ultimate goal was not gender equality but
economic equality. Economic inequalities were seen to require political
solutions: The core question is to change the division of labour which
confines women to traditional womens jobs and consigns them to a
marginal role in decision-making (Kansan Uutiset 16 January 1987).
While the feminist activists emphasised the patriarchal structures of
society, the official party line also blamed peoples attitudes: The use of
such quotas is necessary in order to change peoples attitudes and to build
a new, equal society (Kansan Uutiset 15 January 1987).
The statements of the womens section, the SNDL, were in tune with
the partys official line. Outi Ojala, MP and the chairperson of the
womens section, argued: True equality is not achieved in society without economic equality, and this we dont yet have (Kansan Uutiset 17
January 1987). Ojala also stated: Quotas for women are not a solution
forever, but a tool with which you can endorse aspirations for gender
equality, for example, solutions to the low pay problem (Kansan Uutiset 8
February 1987). For Ojala, quotas were thus a means to other ends rather
than an end in themselves. In these statements, the persistence of the
gender pay gap was regarded as one of the most important gender
71
inequality issues and it was hoped that an increase in womens political

representation would result in positive changes in tackling the problem.
Characteristically, the womens sections publication, Pippuri, stated that
the foremost aim of the womens section was to use the Equality Act to
demand a six-hour working day and a solution to womens low pay
(Pippuri 3, 1985).
A further difference in framing the debate was evident in discussions
about the nature of the quota. For feminist activists, the decision about
quotas was binding (interview with Mustakallio 2002; see also Alppi
1988). For the party leadership, in contrast, the quota principle was just
a recommendation. Esko Helle, MP and the leader of the party, stated
that it was clear that it could not be one hundred per cent implemented
(Kansan Uutiset 17 January 1987). The party leadership saw quotas as a
temporary measure required for a certain transition period.
The debate focused explicitly on gender and the party women were active
in bringing forward ideas about gender. The feminist activists, the
womens section and the party leadership all portrayed women as active
workers: Women are not a temporary labour reserve in the labour market; rather their work is a necessary prerequisite for the functioning of our
society (Kansan Uutiset 15 January 1987). Furthermore, all participants
in the debate emphasised the problem of having a segregated labour
market where womens jobs were less well paid and less valued than
mens jobs. Implicitly the introduction of quotas was also a challenge to
labour market inequality.
In the debate, both sides emphasised the difference between women
and from men. In its statement, the SKDL executive argued: Women are
the best experts on womens position. Currently, it is possible to find
expert women for all positions. However, women are continuously discriminated against in the selection procedures (Kansan Uutiset 15
January 1987). Were women to participate in decision-making, they
would change the political culture (Kansan Uutiset 17 January 1987).
The arguments reflect a shift in the Finnish equality discourse from
aspiring to equality according to the male norm, to a position stressing
womens positive difference from men (Holli 1991).
However, elderly men in the party placed part of the blame on women
themselves. The party newspaper, Kansan Uutiset (17 January 1987),
portrayed women as passive and argued that the quota law would end up
kicking women to participate, reflecting the idea that passive women had
to be forced by quotas to participate. Feminist activists resented such
72
arguments, believing as they did that the patriarchal structures of the party
and its masculine rules of conduct prevented women from full participation
(interview with Mustakallio 2002). Only when more women were allowed
to participate in politics would such barriers come down.
The women were not united in their assessment of the quotas. For
example, in her column in Kansan Uutiset, Tuula-Liina Varis accused
women who had argued for quotas of elitism, and expressed deep scepticism about the significance of quotas to ordinary women (interview with
Mustakallio 2002). When Salme Kandolin was appointed as the partys
general secretary in spring 1987, she immediately denied that quotas had
helped her. This disappointed the activists who had fought for the quota
rule (interview with Mustakallio 2002; see also Alppi 1988).
Policy outcome
The party executive adopted the internal party quota of at least 40 per
cent of both sexes in all decision-making structures in January 1987. The
positive impact of the quota rule was immediately seen at the party
congress that convened in May 1988, where a new executive was elected
(Finnish Peoples Democratic League 1988). Of the 163 representatives
at the congress 41 per cent were women. The new ten-member party
executive included five women, and three of the deputies were men and
two women. This was a clear improvement over the previous executive.
Since then, the SKDL has had a gender balance in its party executive
unlike most parties in Finland (Veikkola 1998: 24).

Feminists participated actively in the debate and achieved their goals;
hence they achieved a dual response from the party.

As in the previous debate, the Council for Equality between Women and
Men was the relevant womens policy agency in this debate. It had
become a part of the Social Affairs and Health Ministry in the autumn
of 1986 and its resources remained small. The chairwoman of the council
was Eeva Kuuskoski-Vikatmaa (Centre Party MP, Social Affairs and
Health Minister) and Eeva-Liisa Tuominen, an active feminist, was the
secretary general. The council was composed of seven members from the
centre-right parties and six from the left.
73
The council demanded fairness and a gender balance in democratic

decision-making and focused especially on public commissions and corporatist structures. Party quotas were excluded from its mandate, as the
council could not intervene in the internal decision-making procedures of
parties. As a consequence, the role of the council was symbolic in this
debate. The council had strongly advocated the Equality Act, which the
feminist activists in the SKDL were able to use to their benefit. However,
the goals of the council were not the same as the goals of the feminist
activists and, therefore, it had only a mediating role in this debate.
The party had no internal machinery for women or gender equality that
would have been relevant to the debate. It had a womens section, the
SNDL, which did not, however, have the status of a quasi-womens
policy agency.
The womens movement was in a continued period of growth when this
debate took place. Womens studies were expanding in academia and
womens political organisations on the left started drawing on the ideas
generated by womens studies (Katainen 1994: 3768). The relevant
sections of the womens movement, Naytit and the SNDL, were inside
the left. The priority of the issue was high for the feminist group Naytit
and moderate for the SNDL, the womens section of the party. These
two sections of the womens movement within the party disagreed over
the significance and necessity of quotas, but nevertheless appeared
moderately unified on the issue towards the party executive. There was
also resistance to quotas within SKDL and the strength of the countermovement was therefore moderate.
Policy environment
The policy sub-system was closed, as the decision for quotas was made
within the SKDLs party executive. As noted above, the party itself was
male-dominated and hierarchical. However, the party was facing a number of external and internal challenges. At the end of the 1980s, transformations in the Soviet Union questioned the legitimacy of radical left-wing
parties in Finland. In the previous elections, in 1983, the SKDL lost eight
seats in the parliament (from 35 to 27 of 200 seats) and had changed from
being a member of the coalition government to being an opposition party.
Furthermore, Democratic Alternative, a communist faction that had
broken away from the partys ranks, challenged the party in the 1987
elections (Nousiainen 1998: 39). The SKDL also had to compete with a
74
newcomer in Finnish politics, the Green League, which was appealing to

some of SKDLs voters with radical equality politics. The SKDL was
therefore confronted by internal and external crises that created pressures
for structural change and spaces for womens demands for quotas (cf.
Perrigo 1995). Both the executive and the feminist activists wanted
increased female participation in the party and both framed their
demands in the language of equality, although in a slightly different
manner. The frame fit between the feminist activists and the party executive was therefore compatible.
Debate 3: Gender quotas in the Equality Act, 19911995
The Equality Act of 1987 included a loosely formulated paragraph on the
gendered composition of public bodies. Government commissions, advisory boards and similar bodies, including municipal boards, should
include both women and men, unless there were special reasons to the
contrary. The implementation proved difficult, however, especially
because municipal authorities insisted on interpreting the law in a minimal way. Even after the law was slightly modified in 1988, the Equality
Ombudsman, Paavo Nikula, repeatedly had to remind authorities that
women and men were written in plural terms in the law (Ministry of
Social Affairs and Health 1989: 1920). Moreover, efforts to implement
the law were seriously undermined by a 1990 decision by the Supreme
Administrative Court that did not consider the presence of only one
woman or man in a public body to be in breach of the Equality Act.
The idea of specifying numerical quotas (a minimum 40 per cent of
each sex) in the law in order to ensure its implementation was presented
by two state inquiry commissions in 19912 (Committee report 1991,
1992). However, the suggestion met with great criticism from most
ministries and employers organisations.
The final government proposal was a compromise solution that
excluded numerical quotas in favour of a looser formulation concerning
a balanced representation of both sexes. Two female ministers of the
centre-right government5 formally dissented from the decision.
Furthermore, the Minister for Gender Equality Affairs, Elisabeth Rehn
(Swedish Peoples Party), who was responsible for the preparation of the
law, personally supported specified numerical quotas but did not want
5
Minister of Justice, Anneli Jaatteenmaki (Centre Party) and Minister of Environmental

Affairs, Sirpa Pietikainen (National Coalition Party).
75
the conflicts to cause the bill to be withdrawn or delayed. She told this to
parliament in May 1994, urging it to change the law (Parliamentary
documents 1994: 13268, 135960). Two private members bills (Law
initiatives 34/1994 and 35/1994) for the inclusion of numerical quotas
were prepared by the Network of Women MPs in parliament as alternatives to the governments proposal. Mobilisation by women MPs was
also successful within parliament: the Parliamentary Standing
Committee for Labour Market Affairs decided to recommend specified
numerical quotas in its statement to the plenary.
The debate was framed in terms of gender equality, which was supported
unanimously throughout the debates regardless of ones opinion on
gender quotas. The problem was defined as womens lack of opportunities to participate in policy-formulation processes and the subsequent
gender imbalance in public bodies. It was thought that womens descriptive under-representation had also led to an under-representation of
womens substantive interests in policy-making. Nor was there enough
utilisation of womens resources and expertise in the service of society
either (see Gov. prop. 90/1994).
However, there was a conflict about the causes and solutions of
inequalities. For the right-wing parties and the employers associations,
the causes were to be found at the level of attitudes and the solution was to
change them through enlightenment and education. Numerical quotas
would not solve the real problem. Additionally, quotas were seen as an
inflexible method that would lead to more inequality between individuals. Quotas of men and women would disregard the individual expertise and merits that were required of persons recruited to political posts.
For the left-wing and the majority of female MPs, the causes of gender
inequalities were also considered to exist at the structural level, in gender
discrimination and the exclusive selection practices exercised by the
closed, male networks in society. Quotas would be an effective method
to counteract discrimination and to achieve change, as the Norwegian
example had illustrated. Moreover, many female MPs expressed their
extreme disappointment with the manner in which the Equality Act 1987
had been side-stepped in practice.
The debate was framed in a gendered manner from the very beginning. In
parliament, conflicts over the acceptability of gender quotas were closely
76
intertwined with different gendered interpretations of the concept of

political competence (see Raevaara and Saarikoski 2002; Saarikoski
2001; Raevaara 1999, 2001, 2003). Basically, there were three different
approaches to womens political competence in the debate.
The first standpoint, favoured by some male and female MPs from the
right-wing parties, took the idea of political competence for granted. The
absence of women in various decision-making bodies was regarded as
proof of womens political incompetence or political passivity. The issue
is about your, the female genders sense of worth and a lack of it . . .
There are more of you as voters than there are men. Nevertheless you
have to resort to legislative powers in the form of quotas in order to get
your gender equality (Sulo Aittoniemi, Centre Party, Parliamentary
documents 1995: 6835).
The other two positions both conceived women as politically competent but held opposing views on quotas and political competence.
Some young female right-wing MPs were the proponents of the second
standpoint. They heatedly opposed quotas, which they regarded as an
insult to competent women: (T)odays women are more and more
educated and knowledgeable and they want to succeed on their own
merits, not as so-called obligatory quota-women. At least I would not
like to see my education, achievements and the regard I receive because of
my work to be spilled in vain because of deprecatory quota-thinking of
that kind (Kirsi Piha, National Coalition Party, Parliamentary documents 1995: 1385).
However, the majority of female MPs from both the left-wing and
right-wing parties supported the third standpoint. They stressed that
Finnish women were already more educated than men. Women were
politically competent but nevertheless, because of discrimination or outdated attitudes, they did not get their due in public policy-making.
Therefore quotas were necessary, at least as a temporary measure. The
female MPs also utilised a persuasive rhetoric by repeatedly pointing out
that gender quotas would help men, too, especially in the future when
men would be in a minority among the high-educated women in all areas
of public life.
In this discourse, women and men were constructed as inherently
different. Demands for womens increased representation were justified
by the need to include womens different experiences and interests in
public policy-making. Often women were portrayed as experts on everyday life, which can be regarded as an attempt to broaden the concept of
political competence. In contrast, rarely did the debate blame men for
current inequalities, or question the level of mens political competence
(Raevaara and Saarikoski 2002).
77
Policy outcome
From 1991 to 1995, there was a world record of 39 per cent of female
MPs in the Finnish parliament. The majority of them, across party lines,
supported numerical quotas of men and women and joined forces with
the opposition left-wing party men to form a parliamentary majority on
the issue. As a consequence, the governments proposal, supported by
right-wing male MPs and some National Coalition Party and Centre
Party women, lost the vote in the parliament.
Since 1995, the Equality Act has included a paragraph that decrees that
all indirectly elected public bodies (government inquiry commissions,
other similar bodies, municipal executive boards and other municipal
boards) must be composed of at least 40 per cent of both women and
men. There were also attempts to include similar numerical quotas in the
regulations concerning the decision-making bodies of state-owned companies, but the initiative did not gain enough support. Instead, they are to
have a balanced representation of both sexes.
As a result of the quota decision, in the late 1990s the proportion of
women in newly appointed public commissions increased from 30 per
cent to 48 per cent (Vahasaari 1995; Kaasinen 1996); in municipal
executive boards from 25 per cent to 45 per cent; and in municipal
preparatory boards from 35 per cent to 47 per cent (Pikkala 1999: 478).
Womens movement actors (including the Network of Women MPs in
Parliament), government ministers and individual female MPs were central to the debate and they also achieved their goal. Therefore, the state
made a dual response to movement demands.
From 1987 onwards, the Council for Equality shared responsibility over
equality policy with the Equality Ombudsman, a cross-sectional, judicial,
formally independent official charged with supervising the Equality Act.
Both institutions were located under the Ministry of Social Affairs and
Health. They both played active, albeit mutually complementary and
even conflicting, roles in the policy debate.
In the initial stages, it was the ombudsman who played an insider role.
As the expert on the scope and implications of equality legislation, the
ombudsman and his staff were central actors in the policy preparation
within the ministry and other policy deliberations. Ombudsman Paavo
78
Nikula (198791), a strong male supporter of feminist demands, headed

one of the commissions proposing the quota, participated in all the others
and also, after his resignation, supported gender quotas as a Green Party
MP in parliament.
During 19914, the ombudsman was Tuulikki Petajaniemi, a former
National Coalition Party MP with close ties to organised management. In
contrast to her predecessor, Petajaniemi actively resented numerical
quotas of women and men, arguing that they would jeopardise respect
for the Equality Act (Committee report 1992: Appendix; Constitutional
Law Committee 1994: Appendix). Although the ombudsman continued
to gender the debate during this period, the standpoints deviated from
those of the womens movement and can thus be classified as nonfeminist in terms of the model.
The Council for Equality had worked actively since 1974 to promote
equal representation of both sexes in public bodies (Holli 1991: 78). In
the early 1990s, however, the division of work between the womens
policy agencies had transferred the issue to the Equality Ombudsman.
The council continued to participate in the policy deliberations by providing expert statements. However, because of its partisan composition,
the council was divided on the issue of whether numerical quotas were a
solution to the problem of womens under-representation. In late 1992,
however, the council started to take a more active role in the debate and it
issued a protest against the exclusion of womens organisations in the
1992 hearings (Council for Equality between Men and Women 1992a,
1992b, 1992c). The complaint led to additional hearings and a stronger
presence of womens movement actors in the policy debate.
In the final stages, the council started to support numerical quotas more
strongly (Committee for Labour Market Affairs 1994: Appendix) and also
to play the insider role now abandoned by the ombudsman. During
19925, the chair of the council was Tuula Kuittinen, MP (Centre
Party). For example, Kuittinen and another council member, Anneli
Taina, MP (National Coalition Party), as members of the Parliamentary
Standing Committee for Labour Market Affairs, were active in mobilising
political support for the numerical gender quota in parliament. In the
1990s, the secretariat of the council, with diminishing administrative capacity and a more non-partisan profile than before, was headed by the same
two feminist women (Eeva-Liisa Tuominen, Leila Rasanen) as before.
In the 1990s, womens movements entered into a stage of consolidation,
where womens networks became a more common form of organising. In
79
political terms, the most important ones were NYTKIS (Naiset

Yhteistyossa Kvinno-organisationernal Samarbete, the Coalition for Joint
Action of Finnish Womens Organisations, from 1988) and the Network
of Women MPs in Parliament (from 1991). Both worked for gender
equality and womens rights from within established structures and
across party lines. All parts of the womens movement agreed on the
high priority of redressing womens political under-representation.
However, there was initially some disagreement about the methods, as
some (left-wing, Centre and Swedish party women, and feminists) supported the Norwegian model (explicit legislative quotas) and some (especially right-wing women) opted for the Swedish model instead (no
quotas, but a strong political commitment for gender balance)
(Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 1992a, 1992b, 1993). During the
policy process, unity among women increased significantly as many rightwing women adopted the left-wing standpoint. The counter-movement
was extremely strong, consisting of the government, most ministries,
right-wing parties, organised management and the majority of male MPs.
Policy environment
The policy sub-system headed by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
was moderately closed. Gender equality affairs had been delegated to the
Minister of Defence, Elisabeth Rehn (Swedish Peoples Party), and later,
her successor Jan-Erik Enestam (from the same party). In the 1991 elections, the socialist parties had faced defeat with only 33.5 per cent of MPs.
The Social Democrats were in opposition for the first time in twenty-five
years, and the right-wing and centre parties formed a coalition government
led by Prime Minister Esko Aho (Centre Party).
All the policy actors shared the view that the issue concerned gender
equality and political competence, but female MPs and other movement
representatives, however, redefined womens political competence.
Consequently, the frame fit was compatible.
Conclusion
In this chapter on Finland, the impact of womens movements in three
debates on political representation from the 1970s to the 1990s has been
analysed.
On the one hand, the results show a significant policy success (dual
response in the second and third debates) by womens movements in
debates that explicitly link to womens political representation. On the
other hand, the structures of formal representation in the country are
80
commonly regarded as gender-neutral or relatively favourable to

womens representation. As a consequence, system-level reforms tend
to remain non-gendered in the context of an open-list PR-system, multimember constituencies, legislative regulation of party activity and a
strong presence of women in electoral politics. In the absence of gendering attempts by womens movements, the policy outcome in the only case
in our selection (the first debate) that concerned a reform of the electoral
system was a no response by the state.
Womens movement characteristics are decisive to movement impact,
whereas policy environment characteristics do not appear to play a role.
Movement success was achieved in both a closed and a moderately closed
policy sub-system; in a closed left-wing party environment; and in the
parliamentary arena with the right-wing parties in government. By contrast, the two womens policy successes occurred in a context of womens
movement mobilisation. The issue at hand was considered to be a high
movement priority, various sections of the movement were relatively
unified on the issue, and the left-wing parts of the movement participated
in the debate. In the sole policy failure (the first debate), there was no
mobilisation by womens movements.
The results appear to concur with earlier findings (Holli 2002, 2003)
that argue that there is a tendency for Finnish womens movements to
achieve policy success, if they manage to mobilise to a sufficient degree on
an issue. Various parts of the movement co-operate on pragmatic political
issues by way of strategic alliances (Halsaa 1992). From a comparative
perspective, it is remarkable that cross-party alliances are formed by
women on gender issues. For instance, in the third debate, the majority
of right-wing female MPs joined forces with the opposition left-wing
MPs, against their government proposal and their party line.
The results also show that even if the role of the womens policy
agencies is not necessary in securing a successful policy outcome, they
can nevertheless efficiently promote movement goals. In the third debate
both existing womens policy agencies played central roles in preparing
the legislation and in giving statements. However, none of the womens
policy agencies was active in the other two debates.
Interestingly, some womens policy agency characteristics, such as the
policy mandate and leadership characteristics, seem to have affected
agency activities in the two successful debates. In the second debate,
the issue was excluded from the womens policy agency mandate, which
prevented the agency from entering the closed party arena. In the later
stages of the third debate, the two existing womens policy agencies were
at odds on the issue of quotas. The Council for Equality played an insider
role and the ombudsman a non-feminist role in the debate. The
81
difference may be explained by the specific leadership characteristics of

the latter.
In conclusion, the analysis illustrates that Finnish womens movements
tend to mobilise successfully when womens political presence is at stake.
However, there seems to be a blind spot in regard to more general systemlevel reforms, which are typically considered gender-neutral. For example,
a recent proposal to reform the electoral system (2001) did not invoke
any gendered analysis. It remains to be seen whether Finnish womens
mobilisation for political presence could be considered a reactive strategy,
made necessary by their tendency to think positively in the first place
and a subsequent disappointment at the exclusion of gendered interests.
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Gendering the republican system: debates on

womens political representation in France
Claudie Baudino
Introduction
The Fifth Republic constitution was adopted in 1958 during the
FrenchAlgerian war, in a period of violent political crisis. De Gaulles
text, which was framed to prevent governmental instability, is therefore
grounded in the fear of division. In different ways, and despite numerous
revisions, the political system favours efficiency at the expense of pluralism.
From its inception, the regime was the target of sharp criticisms. Despite
the direct election of the president, introduced in 1962, opponents of the
regime pointed out its lack of democracy. Claims for democratisation have
led to numerous debates on political representation; some paved the way
for the debate on womens quotas. Few of them ended up in reforms.
Decisions about political representation are made at the centre. The
powerful executive, consisting of both a president and a prime minister,
plays a significant part in the decision-making process. Some policies take
place through legislation, others require a special process of constitutional
revision. The voting system falls within the competence of the legislature.
Legislation is made by collaboration between the government and the two
chambers of the legislature. The government controls the agenda through a
system of party government. French deputies (Lower House) and senators
(Upper House) may amend bills, 90 per cent of which are initiated by the
executive. A Constitutional Council, the Conseil constitutionnel, may declare
a law to be unconstitutional, thus making later revisions a constitutional
matter. Constitutional revision must be initiated by the executive and may
be decided either by referendum or by the joint vote of both chambers of
the legislature. Lack of pluralism is the main weakness of the Fifth
Republic. Criticism accelerated at the end of the twentieth century, partly
in response to dissatisfaction with periods of cohabitation in which the
prime minister and the president represented different parties. Renewed
demands for a Sixth Republic were further strengthened by the entry of the
far right Front national leader, Jean Marie Le Pen, into the second round of
the presidential elections, thus excluding the candidate of the left, Lionel
85
86
Claudie Baudino
Jospin, from the final round of votes and paving the way for right-wing
control of both the presidency and the legislature.
The main results and surprises of the elections that took place in
spring 2002 may be summed up in three points. First, the far right-wing
candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the Front national, won access to
the second round of the presidential election, preventing Lionel Jospin,
the socialist candidate, from playing the part of the expected challenger of
Jacques Chirac. Second, the right-wing parties won both the presidential
and the legislative elections, thus gaining an overall control of the political
assemblies. Third, the low percentage of women elected to the chamber
of deputies, 12.3 per cent (up from 10 per cent in the previous assembly),
revealed how limited were the effects of the so-called parity reform at the
national level. Any account of the wealth of debates on political representation after 1980 must keep in mind this moment of political crisis and
its constitutional implications.
For the past two decades, debates on political representation have been
numerous and diverse. They have concerned each dimension of the issue:
the representatives, the electorate and the election. However, only the
debates on the representatives and the rules of the game ended up with
formal decisions.
The three selected debates concern the change of electoral system for
local council elections (1982), the change of electoral system for the
parliamentary elections (1985) and the parity reform (19992000). In
the first and the second debates, the rules of the game were at stake; in
the third, it was the characteristics of the representatives. All three debates
took place at the national level. Change to the electoral system was mainly
discussed in the two chambers of the parliament while the parity debate, as
a constitutional matter, was more widespread. It included a lively and
diverse social movement and the highest levels of the state. Whilst the
introduction of the proportional system was a short-lived reform, debates
on the electoral system were of great significance during the 1980s. The
Socialists accepted the constitution when they came to power in 1981, but
change to the electoral systems was a way of challenging one of the pillars of
the constitution without altering it. However, the proportional system was
later said to be responsible for the resurgence of the Front national. The
parity reform also challenged the sexual neutrality of the Republic. It gave
rise to a huge number of articles and debates in the media. From the
Gendering the republican system: France
87
beginning of the 1990s to 2000, parity was the subject of a controversial

debate of exceptional salience.
The first womens policy agency (WPA) in charge of furthering equality
between the two sexes was established in the mid-1970s it was the state
secretary in charge of womens issues (Secretariat detat a` la condition
feminine) with Francoise Giroud at its head. But the high-ranking and
well-funded Ministry of Womens Rights (Ministe`re des droits de la femme),
led by Yvette Roudy, was not created until 1981. The three selected
debates cover the full time span of French WPAs.
Debate 1: The change of the voting system for the local
council elections, 1982
The introduction of a proportional electoral system (PR) was one of 110
proposals in the platform of the Socialist candidate, Francois Mitterrand,
in the 1981 presidential and legislative elections. Local councils were due
to be renewed in 1983. Hence the manifesto promise was quickly put to
the test.
Mitterrands proposal was listed in the manifesto section called The
Respected Democracy. It read: The proportional system will be instituted
for the elections at the National Assembly, at the Regional assemblies, and
at the town councils for towns of less than 9,000 inhabitants. There will be
30 per cent of women on every list (Jenson and Sineau 1995, p. 353). The
PR proposal challenged the very basis of the Fifth Republic. PR supporters
framed their arguments for reform in terms of justice and faithfulness to the
peoples will. PR was presented as a means to express citizens diversity.
Positive action to increase the number of women elected was not a new
idea. In 1979, under a right-wing government, the Ministry of Womens
Issues headed by Monique Pelletier sponsored a bill to introduce a
womens quota at the local level. Opponents claimed that a womens
quota would be unconstitutional, while its supporters argued the opposite
(Vedel 1979). In the event, the measure was never put on the legislative
agenda. The 1982 pledge of a womens quota in their platform was, for
the Socialists, a way to show that they would do what the right wing failed
to do, hence demonstrating their alliance to feminism. However,
although the manifesto promised both a proportional system and a
womens quota, the governmental bill offered only a change in the
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Claudie Baudino
electoral system. Somehow the government forgot the gendered dimension of the electoral promise.
According to Jane Jenson and Mariette Sineau, presidential feminism
peaked on 8 March 1982 (Jenson and Sineau 1995: 195). Government
failure to include the womens quota in its bill showed the limitations of its
commitment. Nevertheless, the public debate was explicitly gendered.
During the legislative debate, an amendment was put in by an independent deputy in alliance with the Socialist Party, Gise`le Halimi. Founder of
Choisir la cause des femmes in 1971, Halimi had a long track record of feminist
advocacy. Her amendment was well received by most of the left-wing
deputies, who reacted as if the initiative of their feminist colleague
put right an unfortunate oversight. In fact, Halimi was almost the only
champion of a womens quota in the assembly. Her proposal, designed to
gain maximum support, was not very ambitious. Following the advice of
jurist Georges Vedel, she supported a rather neutral drawing up of the
provision in which quotas were put forward as the best way to improve
womens political representation, but their political significance was played
down. Halimi tried to convince deputies that the amendment could be
within the constitution. In gender-neutral language, the amendment
referred to persons of the same sex. Halimis amendment did not request
the symbolic 50 per cent quota. More modestly, she supported the idea of a
quota set at 30 per cent (Halimi 1982; Debats parlementaires 1982). Similarly
another left-wing deputy, Odile Sicard, spoke in favour of the amendment,
arguing that what was at stake was not the political representation of women
but their taking part in the political game. In other words a quota would not
overthrow the system, but would merely adjust its working.
Policy outcome
Passed quasi-unanimously, the amendment proposed that party candidate lists contain no more than 75 per cent of people of the same sex.
A footnote would be useful to explain how the quota went from a
mininium of 30 per cent women to a maximum of 75 per cent of the
same sex. The few supporters of quotas did not really question the place
of sexual difference in the political system. The real outcome of the
process was the rejection of the quota by the Conseil constitutionnel on 18
November 1982, a decision that constitutionalised the issue with significant impact on the policy sub-system (Decision n8 82146 du 18
novembre 1982). The judges held that it was impossible to divide
89
candidates into categories without seriously undermining the dogma of

universal citizenship, interpreted to mean that citizens form a unitary
and homogenous body. Their argument was grounded on article 6 of the
Declaration des droits de lHomme et du Citoyen which says that all citizens
being equal (in the eyes of the law), they are also eligible for all dignities,
positions and public jobs according to their abilities and without any
distinction other than their personal qualities and talents. Written more
than two centuries previously, in order to abolish privileges at a time
when women were not citizens, the text was interpreted literally to
enable judges to overturn the amendment. In a very republican mood
and with a manifest lack of rigour, they asserted that the sex of the
citizens should not be considered politically relevant. The decision
made it impossible for successive womens ministries and departments
to support any form of affirmative action.
The decision of the Conseil did not give rise to much protest, which is
probably what the politicians expected. During the debate, many deputies
foresaw the unconstitutionality of the provision. On behalf of the government, the Home Secretary suggested that it should be written down in a
separate article so that its possible rejection wouldnt stop the rest of the
text from being implemented (Debats parlementaires 1982). The unanimous vote of the lower chamber may have been made in the expectation
that the measure would be overturned. In her standard work on this issue,
Danie`le Loschak describes the vote as collective hypocrisy (Loschak
1983: 131).
Feminists did not play a great part in the political debate. Despite its
diversity, the second wave of feminism was, in France, a movement more
focused on the assertion of difference than on the quest for equality.
Willing to challenge society from its margins, this movement was built
on the rejection of reformism. Most activists had a high regard for
political institutions and wanted to change the rules of the political
game from the outside. In the 1980s, therefore, the institution of a
womens quota did not coincide with womens movement goals.
By contrast, the reformist feminist and politician Halimi felt strongly
about the issue of womens political representation. But she couldnt
generate significant support for quotas. She was isolated in the feminist
movement because of her political commitment and in the Socialist Party
because of her feminist stand. Although quotas were on the legislative
agenda, no key figure stood up for them and no real public debate took
place on the issue.
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Claudie Baudino
Apart from Halimi, few feminists or women politicians paid much

attention to the issue or took part in the debate. Women were not
involved in the policy process. Halimis 30 per cent quota was amended
by the legislature to 25 per cent. Presented by the Socialist deputy Alain
Richard and supported by the Socialist group at the National Assembly,
its text exemplified the pre-emption of the feminist claims. The absence
of assembly debate and movement engagement meant that only the
Conseil constitutionnel explicitly gendered the debate. While the decision
was to remove the category of sex from the law, the argument of the court
referred to the place of men and women (citizens) in the political system.
At the beginning of the 1980s, the Ministry of Womens Rights was
relatively powerful and well resourced. But it played only a symbolic
part in the debate. Although Yvette Roudy was both a key figure of the
left and a reformist feminist, unlike Halimi, she was an insider in the party
and a member of the government. So, having advocated quotas during
the presidential campaign, she realised that the window for feminist
policy was closing. As interest in womens issues faded in the government,
her ministry made equal opportunity at work its top priority. The ministry
kept silent about the amendment. Hence WPA activities matched neither
the reformist goals nor the new movement goals.
Ministry coolness towards a womens quota was partly the result of the
political context at that time, and partly a reflection of the general frame
of womens policy in the 1980s (Baudino 2000). Instead of claiming
gender difference and asking for positive action, Roudy intended to
improve womens status by providing equality of rights between the two
sexes. In the aftermath of the quotas failure, she wrote an article published in Le Monde (Roudy 1982b). This text was the sole contribution
she made to the debate. It used the Conseil constitutionnel decision as an
opportunity to reassert the need for her ministry. In effect she accepted
the decision of the court. The ban on the quota should have made the
public aware of the problem. Hence political parties would be motivated
to select more women. Roudy still believed that political will could close
the gender gap in representation, and considered quotas to be acceptable
only as a last resort. In this debate Roudy showed her preference for
gender neutral equality policies. As it neither advocated quotas nor
gendered the debate, the ministrys activities were symbolic.
The debate had a significant impact on the policy sub-system. After
1982, the WPAs could no longer sponsor a bill on womens political
representation. Thus the analysis of the second debates on the voting
91
system is an opportunity to compare the WPAs actions in two different

legal contexts and to assess the impact of the social movement on
womens policy goals.
The first debate on the voting system was gendered not by the WPA but by
the Conseil constitutionnel, which opened the debate but then immediately
closed it again. The debate was a wasted opportunity. Activists did not
succeed in putting forward an alternative frame for the issue. They missed
the debate because they had little interest in the running of the institutions.
French feminism was, in the 1980s, entering a stage of abeyance. Although
the activists of womens movements did not agree with the Socialists on
what a feminist policy should be, they were closer to the left than to the
right. The election of Francois Mitterrand raised many hopes, but left most
of them pending. The debate exemplifies the consequences for feminist
activists of avoiding the public arena.
Policy environment
The main variable that explains the poor outcome of the policy process is
the political culture. In the republican system, citizens are defined as a
united and homogeneous body. Thus, the recognition of the sexed nature
of candidates and therefore of citizens would have undermined this dogma.
During the legislative debate, deputies showed that they feared the consequences of such a provision. They feared a law that might entail a system
in which they would have to grant quotas to other groups of citizens as well.
Above all, they feared a text that could jeopardise one of the main pillars of
the system. They signalled their views by separating the amendment from
the main PR reform, enabling quotas to be treated separately.
Debate 2: The change of electoral system for
parliamentary elections, 1985
In 1985 the Socialists tried to complete their democratisation project by
introducing PR at national level. But according to the right, this bill was
part of a petty political strategy. The removal of the winner-takes-all
system was seen by opponents as a way of minimising the expected losses
of the Socialists in the National Assembly. The electoral timetable was a
major pressure for the reform.
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Claudie Baudino

During the legislative debate, right-wing deputies defended the Gaullist
legacy. They strongly opposed the reform. They argued that majority rule
had ensured stable governments in the Fifth Republic, but PR would
cause government instability as it had done in the Fourth Republic.
Moreover, the reform aimed to prevent the incoming elected government
from governing. The Socialists claimed their reform would strengthen the
part played by all the parties in the political game. In the name of
minorities, the left supported a reform that promised to improve their
representation. At that time women were defined with other minorities.
Hence the reform argument prioritised the representation of different
political ideologies.
The government and all the supporters of the bill claimed women were
among the citizens who could benefit from the reform. Roudy supported
the 1985 change as a substitute for a womens quota. No specific measure
was included to improve womens representation, but the interest of
women in the reform was invoked, hence the debate was explicitly
gendered.
Policy outcome
The bill was passed in 1985 and the proportional system was first implemented in March 1986. While the change of the electoral system probably
limited the success of the right, it did not prevent the first cohabitation (of a
prime minister and president from different political tendencies) nor did it
provide a better representation for women. The proportion of women in the
National Assembly remained around 5 per cent.1
In 1985, most feminist activists still regarded political institutions with
contempt. Female politicians who had feminist sympathies demonstrated
In June 1981, among the 491 deputies, there were 26 women. They represented 5.3 per
cent of those elected. In March 1986, among the 577 deputies in changing the electoral
system, the reform also increased the number of deputies there were 34 women, that is to
say only 5.9 per cent. The new right-wing majority restored a permanent majoritarian
electoral system for general elections on 22 October 1986.
93
their support for positive actions. Halimi exemplified this trend. In the
Socialist Party, the group of women who advocated feminist goals had
pressed for a womens quota in the party leadership some years previously. They adopted a clear stand against a policy that considered
women as the immigrants from within (Roudy 1982a: 207). They
objected to a policy that grouped womens interests with those of minorities. In classifying women as a minority, the bill did not match the
expressed feminist description of the problem.
The interest of women in the reform was mentioned but not
questioned. Roudy was the only woman involved in the policy process.
Later, in August 1985, a short debate followed the drawing up of the lists
of candidates for the next election. In an article published in Le Monde,
dith Cresson and
three members of the government, Edwige Avice, E
Yvette Roudy, complained about the low number of women on the
Socialist lists (Le Monde 25 August 1985). Answering them in the same
newspaper, Hele`ne Goldet, a Socialist activist, claimed that caring about
sex on the political scene was stupid (Goldet 1985). By contrast, without
openly giving her support to the ministers, Christiane Papon, a member
of the RPR (Rassemblement pour la Republique, a Gaullist party) and also
the president of a womens association Femme-Avenir, asked for more
women on the lists and talked about quotas as a solution (Papon 1985).
The short exchange of views demonstrated that the low number
of women in the assemblies was not unanimously considered to be a
problem. Although the exchange took place after the bill was passed,
it reveals the lack of consensus and may help to explain why women
did not get involved in the policy process. The silence of women during
the debate ensured that the state did not respond to the womens
movement.
The Minister of Womens Rights gave her support to PR. Roudy supported
the bill but she did not really enter the debate. Activists, however, were
either indifferent to the political representation issue or supporters of
quotas, so the post-debate stand that Roudy took could not be considered
to be supportive of (divided) feminist goals. In approving the bill in the
name of women, she underlined the gendered consequences of the reform.
Her contribution could have been the starting point of a real feminist
approach to public debates. Instead she chose to avoid a gendered way of
solving problems. Moreover she presented her point of view in a newspaper
rather than in a political arena (Roudy 1985). In her article, she reasserted
that the failure of the 1982 womens quota had been a missed opportunity.
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Claudie Baudino
She argued that the missed law made the political leaderships aware of the
problem. Her argument was that a gender-neutral approach to the issue
could be relevant. This symbolic activity of the minister was more about
supporting a government that was said to be on the road to ruin rather than
being aimed at the improvement of womens political representation.
In other words, Yvette Roudy entered the debate as a member of the
government, not as a supporter of women.
Womens movement characteristics and policy environment

The absence of feminist concerns from the policy process can be linked to
the decline of both the left and the womens movement. In the mid-1980s,
disappointment with the record of the Socialist government became widespread, paving the way for the first period of cohabitation. In this difficult
context the activists were less demanding and the movement continued
to wane.
The 1986 election was a setback for women. By this time, Roudy understood her mistake. Talking about women on the Socialist candidates
slates, she asserted: We have been treated like doormats (Frappat
1985). The experience marked a turning point as those who trusted in a
gender-neutral approach began to regard the involvement of women in the
policy process as crucial.
Debate 3: The parity reform, 19992000

At the end of the 1980s, several international institutions such as the UN,
the Council of Europe, the European Commission and the OECD drew
attention to the over-representation of men in political arenas. The idea
of parity, defined as the equal representation of men and women in the
assemblies, emerged from their deliberations. Parity (parite) was a
French word that corresponded with French political culture and values.
As a result, it was more resonant in argument than English terms such as
gender mainstreaming, a term not readily translatable into French. And
while the notion of parity won a certain popularity, the term quotas was
rejected by the French public. As the implementation of quotas is
obviously the main means to achieving parity, this observation may
appear paradoxical. The explanation for this apparent contradiction lies
in the different possible meanings of the word. While keeping difference
in play in its implication that human nature is two-sided (made of men
95
and women), the term parity also suggests equality between the sexes.
Thus the idea of parity advances sexual differences as a basis for claiming
equality. This combination of difference and equality allowed a wide
range of women activists feminist and non-feminist as well as politicians to support the reform. The ambiguity of the word was an asset in the
first part of the reform process. The term itself is politically significant. In
a way, it worked as a Trojan horse for quotas.
Parity not only convinced but also revived the French feminist movement.
Associations such as Parite, Parite 2000 or Elles aussi were to further the
reform process. In the 1990s, feminist groups and womens associations
gathered together in two main networks Femmes pour la Parite and Demain
la Parite to support the idea of parity. As French feminism has always
been highly divided, it is important to underline that all of these activists
supported the same goal. The development of a great, lively and united
movement in favour of parity was the first factor that brought the reform into
the public debate. The second was the strategy of the movement. The
activists made good use of opportunities to raise the issue: they entered
each debate on democratisation and above all in each electoral campaign to
obtain promises from the political leaders. During the 1990s parity gave rise
to political debate on three occasions.
In 1995, the disappointing results of the 1993 parliamentary elections
and the Beijing International Conference on Women highlighted the
need for reform. Presidential candidates were questioned on the issue.
By then the gender gap in the assemblies was broadly considered to be a
public problem. On 7 April, each candidate appeared before Le Conseil
national des femmes to explain what he or she intended to do to improve
womens political representation. Jacques Chirac, who promised only the
implementation of incentives to nominate more women, was elected. The
dissolution of the National Assembly in 1997 was an opportunity for both
the Socialists and the parity activists. The Socialist Party campaigned as a
progressive force and supported parity. Nearly 30 per cent of the Socialist
candidates were women and the party leader, Lionel Jospin, promised a
constitutional reform. But, once installed, the new government delayed
reform. Agreements between right-wing candidates and far right-wing
candidates during the 1998 local elections generated another debate on
democracy. With most political leaders calling for a renewal of democracy, the parity activists were able to remind them that the improvement
of democracy was also at stake in the parity reform. Accordingly, in
December 1998, the bill to amend the constitution to allow parity was
presented to the Assembly. In each of the three cases a wider debate on
political representation permitted parity advocates to raise the issue of
increasing womens presence.
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Claudie Baudino

The parity reform was introduced as a means of improving democracy.
One of the first events that contributed to promote the idea of parity was a
seminar organised by the Council of Europe in 1989. The seminar was
lisabeth Sledziewski, and the report is considered a founding
reported by E
text on the issue of parity (Sledziewski 1992). In her report, Sledziewski
discussed the need to ponder upon the modern doctrine of democracy. A
democratic doctrine that ignored the existence of two sexes was not only
unable to prevent discrimination, it was also unfinished. Equality
between men and women was as important as universal suffrage and the
separation of powers. Sledziewskis framing of the issue was very effective
in the way that parity was expressed as a means to complete the system.
Although not all supporters of the reform developed such an argument,
most claimed parity would improve democracy by restoring the balance of
power between the two sexes.
Opponents of the reform invoked the republican system. Parity,
they argued, was dangerous because it jeopardised the indifference to
differences of French Universalism. Both sides concentrated on the
expected effects of parity on the political system. Although the need to
improve womens representation was unanimously acknowledged, there
was major disagreement over the means. As the debate polarised, parity
was considered by its advocates as a way to complete the regime and by its
opponents as a way to destroy its foundations.
The starting point of the parity movement was a statement of failure: the
equality of rights between the two sexes was unable to close the gender gap
in political representation. In the process of gendering the political representation debates of the 1990s, the part played by women, including
feminist activists and women involved in political life, was crucial. The
supporters of parity referred to sex difference as if it were the primary
human difference and, consequently, they introduced the reform as if
this were obvious. If humanity is twofold made of men and women
power must also be shared equally between the two sexes. Their argument
made the formation of the assemblies appear unfair and, in so doing, paved
the way for the reform. While activists called for positive action in the
assemblies, their main goal, broadly defined, was to introduce an explicitly
gendered approach to each public problem. For its supporters the parity
debate was not only gendered, it was also a way to question the gendering
of all public debates.
97
Despite the serious divisions between the supporters of parity and their
opponents, the debate was framed in very general terms. For example,
they did not really discuss the scale of differences in society, nor did they
enter into a discussion of benefits or consequences in the debate. The
generality of the debate concealed disagreements among supporters of
the reform. It helped parity to advance on the agenda without really
convincing public opinion.
Policy outcome
On 8 July 1999 two amendments to the constitution were adopted
and, on 6 June 2000, a law implementing the principle of equal access
of women and men to political mandates and functions was passed.
The first amendment to the constitution read: The law promotes the
equal access of women and men to political mandates and functions
and the second that: Political parties contribute to the implementation
of this principle (Loi constitutionnelle n8 99569 du 8 juillet 1999).
The provisions are the outcome of a compromise. Initially the proposal consisted only of the first amendment containing the word
guarantee instead of the word promote. Under pressure from the
Senate, the National Assembly changed the wording of the original
amendment and also added the second. This compromise weakened
the reform. The law and political parties are both responsible for its
implementation.
The law establishes obligations and financial incentives (Loi n8
2000496 du 6 juin 2000). The actual legal obligations for presenting
women as candidates are established only for elections held under systems of PR in France: European, regional and municipal. The law
requires political parties to present lists that alternate male and female
candidates. If they do not comply, they are not allowed to register their
list. However, at national level the election of the National Assembly and
the president occur under plurality rules where, of course, no lists are
presented. The device to ensure parity at national elections is financial
incentives. Parties that fail to present equal proportions of female and
male candidates lose part of their funding. They are not prevented from
presenting their candidates. Financial incentives are less restrictive than
legal obligations. Thus, the rules of the electoral game have narrowed the
scope of the reform. Moreover, as all the provisions deal with candidates
and not with the elected representatives, the law does not ensure parity in
actual electoral results. To summarise, the more important an election,
the less constraining are the provisions.
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Claudie Baudino

Activists played an important part in the policy process. However, as
the supporters of parity had to cope with a strong opposition, the reform
only partly achieved movement goals. Of the numerous militant
actions during the decade, some had a greater impact than others.
In 1992, three well-known activists, Francoise Gaspard, Claude
Servan-Schreiber and Anne Le Gall, researcher, journalist and femocrat
respectively, published a book entitled Au pouvoir citoyennes! Liberte,
Egalite, Parite. The book brought the idea of parity to public opinion.
The creation of the network of associations, Femmes pour la Parite,
organised a round-table on the issue at the National Assembly,
on 8 March 1993. Several months later, this network was behind the
publication of the first petition for parity in Le Monde. The Manifesto of
the 577 for a Parity Democracy (Le Monde 1993) was signed by
289 women and 288 men 577 is the number of deputies in the
National Assembly. The women included politicians from each side.
Roselyne Bachelot and Francoise Giroud were from the right; Huguette
Bouchardeau and Yvette Roudy were from the left. There were
also researchers such as Francoise Heritier and Michelle Perrot
and activists such as Antoinette Fouque or Francoise Gaspard.
In the shadow of parliamentary elections, another manifesto for parity
made the front page of a news magazine in June 1996 (Barzach et al.
1996). In this text, ten women, from both the left and the
right, advocated parity. In the mid-1990s, parity gave rise to many
comments. A huge number of articles were published. For supporters,
the articles of Sylviane Agacinski, a philosopher who was also
Lionel Jospins wife, led the debate (1996, 1999). Parity gave her the
opportunity to come into the limelight and her articles showed
the determination of the left to push the reform onto the agenda.
On the opponents side, the intellectual Elisabeth Badinter
became the champion of the republican legacy (1999). Women led the
debate.
In October 1995, the new right-wing government established the
Observatoire de la Parite entre les femmes et les hommes (Decret n8
951114 du 18 octobre 1995). This agency was commissioned to question the gender gaps in all spheres of power and to suggest ways to reduce
them. Although the Observatoire was only a consulting body it played a
great part in shaping the reform. The Observatoire became an arena for the
supporters of parity. It was led by Roselyne Bachelot, a right-wing woman
who signed the first manifesto for parity, and Gise`le Halimi. Halimi was
in charge of running the committee for parity in politics and wrote the
99
report on the issue.2 The consultation process involved the collection of

data as well as seeking the views of experts. The experts included a
number of feminist activists and supporters of quotas. Hence, while a
wide range of political and ideological opinion was canvassed, the arguments of feminist activists were officially taken into account. In each
category of experts, the Observatoire included at least one supporter of
parity. Four jurists of the six consulted were in favour of a constitutional
reform; one of them, Olivier Duhamel, had taken a clear public stand for
lisabeth Badinter,
parity. If Alain Finkielkraut voiced the argument of E
other intellectuals and researchers such as Genevie`ve Fraisse, Michelle
Perrot or Francoise Gaspard who supported the idea of parity were
consulted. In addition to the representatives of the main political parties,
dith Cresson and Simone Veil, who
three politicians, Miche`le Barzach, E
had signed petitions in favour of parity, were also heard. In the category of
womens associations, six groups were represented: Choisir-la-Causedes-femmes, Club parite 2000, Demain la parite, Parite, Parite-infos and the
Union des femmes francaises. All agreed the necessity to revise the constitution. Halimis final report was pluralist in the sense that it considered a
range of different ways to achieve parity, from mere incentives to legal
constraints. Framed by lawyers and activists, in effect it was a plea for
lisabeth
constitutional reform (Halimi 1999). The Minister of Justice, E
Guigou, presented the government bill to the National Assembly on
15 December 1998. Her speech paid tribute to all the women, from
Olympe de Gouges to Yvette Roudy, who had played a part in the
struggle for equal rights. She thanked activists, politicians and famous
names, including Francoise Gaspard, Antoinette Fouque, Roselyne
Bachelot, Gise`le Halimi, Simone Veil and Yvette Roudy. Thus the way
she introduced the constitutional reform affirmed the involvement of
women in the process (Journal officiel 1998).
The government bill encountered strong opposition in parliament.
Under the pressure of senators, the first amendment was redrawn and
the second amendment was also adopted. These changes limited the
effectiveness and coverage of parity reform. In the Senate, opposition
took the form of a coalition of key figures of the left Robert Badinter was
the most famous3 and the conservative right-wing majority. Against
2
3
Originally, the Observatoire was divided into several committees. But it concentrated its
efforts on the political arena.
Constitutional lawyer, human rights activist, Robert Badinter has been a key figure of the
Socialist Party. Minister of Justice under the first Socialist government in 1981, he
initiated the abolition of the death penalty and remains famous for his involvement with
lisabeth Badinter.
the cause. He is the husband of E
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Claudie Baudino
them were the numerous associations and groups of activists who sought
constitutional reform.
Activists lost control of the political process. The results of the
recent elections are evidence that parity is yet to be achieved. Predictably
women did better in municipal than in parliamentary elections. Equally
predictably, municipal results were also disappointing. In the first municipal elections, legal obligations for parity only applied to elections held in
towns with more than 3,500 inhabitants. As 34,000 of all the 36,000
French towns have populations less than 3,500, 94 per cent are excluded
from the new parity stipulations: approximately 20 million of 56 million
people in France, and a third of all city council representatives. In the 2001
municipal elections, political parties, public attention and the media
focused on larger cities like Paris, Lyons or Marseilles not mentioning
that smaller municipalities were not subject to parity requirements. The
legal provisions of the parity reforms do not apply to the placement
of women at the top of the list or in cabinet appointments. The 2001
municipal election results show near-parity between men and women
council members.4 However, women have not gained access to positions
of power, either as mayors or as members of mayoral cabinets. Thus, the
male-dominated party hierarchies have not been changed. Mayors gain
office as a result of their positions at the top of electoral lists, and hence of
the chain of command within their party, and mayoral cabinets follow from
list positions. The elections made it clear that there is no shortage of
women in politics; however, for the most part, the women who were
recruited for the municipal elections were newcomers with little political
experience. Indeed, many observers claim that predominantly male
party leadership has purposefully avoided selecting experienced women
politicians or women politicians with feminist records. In other words,
candidate nominations of women were made to avoid challenging the
real balance of power between men and women within the parties.
Another important observation to be made about the impact of the parity
reforms is that they apply only to the number of candidates, not the number
of elected representatives. The logic of the law was to establish an obligation with regard to the input side of elections but not the actual outcome.
In the parliamentary elections, the percentage of women in the
National Assembly did not rise substantially. Political parties preferred
to lose a part of their public financing rather than field sufficient numbers
4
In towns with fewer than 3,500 inhabitants, women represent 30.05 per cent of municipal
councillors. In towns with more than 3,500 inhabitants, they represent 47.5 per cent of
municipal councillors. When all the municipalities are considered together, women represent 33 per cent of councillors and 10.9 per cent of the mayors.
101
of women candidates.5 Thus the reform did not restore the balance of
power between the sexes in the assemblies, nor did it change political
practices. Women became involved in the political process but quickly
lost control over it. The debate on parity is a case of co-optation.
The creation of the Observatoire de la Parite may be considered as a first
step towards the reform. During the 1990s, several agencies were, simultaneously or successively, in charge of womens rights. However, they
were unable to act and were limited to expressions of the idea that
womens representation had to be improved. They did not take a clear
stand on the reform. In the speech she gave for the setting up of the
Observatoire, Colette Codaccioni, the conservative minister in charge of
womens rights, underlined the limited effects of the law (1995). She
argued that only the evolution of political practices could bring about
change. She appeared very doubtful about quotas. But, because two
supporters of the parity reform were to take control of the new agency,
her point of view did not carry much weight in the debate.
The Observatoire was a platform for the movement argument. Although
Halimis report gave a fair account of the different stands taken on the
issue, its conclusion clearly took the part of the activists. Following the
standard strategy of the parity activists, she first brought up the gender
gap in the assemblies, framing her statement in terms of danger for the
institutions. She then showed that the goodwill of the political leaderships
could not achieve equality of political representation. She discussed how
the leaders of the main political parties complained about the poor
number of women in the assemblies but admitted that they did nothing
to reduce the gender gap. The report paved the way for the defence of a
constitutional reform. In December 1996, the first report was handed in
to the prime minister. Although the right-wing government was slow to
follow up this report, a debate was organised in March 1997 at the
National Assembly. On that occasion Alain Juppe, the prime minister,
claimed that women had to be initiated into political practices, and he
5
The financial incentives introduced by the 2000 law are linked to the public financing of
political parties. The public grant is made of two parts. The amount of the first part
depends on the number of votes obtained at the first round of the parliamentary election.
And, since 2000, if the gap between the number of candidates of each sex is above 2 per
cent, this first part of the grant will be reduced by half the percentage of the gap. For
example, if among all the candidates of a party, there are 60 per cent of men and 40 per
cent of women, the grant will be reduced by (60 40)2 = 10 per cent. The second part of
the grant is proportional to the number of candidates elected at the National Assembly.
102
Claudie Baudino
suggested the implementation of temporary incentives at the local and

European levels. In the usual way of holding women responsible for their
own exclusion, he meant that women had to make up for lost time, not
that the political system should be questioned. The government feedback
was disappointing. But the Observatoire report succeeded both in pushing
the issue onto the parliamentary agenda and in gendering the legislative
debate.
After the June 1997 elections, the Observatoires powers were extended.
Instead of merely studying gender gaps, it was now able to assess the
gendered consequences of bills and to put recommendations forward.
Thus, the government gave the Observatoire the means to gender the
debate.
At the same time, a new WPA was created. The Delegation interministerielle
aux droits des femmes was given a cross-governmental mission: to co-ordinate
and to boost the gender policy of the different ministries. Genevie`ve Fraisse
was appointed as its head. Several months later she made a critical assessment of government policy in Le Monde (Fraisse 1998). Using clear examples, she showed that public problems were gendered and she called for
gendered solutions. For instance, she underlined that most single-parent
families were single-mother families; in the same way, she reminded people
that womens unemployment rate was higher than mens. In each case, she
called for the implementation of gender-sensitive policies.
The personalities in charge of the WPAs were strongly pro-parity; they
had or took the means to take part in the debates, and they did gender
these debates. Against resistance from the political institutions, both the
Observatoire and the Delegation played a part in the policy process. From
1995, it was obvious that WPAs were insiders in the policy process.
The movement for parity reform renewed French feminism. At a time
when fewer women said they were feminists, parity mobilised a range of
activists. Moreover, because the idea of a reform was argued in terms of
human nature and because the proposal also came from international
institutions, parity gave a progressive image to feminist claims, once said
to be old-fashioned. Some feminist and womens associations reworded
their demands in parity terms. The involvement of feminist activists in the
parity movement was a turning point in their relationship with political
institutions. They managed not only to bind the presidential candidates
to publicly made promises, they also worked in close collaboration
with politicians. Activists began to behave in a reformist manner that
contrasted with the past. They were united in support of the same goal: a
103
constitutional reform. In the first part of the process, both their unity and
their diversity were assets that helped to put the reform on the agenda.
But, in the second part of the policy process, they were divided and did
not design a real strategy; hence they lost control over the process.
Policy environment
It took a co-operative left-wing government to put the constitutional
reform on the legislative agenda and to give the Observatoire the means
of taking a real part in the process. The political swing to the left in 1997
was a key factor for the reform. But the limited implementation of the
laws confirmed that the culture had not really changed. With no legal
obligations applying to parliamentary elections, the gender gap in the
National Assembly remains the same. At national level, the parity reform
did not really improve French democracy. The republican system still
needs to be effectively challenged (Baudino and Mazur 2001).
Conclusion
For the past twenty years, WPAs have been numerous and diverse. Some
of them were short lived, such as the Delegation interministerielle aux droits
des femmes or several secretariats dEtat (junior ministers offices). Others
have seemed to outlive the swings of political majority, such as the
Observatoire. Above all, despite the disappointing results of the parity
reform, their activities have come to be more and more in line with
movement objectives. Two factors can be put forward to explain why
the institutions and the activists have come closer. First, parity was a
turning point in the objectives of feminists. Where once they avoided the
political arena, now activists called for the improvement of womens
political participation. Political representation has become a priority.
Second, the spread of the gender mainstreaming approach in Europe
slowly pushed the institutions to take gender differences into account.
The discourse of parity was an important factor in this process. Since the
late 1990s, the naming and the missions of WPAs have been reframed in
parity terms. Created in 2000, the Comite de pilotage pour legal acce`s des
femmes et des hommes aux emplois superieurs des fonctions publiques has to
promote parity at the highest level of the civil service. In their first report,
its members suggested the implementation of positive action in the
recruitment of civil servants. In the new right-wing government formed
in June 2002, Nicole Ameline is in charge of parity and equal opportunity
at work; her post is titled the ministre deleguee a` la parite et a` legalite
professionnelle (Junior Minister for Parity and Professional Equality).
104
Claudie Baudino
While early WPAs could not play a major part in the reform processes
dealing with political representation, the parity debate enabled them to
gender their missions and may perhaps in the near future enable them to
gender policy.
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Agacinski, Sylviane 1999, Contre leffacement des sexes, Le Monde, 6 February
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pouvoir citoyennes! Liberte, Egalite, Parite, Paris: Seuil
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citoyen Paris: Presses de la Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques
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3 February
WPAs and political representation in

Germany
Lynn Kamenitsa and Brigitte Geissel
Introduction
Since its 1949 founding, the political system of the Federal Republic of
Germany (FRG) has rested firmly on the principle of representative
democracy. The framers of the German constitution, fearing supposed
anti-democratic popular tendencies, designed moderating institutions
between the people and the exercise of power. Political parties became
the most important of these. Political scientists have characterised the FRG
as a party-state in which parties make all of the most important political
decisions. The German constitution, the Basic Law, explicitly assigns them
the role of forming the political will of the people (Conradt 1993: 8485).
Parties control access to the legislatures at all levels, in terms of both
candidate selection and group access to the policy-making process. Strict
party discipline, especially at the federal level, assures party dominance.
Germany has a neo-corporatist system in which interests are organised
and articulated in a structured fashion. Interest groups must have state
recognition to obtain formal representation in the policy process (Dalton
1993: 237, 271). Interest representation has traditionally been channelled through four major interest alignments (mainly business and
labour, less crucially agriculture and churches), each with direct access
to the parties and government bureaucracies. Groups outside of these
four categories have had difficulty gaining access to policy channels (see
Conradt 1993: 109).
Womens political representation in Germany has traditionally lagged
behind some other western European countries, but began to catch up in
the 1990s. Today women are represented at a rate above the European
Union average. At the federal level, women comprised fewer than 10 per
cent of elected legislators in the early 1980s, but this number climbed
to 20 per cent in 1990, 30.9 per cent in 1998 and 33 per cent in 2002
(Penrose and Geissel 2001: 98). Womens representation in federal-level
executive offices has increased as well. Before 1987 no more than two
women served as ministers in a given cabinet. Three to five women served
106
WPAs and representation in Germany
107
in each subsequent cabinet and in 2003 five of twelve ministers were

women. Women have also made great strides in elective office at the state
level, though these vary significantly by region. The percentage of women
in state parliaments grew from about 10 per cent in 1984 to roughly
30 per cent by 2000 (Hoecker 1998; Penrose and Geissel 2001: 198).
The lowest rates of womens representation (less than 22 per cent) were
found in the two most southern and politically conservative states (Bavaria
and Baden-Wurttemberg), while the highest (more than 35 per cent) were
concentrated in the north-western states, along with Saarland and Berlin.
In other states, including all of the eastern states, women held roughly
30 per cent of the seats (see Penrose and Geissel 2001: 198200). On the
local level the percentage of women in the local representative bodies
climbed from 13 per cent in the early 1980s to 25 per cent in the middle of
the 1990s, with substantial differences between the parties. The conservative parties, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Free
Democratic Party (FDP), had the lowest percentages of women at
19.6 per cent and 18.4 per cent respectively; the Greens at 40.6 per
cent and the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) at 39.4 per cent had
the highest (Penrose and Geissel 2001: 197). There are also differences in
the presence of women on the political parties governing boards
(Bundesparteivorstand). Women hold at least 50 per cent of the board
seats in the parties of the left, including the Social Democratic Party
(SPD), the Greens and the PDS, and between 24 per cent and 33 per
cent in the conservative parties, the CDU, the FDP and the Christian
Social Union (CSU) (Penrose and Geissel 2001: 194).1 Altogether,
women have made substantial progress in gaining representation in the
political arena since the 1980s, but significant differences between the
parties, regions and states (Lander) remain.
Policy-making institutions
Major decisions about political representation are made at the federal
level. The lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, passes legislation
under the guidance of the federal government. The upper house, the
Bundesrat, must also approve certain laws. Parties play a central role in
the process by determining the legislative agenda and content in advance
1
The CSU is the Bavarian affiliate of the CDU. At the federal level, they function as a single
party, though they occasionally differ in their stance on specific policy measures.
108
of parliamentary action. Some policy about political representation is

made at the state (Land) or local level. If the constitutionality of policy
is challenged, the courts, particularly the Federal Constitutional Court,
may play a role.
Universe of policy debates
In the quarter century since the establishment of the first womens
policy agencies (WPAs), political representation debates have clustered
around particular issues. Many key debates have taken place within the
political parties, reflecting their importance in this policy area. The
emergence of the Green Party in the 1970s helped spawn party debates
about internal democracy and group representation within party organs
and on electoral lists. The most important of these included debates
about gender quotas in the Greens in 1986, the SPD in 1988, the PDS in
1990, and in the CDU in 19945. In the FDP quota rules were never
discussed seriously.
Debates about representation in civil and public service positions
began with a series of state-level equality laws in the 1980s that included
provisions for quotas or affirmative action. The subsequent national
debate resulted in new equal rights legislation and a modification of the
constitution in 1994.
The events of 1989 and German unification ushered in a decade of
discussion about political representation in the Federal Republic. The
experience of East German opposition groups with a Round Table,2 the
possibility of a new constitution, and the incorporation of new voters and
states all put pressures on the political system. Key debates concerned
direct democracy (resulting in more rights to referenda and initiatives in
several Lander), direct election of executives (resulting in the direct election of mayors in several Lander), and opening the neo-corporatist partydominated system to effect broader representation of interests and civil
society. A parallel SPD debate in the early 1990s resulted in a policy
allowing party members, rather than party elites, to select the candidate
for chancellor.
The election of Chancellor Gerhard Schroders government in 1998
generated still more political representation debates. The SPD, having
been out of power for nearly two decades, and the Alliance90/Greens,
2
The Round Table was set up in the German Democratic Republic in late 1989 as
communist control was waning. Delegates from fledgling opposition groups and the
church met with representatives of the established political system to determine the
direction of future political development, set election dates, etc.
109
combining the western Green Party and the remnants of the 1989 eastern
movements, formed a coalition committed to opening the German political system. The governments efforts to reform the neo-corporatist
system in favour of a more inclusive representation of interests spawned
new legislative proposals and new debates about political representation
in Germany.
In this chapter, we examine three debates that have taken place since the
formation of the German WPAs in the late 1970s. The first is the SPDs
1980s debate about a quota system for electoral lists. It provides an
example of party-level decision-making in the German party state. It
further represents two decades worth of debates about who can stand
for election, a central political representation issue in any democracy. The
second debate, which deals with the federal equality law passed in 1994,
is an example of a legislative policy debate at the federal level that
illustrates the importance of political parties and the federal bureaucracies in policy-making. The third debate concerns the citizenship and, in
turn, voting rights of foreign residents in Germany. This legislation,
passed in 1999, was an important component of the Schroder administrations new emphasis on broadening German democracy. Two of the
political representation debates deal explicitly with gender, though they
are not necessarily gendered debates, while the third is not explicitly
about gender.
Debate 1: Quota rules in the Social Democratic Party

of Germany, 19771988
While some governments have imposed quota rules for political representation (e.g. Belgium), in Germany some political parties have decided
to adopt quota rules.3 Until the 1970s quota rules were hardly discussed
in Germany. Debates about the need to increase womens political representation came to prominence with the rise of the Green Party, the
emergence of the new womens movement, and the public mood on
3
Inner-party quota rules mean that approximately equal numbers of men and women are
represented on the party lists. The so-called zipper system, common in the FRG, alternates mens and womens names on the list. Thus, regardless of how many seats the party
wins, half will go to women.
110
equality of the sexes. Since its inception in 1980, the Green Party has had
a fifty-fifty rule where half of all candidates on electoral lists are female.
Quota rules were fixed in their party statute in 1986. The Social
Democrats adopted a 40 per cent quota rule in 1988. The PDS introduced a 50 per cent quota rule at its founding in 1990. The CDU and the
FDP initially rejected any quota regulations, though the CDU eventually
introduced a soft quota (Quoren) in the mid-1990s. The debate within the
SPD will be discussed.
The support of women, equality between the sexes and womens
representation has always been a part of the SPDs programme, but the
reality looked somewhat different. For example, women comprised only
5.4 per cent of the SPD parliamentary caucus (Fraktion) in the Bundestag
in 1972. Women within the SPD, especially the partys womens commission, the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialdemokratischer Frauen (ASF),4 had
demanded a better representation of women for decades. Yet the majority
of the ASF rejected quota rules until the mid-1980s (Weis 1995) and
favoured other ways of increasing womens representation. Even at an
ASF federal conference (Bundeskonferenz) in 1977 most members
endorsed the view that quota rules were not necessary, because good
politicians, be they men or women, would make their way up through the
party machinery by performing well. The conference did, however, issue
a statement with several non-binding demands and proposed correctives
regarding the equality of the sexes. As it turned out these efforts to
increase womens representation were hardly successful. The ASF eventually endorsed a quota rule in 1985 and pressed the topic on the SPD
agenda. Other political realities also affected the agenda setting. The SPD
had been losing votes throughout the 1980s. The trend was particularly
evident in Bundestag elections, where the party lost large numbers of seats
in both 1983 and 1987. In contrast, the Green Party, having successfully
implemented a quota rule, continued to gain votes in this period.
The dominant frame used by actors on all sides concerned equality
and quality. The German SPD is traditionally a party concerned with
equality at least in the party programme. Thus the feminist discourse on
gender equality was perfectly compatible with the programmatic
4
The ASF can be considered a quasi-WPA because it is a policy-making body in a party. It

has the capacity to impact party policy-making directly and government policy-making
through its party influence. Typically, several female members of parliament or government are actively involved in the ASF.
111
discourse on equality between human beings and the conviction that no

group in society should be excluded from political representation. When
the ASF initiated the discourse on quota rules, several male allies began
to support the idea.
Other debate participants referred to quality its enhancement or
preservation as a central goal of their desired policy. They expressed
either fear that quota rules hinder quality or hope that quota rules
improve quality. Opponents declared that quota rules would only lead
to a lack of quality in politics because they would undermine performance
as the criterion for advancement. If gender were a criterion, people would
be chosen who do not possess the necessary skills and abilities to be a
politician and the quality of politics would deteriorate. Proponents
argued that female politicians would enhance the quality of policymaking and political outcomes. These arguments were compatible with
the dominant discourse within the SPD. As a party with its main tradition
in the working-class movement, the argument that good politics and
good governance require the representation of all groups within society,
including women, was fully compatible with social democratic beliefs. In
sum, while the debate shifted significantly over time, the dominant frame
of equality and quality remained intact.
During the 1980s the debate on quota rules within the SPD became
gendered in two ways. First, actors discussed whether having more
women in office would make a difference to politics (quality). Inge
Wettig Danielmeier, the ASF chair, and Hans Jochen Vogel, chair of
the Equal Rights Commission of the SPD, argued in their speech at the
1988 SPD meeting that female politicians will change our party. They
will also change politics (die Politik) . . . and these changes are a tremendous opportunity (Sozialdemokratischer Informationsdienst 1988). One
argument was premised on an assumption that women and men have
different interests, attitudes and experience. Quota proponents stressed
that women live in different realms from men and that it is mostly women
who have to combine family work and employment. They argued, in turn,
that women more often than their male colleagues put topics related to
the lives of women on the political agenda, thus leading to more equal
policy outcomes (see Meyer 1997; Geissel 1999: 194).
Second, the debate increasingly focused on quota rules as a means of
supporting women in the party and in politics (equality). Proponents
argued that women should have the same possibilities and political
112
opportunities as men, because they had experienced discrimination for

such a long time.5
These arguments, put forth largely by the ASF, became central ones in
the SPD quota debate of the 1980s. This gendering was clearly feminist in
so far as it emphasised womens participation, importance, contributions
and equality.
Opponents of quota rules resisted this gendering. They predicted that
every special interest group might demand its own quota rules and thus
contribute to the deterioration of politics. Opponents did not focus on
gender in their official statements. Rather they put their concerns about
recruiting mechanisms leading to quality and good politics at the centre
of their arguments.
To sum up, proponents gendered the debate by discussing quota rules
in the context of under-representation of women, framing it with the
idea of enhancing the quality of politics. The framing of the opponents
did not focus on gender, but rather on quality. It was, however, the
gendered arguments of the proponents that ultimately won over a majority of the SPD policy-makers.
Policy outcome
The SPD passed the ASF proposal on quota rules in 1988 at the SPD
conference (Parteitag) with an overwhelming majority (87 per cent) of
conference delegates voting for it. These quota rules applied to all positions and mandates elected from lists. By 1993, 40 per cent of all internal
SPD positions were to be held by women. By 1998, the same percentage
of public SPD mandates were to be held by women. Thus, although
quota rules were not implemented perfectly, one of the targets of the
ASF was achieved.
Quota rules were certainly an important contributing factor to the
subsequent increase in womens representation in legislatures at all levels
of government and within the SPD. Whereas in the early 1980s 15 per
cent of the local SPD politicians (members of the representative bodies)
were female, that figure had increased to 29 per cent by the middle of the
1990s (Penrose and Geissel 2001: 197). In state parliaments the proportion of women in SPD delegations reached an average of roughly 35 per
cent in 2000, with substantial differences between the states. The highest
percentage was in Schleswig-Holstein at nearly 50 per cent and the lowest
in Baden-Wurttemberg at 16.7 per cent (Penrose and Geissel 2001: 198).
5
One strategic argument claimed that quota rules would attract women to join and vote for
the SPD.
113
On the board of the SPD (Bundesvorstand) more than 50 per cent of

members were women by the turn of the century. In the Bundestag
women comprised 9.8 per cent of all members and 10.4 per cent of
SPD members in the mid-1980s. By the early 1990s, those numbers
had risen to 20.5 per cent and 27.2 per cent respectively. In the
Bundestag elected in 2002, women comprised 32.8 per cent of all members and 37.8 per cent of SPD members.
The policy adopted coincided with the womens movement goals as
articulated by the ASF. Women from that organisation were prominent
and central players in the policy process. In all phases of the decisionmaking from the agenda setting to the implementation they were
actively pushing the process. They took part in party meetings and conferences, as delegates of the ASF or as normal party members, and forced
the party to act on the issue. The movements impact can therefore be
classified as dual response.
During the last few years of this debate, the federal WPA, the Ministry for
Health, Family, Women and Youth, was a large, national ministry that
was cross-sectional in scope. Although the minister was a political
appointment from the conservative CDU during this period, she was
moderately feminist on many issues. The SPD quota rule issue was
clearly outside the mandate of the WPA. Given the fact that the federal
WPA was not controlled by the SPD during this internal SPD debate, it is
not surprising that the WPA made no effort to gender this debate, nor did
it advocate feminist goals in the process. Nevertheless the ministry did not
work against the efforts of the ASF feminists. The agencys activities thus
fall into the symbolic category of the RNGS model.
The ASF functioned as a quasi-WPA in this debate in so far as it was a
womens organisation that influenced party policy-making. By advocating womens movement goals and successfully gendering the debate, it
played an insider role in this debate.
During the debate period, the West German womens movement was in
a stage of growth, but was fragmented. The core of the West German
movement, which originated in the 1970s abortion rights movement,
114
consisted largely of autonomous groups focused on local womens projects and eschewed participation in mens institutions (Ferree 1987).
By the late 1970s, a separate group of women, referred to here as mainstream feminists, rejected the autonomous feminists strategy and
instead tried to influence public policy by working within political
parties, trade unions, traditional womens organisations and state
bureaucracies (Rosenberg 1996). These two movement branches had
ideological and organisational disagreements with each other, with
feminists from the Green Party, and with eastern German feminists
after 1989.6 Thus the movement could not speak with a single voice
on any issue.
The ASF women typified the mainstream branch of the womens
movement. The ASF, having formed during the movements heyday in
the early 1970s, is the most important and relevant part of the womens
movement for this debate. As an organisation within the SPD, it was
clearly very close to the political left. Indeed, during this period the ASF
had become a strong section with a large amount of influence on the SPD
sub-system.
The fragmented nature of the movement makes it difficult to determine
the priority of the issue. In the 1980s feminists still debated whether
women and especially feminists should participate in male political
institutions. The autonomous part of the womens movement was not
directly involved in internal party debates on quota rules. The mainstream feminists, who were interested in womens representation within
parties, supported the idea. Thus, the issue was a high priority for the
segment of the movement discussed here and of low priority for the
autonomous part of the movement.
The counter-movement in the SPD was strong at the beginning, but it
changed during the debate. It became less active in arguing against quota
rules and finally became weaker than the feminist movement.
Policy environment
The SPD itself is the relevant policy sub-system for this debate. The
policy environment in the SPD can be described as moderately closed.
The SPD has a long history of supporting equal rights. In turn, the party
programme maintains that the decision-making process is accessible to a
6
On the 1970s and 1980s see Altbach (1984); Kolinsky (1988); Maier and Oubaid (1987:
3840); Brox-Brochot (1984). On the emergence of the eastern movement and eastwest
tensions see Kamenitsa (1993, 1997); Kenawi (1995); Rosenberg (1996); Chamberlayne
(1995); Ferree (1995b); Kiechle (1991).
115
wide range of party members, not only to a few. Therefore, the womens
section and sections of other minorities within the party can at least
claim to take part in the decision process. In reality, though, the elite of
the SPD had been purely male for decades. The official commitment to
openness and equality, however, enabled female party members to criticise the discrepancy and argue for more female representation.
During the early years of this debate, an SPD and FDP coalition
governed the FRG. After 1982 the SPD was the opposition to a CDU
and FDP coalition. So, for the key years of this policy debate, a party of
the right controlled both the executive and legislative branches.
Debate 2: Second Federal Equal Rights Law, 19891994
Since the 1970s, several German Lander debated equality laws dealing
with womens political representation, primarily through affirmative
action in civil and public service jobs.7 In the early 1990s the debate
reached the federal level, resulting in the 1994 Second Federal Equal
Rights Law and a modification of the Basic Law. The federal womens
ministry spearheaded this policy process, which resulted in a national
public debate about womens political representation.
This policy debate has its origins in several places. The collapse of
communism in the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany)
and German unification raised the issue of constitutional reform, because
the Basic Law provided for its own revision in the event of unification.
The unification treaty focused attention on gender and women by stipulating the need for additional measures to ensure gender equality in the
new Germany (Vertrag 1990). In May 1990, the Bundestag requested a
study of the status of women on public governing bodies that played a role
in federal decision-making (i.e. governmental and quasi-governmental
commissions or advisory boards). The resulting 1991 report revealed that
women held only 7.2 per cent of positions on such bodies. Finally,
unification itself raised questions about womens status in Germany.
Compared with women in the FRG, women in the GDR were employed
at much higher rates, had more formal legal rights vis-a`-vis men, enjoyed
more state affirmative action programmes in education and the workplace, and received many social welfare benefits designed to help them
combine employment and family duties. Unification threatened to
7
For an overview of equality policy issues in Germany, see Nassmacher (1993) and
Berghahn (1993).
116
remove many of these rights and benefits, including the right to legal
abortion. All of these issues helped place gender equality on the political
agenda in the early 1990s.
All parties in this debate agreed on the basic problems: women held few
positions in the public sector and fewer positions of authority in the public
and private sectors, they lacked support for combining employment and
family, and the constitutional promise of equality of rights was not a
reality. There was less agreement about who was to blame for this situation. Most parties did not assign blame explicitly. Advocates of a larger
state role implied that the state had not done enough to make equal rights
a reality. Opponents of an expanded state role implied, vaguely, that
individuals were responsible for discriminating or making personal
choices that led to their advantaged or disadvantaged status.
Disagreements about proposed solutions centred around two issues.
The first was whether a statement about the states obligation to effect
equal rights belonged in the constitution. Supporters argued that only
inclusion in the constitution would indicate the seriousness of gender
equality, demonstrate the states responsibility for it, and protect the
commitment from reversal by future governments. Supporters included
the SPD, the PDS, Alliance90/Greens, women in the CDU and FDP,
and many extra-governmental organisations including the trade unions.
Opponents, including many in the liberal FDP, believed that proclamations about state policy goals did not belong in the constitution at all.
They advocated writing and enforcing gender-neutral laws to effect
equality and discourage discrimination. Many in the leadership and
Bundestag caucus of the CDU/CSU simply argued that a constitutional
statement was unnecessary given existing equality laws.
The second area of disagreement concerned the so-called compensation
clause. This referred to measures designed to remedy or compensate
women for past and existing discrimination. These ranged from vague
affirmative action goals to the inclusion of gender preferences in hiring and
appointments. The latter, usually labeled quota rules, were a hot topic in
the debate. Compensation clause supporters wanted constitutional protection for compensatory gender preference laws, so they could not be construed as discrimination against men and thus violations of the Basic Laws
prohibition against sex-based discrimination (Section 3, Article 3).8
8
They were particularly concerned about several state equality laws that were being
challenged in court.
117
The CDU/CSU opposed a compensation clause, although many CDU

women and the party womens organisation supported some version of it.
All other parties except the FDP supported some version of a compensation clause.
All parties engaged in gendering this policy debate. The major debate
participants shared two assumptions. First, that widespread discrimination against women in Germany existed and was related to inequality
between women and men. The more feminist actors, including party
women and womens groups, womens movement groups and the trade
unions, further looked at the underlying causes of systemic discrimination (e.g. traditional gender roles, the division of household labour).
A second common assumption was that the unification treatys call for
improving conditions for the combination of career and family was, de
facto, a womens issue. Most debate participants, even those from conservative parties, discussed womens traditional roles in family life, especially time taken off from employment to raise children, as a source of
womens disadvantaged position in society. Only the Womens Minister,
Angela Merkel (CDU), gendered the career and family issue as one
concerning women and men.
The main divergence of gendering concerned the solutions to womens
disadvantaged status. Supporters of gender preferences and/or a compensation clause gendered the debate as being exclusively about womens
disadvantages and discrimination against them. Opponents of quotas
and a compensation clause gendered the debate in a different way,
arguing that such measures were gender discrimination against men.
Policy outcome
This debate resulted in two policy outcomes related to womens political
representation. First, a modification of the Basic Law (Section 2, Article 3)
declared that women and men deserve equality of rights and that the state
is committed to promoting equal rights and working towards removing
disadvantages. Second, the new Equal Rights Law of 1994, and, more
specifically, its Article 11, dealt with representatives on governing bodies
in Germany that play a role in federal decision-making. This article
requires organisations nominating candidates for positions on such
bodies to name a qualified man and a qualified woman for each position
until parity is reached. If a qualified representative of each sex is not
named, the rationale must be justified in writing.
118

This policy did not coincide with feminist goals. It did meet one basic
goal, namely getting the constitution amended to specify some state
obligation to realise gender equality, but the final language was weaker
and more vague than that advocated by various feminist participants.
More importantly, the changes excluded another basic feminist goal: a
compensation clause. Many feminists, especially in the opposition parties
and trade unions, were also critical of the Equal Rights Law for its narrow
coverage (mainly of women in civil service jobs) and lack of meaningful
sanctions for non-compliance with new rules, like the double-naming in
Article 11 (see Jansen 1994; Neues Gesetz 1994).
Women were active participants in this policy process and received
significant media attention. These included parties spokespersons on
women and politics, individual politicians, and leaders of parties
womens organisations. Participation was not limited to feminists, but
also included women from the conservative parties. The CDU/CSU
womens parliamentary caucus and the Womens Minister advocated a
compensation clause even in the face of opposition by the CDU/CSU
leadership (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 17 March 1993). The CDU
womens organisation was an important impetus for the equality law and
constitutional changes throughout the process. The issue even spawned a
broad, intra-party womens coalition in early 1993, when the constitutional changes confronted a parliamentary obstacle (Frankfurter
Rundschau 4 March 1993). Coalition members spanned the spectrum
from the CDU to Alliance90/Greens, including women from parties,
unions, academia, media, civil rights groups and womens organisations.
They lobbied publicly in favour of the constitutional expansion. Several
members, including Bundestag president Rita Sussmuth (CDU), used it
as a forum to call for a compensation clause as well.
In sum, women were very much involved and accepted as important
legitimate actors in the debate. The policy content did not, however,
coincide with movement goals. According to the RNGS model, the policy
outcome was co-optation.
In the 1970s, the federal WPA originated within the Ministry for Health,
Family and Youth (Jahresbericht 1979). Women was added to the
ministrys title when Sussmuth (CDU), a very visible spokesperson
on womens policy issues, was appointed to head it in 1986 (see
Ferree 1995a: 99). After a cabinet reorganisation split the ministry in
119
1991, the Ministry for Women and Youth (BMFJ) became a middlelevel ministry in terms of administrative capacity. Its portfolio is crosssectional, dealing with womens affairs broadly conceived. The issues of
gender equality, womens employment, sexual harassment, and the
combination of career and family placed this debate squarely within
the mandate of the BMFJ.
The minister is a political appointment. Most staff, however, are civil
servants, including many femocrats. They have some influence in shaping
ministry proposals and positions, despite being bound to carry out the
ministers directives. The minister during this debate, Angela Merkel,
was a young, East German protegee of Chancellor Kohl, chosen largely to
give the government an eastern and female face during the controversial
post-unification abortion debates. She was able to act as a feminist
minister in the equality debate, in part, because the government was so
focused on the abortion debate, where she had little political room to
advocate for women (Kamenitsa 2001).
The ministry under Merkel clearly worked to gender the debate. In
speeches, press releases, newspaper articles, interviews and drafts of
legislation, Merkel repeatedly emphasised discrimination against
women and womens under-representation in decision-making positions;
criticised the state for failing to realise the constitutional promise of
gender equality; advocated measures to help women and men combine
careers and family; and argued for more state recognition of womens
economic contributions through household labor (see BMFJ 1993;
Merkel 1993; Frankfurter Rundschau 15 January 1993). Media coverage
and legislative transcripts reveal Merkels influence in shaping this
debate. Although not all of her gendering and policy preferences were
successful, she played a central role in framing this debate in the media, in
her party and in the government.
Although feminists criticised Merkel and her drafts of legislation, she
did advocate movement goals throughout the process, most fundamentally an expansion of the constitutional equality clause. She initially
advocated a compensation clause, but backed away when that proposal
threatened to stop all CDU/CSU discussion of equality law reforms
(Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 17 March 1993). The government and
CDU/CSU likewise rejected other state measures she advocated to
improve womens status (see Frankfurter Rundschau 15 January 1993).
Partisan political realities prohibited her from advocating any quota rules
and from presenting stronger versions of feminists goals in draft
legislation.
In sum, Merkels BMFJ advocated movement goals and gendered the
policy debate. This makes the WPA an insider in this debate.
120

The German womens movement in the 1990s is best characterised as
fragmented and in decline. The movement was close to the traditional
political left during this debate. Although many mainstream feminists
were active in the SPD, the movement as such had long been suspicious
of ties to such male-dominated institutions. Individual feminists played
important roles in the Green Party, the far-left PDS and Alliance90. Yet
none of these groups was central to German politics during this debate
and movement relationships with each were fraught with tension.
Movement fragmentation again makes it difficult to assess prioritisation. Throughout much of the 1980s, the autonomous womens movement seemed strangely indifferent towards equality politics in general
(Jansen 1995). Mainstream feminists, however, emphasised the utility of
equality and anti-discrimination laws. Some eastern feminists, particularly those on Berlins Womens Political Round Table, championed the
inclusion of womens and gender issues in the constitutional reform
process (see Arbeitskreis Verfassung 1992). Indeed, during the final
months of this debate, feminists from various parties and some independent organisations showed an unusual degree of cohesion around this
particular issue, even organising joint demonstrations in support of a
constitutional change. For most feminists, however, the priority in the
early 1990s was new abortion legislation. As a result, the equality debate
was only a moderate movement priority at this time.
Potentially strong counter-movement forces were only moderately
strong in this policy debate. Associations of employers and entrepreneurs
opposed the proposed legislative and constitutional changes, arguing that
these would decrease competitiveness, be expensive and limit growth
opportunities (see Frankfurter Rundschau 11 March 1994, 15 January
1993). In Germanys neo-corporatist political structure, such groups
have direct access to elected officials and even have their own, recognised
representatives in the legislature. In this case, they influenced the position
of the pro-business FDP, but did little more to shape this debate.
Policy environment
During the equality debate, the political right formed the government and
controlled the Bundestag. The CDU/CSU led the governing coalition
with the FDP as the junior partner. While both of these parties experienced internal conflict over the key issues in this debate, the leaderships of
both blocked efforts by women in their respective parties to introduce a
strongly worded constitutional statement or a compensation clause. The
121
SPD, which supported a stronger version of the amendment with a

compensation clause, controlled a majority in the Bundesrat for most of
this period, giving it the ability to block or slow government legislation.
A Joint Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reform made the
most important decisions pertaining to the constitutional changes.
The policy sub-system surrounding this issue is a moderately closed
one, dominated by political parties and their parliamentary groups.
Governmental ministries substantial input comes in drafting government legislation and providing expertise to working groups and committees. Grass-roots groups input is limited by the neo-corporatist system
that favours established interests (see Conradt 1993; Dalton 1993).
Debate 3: Reform of German nationality law, 19981999

Several million migrants have entered the FRG since the end of the
Second World War. Initially refugees of German descent fled communistcontrolled countries after the war. Later millions of guest workers,
largely from Turkey and southern Europe, came as temporary residents
to ease employment shortages. Because German nationality and citizenship law was based on jus sanguinus (law of the blood) rather than jus soli
(law of the soil), the former were entitled to citizenship, even if neither
they nor their parents had ever lived in Germany. The latter group and
their children (often born and raised in Germany) were essentially denied
German citizenship (see Klusmeyer 2000; Hailbronner 2000; Richter
19989). Despite this history of migration, the CDU-led governments
of the 1980s and 1990s insisted that Germany was not a nation of
immigrants, even though the foreign population of the FRG comprised
9 per cent of the countrys total population (Klusmeyer 2000).
Several developments in the 1990s placed immigration and citizenship
law on the German political agenda. First, German unification made FRG
citizens of more than 17 million East Germans. Second, more than 2
million ethnic Germans migrated into Germany as communism collapsed
throughout the continent (Rinaldi 1999; Richter 19989). The automatic
citizenship granted to both of these groups increased dissatisfaction among
the guest worker population and their German-born children who were
denied citizenship rights and, in turn, political representation unless
they participated in a long, onerous, costly naturalisation process and
renounced citizenship in any foreign state. Third, Germanys once-liberal
asylum laws attracted 1.6 million asylum seekers from 1987 to 1994
122
(Rinaldi 1999; Hailbronner 2000). These migrants, many fleeing war in

the former Yugoslavia, became scapegoats for the post-unification economic hardships and unemployment. Fourth, in the late 1980s a few
Lander and municipalities had passed legislation enfranchising permanent
foreign residents in local elections. The Federal Constitutional Courts
1990 decision to overturn these laws made it clear that non-citizens did not
enjoy equal political representation rights with citizens.
In the early 1990s, the CDU-led government responded to pressures
with two stop-gap measures: minor liberalisation of the naturalisation
laws and severe curtailment of the asylum policy. The 1998 federal
election campaign returned the issue of reforming German citizenship
laws to the political agenda. The FDP supported conditional naturalisation for children born in Germany, but received no support from its
senior coalition partner (Economist 4 July 1998). The SPD and
Alliance90/Greens included reform of nationality laws and an expansion
of foreigners citizenship rights in their campaign platforms. For candidate Schroder, this was an effort to make political representation in
Germany more inclusive and to enlist future electoral support from
foreign voters whom his party helped enfranchise.
The debate began with several overlapping meta-frames with all parties
discussing questions about German national identity, who is a German,
whether the country is an immigrant nation, and the post-war context of
the jus sanguinus citizenship law (see Klusmeyer 2000). Parties vied
to shape the dominant frame, with the SPD focusing on the widening
gap between permanent residents and citizens9 and CDU focusing on the
question of dual citizenship (see Cahn 2000). The CDU won the contest
and framing increasingly focused on dual citizenship rather than on more
fundamental questions about German immigration and membership in
the state.10 This dominant frame was evident on magazine covers, in
newspaper articles and interviews, and even as a subject heading in the
parliamentary archive on this debate.
In turn, broad proposals for reforming immigration and nationality law
were narrowed down to specific reforms of naturalisation requirements
and the issues of dual citizenship for German-born children of foreign
residents.
9
10
Ministry of the Interior press release from 16 March 1999, quoted in Klusmeyer (2000: 10).
Klusmeyer (2000) notes that the CDU used this frame to divide the public on the issue of
reform of the nationality laws.
123

The debate about naturalisation and citizenship rights, including voting
rights, remained ungendered, despite the fact that roughly half of all
affected foreign residents were women. Earlier efforts by womens movement organisations, the SPD and the Greens to gender part of the
immigrants rights debate had focused very specifically on one paragraph
of the immigration law, which relates to women obtaining or retaining
permanent resident status in cases of divorce or domestic abuse. Yet
efforts to gender the 19989 debate were almost non-existent. For
instance, a spring 1998 special issue of the Alliance90/Green newspaper
focusing on foreigners rights made no gender-specific arguments about
voting rights, despite grammar that made the inclusion of women explicit.
In another 1998 example, the SPD womens organisation put out a
special issue of its publication Womens Issues: Information from the SPD
focused on womens politics in the SPDs campaign platform, but made
no mention of foreign women or their enfranchisement.
A rare exception was a single 1999 issue of the periodical publication of
the German Womens Council, a formerly conservative womens group
that has been more influenced by women from the SPD in recent years. In
response to the SPD draft legislation, the council devoted part of an issue
of its magazine Information for the Woman to issues of foreign women in
Germany and abroad. The editor notes that the German Womens
Council had never previously considered any resolution concerning the
issues of dual citizenship and naturalisation (Lieber 1999). One article in
the publication argues that the nationality reform debate is a womens
issue and, thus, constitutes an effort to gender the debate, but the effort
was late in the process and ineffective in shaping the debate.
Policy outcome
This debate resulted in new legislation, ratified in May 1999, that
gives children born to non-Germans in the FRG dual citizenship until
age 23, at which point they must choose one or the other citizenship
(Cahn 2000).
Women were not high-profile participants in this debate. Womens
movement representatives played no visible role in the process. Indeed,
the movement had no clear-cut stance on the issue. Feminists did not
oppose the governments efforts to reform the naturalisation process and
124
thus voting rights, but neither did they work for such reform. In a search
of womens movement archive materials, feminist periodicals and the
publications of womens organisations, the norm was the complete omission of the voting rights issue in numerous articles, published interviews
and speeches by advocates of the rights of female foreigners. There were
only a few, isolated exceptions. As early as 1980, one Turkish womens
group in Berlin called for the extension of voting rights to foreign women
as a central criterion for their integration into German society (Neue
1980). In several cases, feminist groups joined dozens of other groups
in organising demonstrations for foreign residents rights, including,
among others, the right to vote. The above-mentioned periodical by the
German Womens Council was the only visible effort made by a womens
group to participate in this debate. The authors were supportive of easing
the naturalisation process, but were critical of the governments draft law
for not going far enough and for not explicitly including women and their
gender-specific issues in the new law. The policy outcome thus fell short
of the demands of the few womens groups who expressed interest in the
debate and was irrelevant to most womens movement groups. According
to the RNGS model, the policy outcome in this case was no response.
During this debate the federal womens ministry remained a crosssectional, middle-level ministry led by a minister with a political
appointment. With the election of a SPD-Green government, a more
feminist minister was appointed. This issue, however, was not within or
adjacent to the mandate of the ministry despite the fact that many of the
people affected by the legal reform were women. Instead, the mandate
for this issue rested squarely with the Ministry of the Interior.
Our research revealed no comments about or engagement in this debate
by the womens ministry. We found no evidence of efforts to gender this
debate, nor any advocacy of womens movement goals. Thus, the womens
policy agencys role was symbolic in this policy debate.
As noted above, the German womens movement in the 1990s was
divided and in decline. It was close to the traditional political left during
this debate. Mainstream feminists active in the SPD could, theoretically,
have had influence and did address another immigration issue. As noted
above, several womens movement groups and activists did focus on other
immigration issues, specifically the rights of abused and divorced foreign
125
women, but not on citizenship and voting rights. Thus, this debate was a
low priority for the womens movement at this time. Because the
womens movement was not engaged in the voting rights debate, there
was no counter-movement to oppose it.
Policy environment
During the electoral campaign that marks the beginning of this debate,
the conservative CDU controlled both the executive and the lower house
of parliament. During the period when the legislation was debated and
passed, however, the political left controlled the executive and both
houses of parliament.
The new SPD government did make efforts to open up the policy
process, but the realities of German parliamentary procedure left the
policy sub-system around this issue moderately closed. The political
parties and their parliamentary groups continued to dominate the subsystem. Inter-party negotiations about legislative content, the actual
drafting of legislation and the determination of which outside groups
could participate in the process were all controlled by the parties and
the government of the day.
Conclusion
The cases discussed here represent very different outcomes in terms of
state response/movement impact and WPA activities. Policy outcome did
not coincide with movement goals in the second debate, which ended in
co-optation, or the third debate, which ended with no response. Only in
the first debate, which took place within a political party, was there dual
response to movement efforts. The role of the WPA was symbolic in
the SPD-quota and citizenship debates (first and third debates) and
that of an insider in the equality law debate (second debate), although
movement goals were not achieved in the latter.
The characteristics of the WPA did not vary much across the three
debates and the variation generally did not correspond to differences in
WPA activities or state response. The one partial exception is the closeness to mandate. The WPA was most active in the one debate (the
second) where the issue was close to its mandate in terms of structure
and substance. In the other two debates, the WPA was either structurally
excluded (the first) or the substance was never framed as a womens
issue (the third). However, the one quasi-WPA included in this study,
the ASF in the SPD-quota debate (the first debate), played a central role
in achieving womens movement goals.
126
The explanatory value of the independent variable clusters is mixed.

Movement characteristics do not appear to explain agency activities very
well. The same symbolic response resulted from differences in stage,
closeness to left, counter-movement strength and issue priority in the
first and third debates, while different responses resulted from similarities
in stage and closeness to left in the second and third debates. The only
variable that may help explain agency activities in these three debates is
cohesion. It was only in the second debate, where movement actors
undertook some cohesive action on the policy, that the WPA achieved
insider status.
The relationships between movement characteristics and movement
impact/state response are similarly mixed. Neither similarities in stage
and closeness to left (second and third debates) nor in counter-movement
strength and cohesion (first and second debates) seem to have explanatory value. On the other hand issue priority seems to correlate with
movement impact in all three debates, while stage, issue priority and
closeness to the left all seem to be important factors in accounting for
the dual response movement impact in the first debate. One movement
impact not captured by the RNGS model, but evident in these cases, is
the extent to which previous movement activities create expectations that
women should be involved in the policy process when the topic has an
obvious focus on women, as in the first and second debates.
The political environment variables do not appear to explain variation
in agency activity or movement impact. We find that the WPA was
most involved in working for feminist goals in the second debate and the
movement impact was greatest in the first, both of which took place when
the right was in power. The least WPA involvement and movement impact
was in the third debate when the left led Germany. The lack of variation in
sub-system cannot explain variation in other variables.
Other aspects of the policy environment that are not directly addressed
in the RNGS model seem to be more important in explaining variation in
these debates. The role of political parties in German democracy clearly
affected the WPA activities in all three debates. Because the first debate
took place within the SPD apparatus, the CDU-controlled womens
Ministry could not effectively influence the debate. The WPA was thus
not a player in securing the positive response to the movement. In the
second debate, however, the CDU Womens Minister was able to act in a
feminist manner that challenged her partys predisposition concerning
equality laws. The prominence of the simultaneous abortion debate on
the CDUs agenda actually created more space for the WPA to support
feminist goals in the equality debate. Finally, the parties played a role in
minimising WPA involvement in the third debate by defining the issue in
127
a way that excluded that office. Without a mandate or any coherent

womens movement pressure on the issue, the WPA was unable to foster
womens participation or movement goals, despite the leadership of
parties amenable to feminist ideas and activism.
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Jansen, Mechthild 1994, Gleiches Recht ist unverbindlich, Die Tageszeitung
3 May
1995, Wo die Quote erfullt ist, beginnt demokratische Geschlechterpolitik,
Die Tageszeitung 25 July
Kamenitsa, Lynn 1993, Social Movement Marginalization in the Democratic
Transition: the Case of the East German Womens Movement, Ph.D.
dissertation, Indiana University
1997, East German Feminists in the New German Democracy: Opportunities,
Obstacles and Adaptation, Women & Politics 17: 4168
2001, Abortion Debates in Germany, in Dorothy McBride Stetson (ed.)
Abortion Politics, Womens Movements, and the Democratic State: a Comparative
Study of State Feminism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 11134
Kenawi, Samirah 1995, Frauengruppen in der DDR der 80er Jahre, Berlin: Grauzone
Kiechle, Brigitte 1991, Selbstbestimmung statt Fremdbestimmung: zur aktuellen
Auseinandersetzung um den x218, Frankfurt am Main: isp-Verlag
Klusmeyer, Douglas 2000, Four Dimensions of Membership in Germany,
SA/IS Review 20: 121
Kolinsky, Eva 1988, The West German Greens a Womens Party?
Parliamentary Affairs 41: 12948
Lieber, Dorotea 1999, Liebe Leserin, lieber Leser, Informationen fur die Frau 48
(March): 3
Maier, Marion and Monika Oubaid 1987, Mutter die besseren Frauen,
Braunschweig: Gerd J. Holtzmeyer
Merkel, Angela 1993, Von Frauenministerin zu Frauenministerin, Frankfurter
Rundschau (26 February)
Meyer, Birgit 1992, Die unpolitische Frau, Politische Partizipation von
Frauen oder: Haben Frauen ein anderes Verstandnis von Politik, Aus
Politik und Zeitgeschichte 2526: 318
1997, Frauen im Mannerbund. Politikerinnen in Fuhrungspositionen von der
Nachkriegszeit bis heute, New York: Campus Verlag
Nassmacher, Hiltrud 1993, Von der Gleichberechtigung zur Gleichstellung, in
Aiga Stapf (ed.) Frau und Mann zwischen Tradition und Emanzipation,
Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, pp. 16780
Neue 1980, Wahlrecht Basis Fur Integration, 25 September
Neues Gesetz soll Bewusstseinswandel bewirken 1994, Sozialmagazin 11: 10
Penrose, Virginia and Brigitte Geissel 2001, The Long Run: Partizipation und
Engagement unter geschlechtsspezifischen Zusammenhangen, in Ulrike
129
Gentner (ed.) Geschlechtergerechte Visionen. Politik in der Bildungs- und

Jugendarbeit, Konigstein/Taunus: Ulrike Helmer Verlag, pp. 161257
Richter, Anthony 19989, Blood and Soil: What It Means to be German,
World Policy Journal 15: 918
Rinaldi, Alfred 1999, No Turks, Please, Were German, New Statesman 128:
234
Rosenberg, Dorothy 1996, Distant Relations: Class, Race, and National
Origin in the German Womens Movement, Womens Studies International
Forum 19: 14554
Sozialdemokratischer Informationsdienst 1988, 28: 10
Vertrag zwischen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und der Deutschen Demokratischen
Republik Einigungsvertrag (Zweiter Staatsvertrag) 6 September 1990 [second
unification treaty]
Weis, Petra 1995, Hurdenlauf an die Macht? Politische Partizipation von Frauen
in der SPD und die Quote, in Eva Maleck-Lewy and Virginia Penrose (eds.)
Gefahrtinnen der Macht. Politische Partizipation von Frauen im vereinigten
Deutschland eine Zwischenbilanz, Berlin: Edition Sigma, pp. 6582
Newspapers cited include: Frankfurter Rundschau, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung,
Die Tageszeitung (Berlin)
Gendering the debate on political

representation in Italy: a difficult challenge
Marila Guadagnini
Introduction
In Italy, the concept of democracy has long been thought of as a means to
represent social and political divisions. The need to guarantee access to
decision-making arenas for the greatest number of social demands
explains why, after the Second World War, a proportional-type electoral
system with no minimum threshold was adopted. The results were a
multi-party system and coalition governments (Verzichelli and Cotta
2003). Until the 1990s there was no alternation of government coalitions,
but merely changes in coalition partners of the dominant Christian
Democrats. After the late 1970s widespread discontent about the
unstable and inefficient government coalitions increased and a debate
about constitutional reforms developed.
By the early 1990s, discontent had become crisis. The legitimacy of the
political elite collapsed leading to a widespread call for its replacement.
Party identities dissolved and organisations disintegrated, making way for
the rapid emergence of new political forces. The crisis accelerated the
adoption of new institutional rules. Although there were many contributing
factors (Cotta and Isernia 1996; Ginsborg 1996; Pasquino 2002), the
determining event was the Mani pulite (Clean Hands) investigation
launched by the judiciary in 1992. Mani pulite brought to light a widespread
pattern of corruption involving the highest levels of the Italian political elite.
It led to the dismantling of the party system. It focused on the government
parties and, in particular, on their leaders. Between 1992 and 1994 the
collapse of the party system involved an internal reorganisation whereby the
original parties were replaced and new political forces created (Morlino
1996; Bardi 2002). None of the governing parties in power between 1945
and 1992 stood for election in 1994 with the same logo and same name.
The crisis opened a public debate on the role of the political parties. Their
capacity as organisations able to represent citizens was questioned. The
need to adopt new rules of the political game was debated. Between 1993
and 2003, a series of reforms was adopted, including changes in the local
130
Gendering the debate in Italy
131
and national electoral systems, reform of local government and devolution

of policy-making powers from the state to local governments. Other proposals, including the reform of the upper chamber (the Senate) and of
direct election of the head of state (or also of the chancellor), were put on
the agenda but were not approved by 2004 (Ceccanti and Vassallo 2004).
One might think that the adoption of new rules of the game and the
delegitimation and collapse of the party system would have created
receptiveness to womens requests for representation. The parties
were hostile to womens representation, as shown by the fact that the
percentage of elected women has always been one of the lowest in
Europe.1 In the 1980s, advocates of womens political representation
had begun a long struggle for equality. They achieved success in the
early 1990s when, thanks to a quota system in the new electoral laws, a
record number of women were elected at both national and local level.
This, however, was a short-term success. The quota system was abolished
in September 1995. Since then the number of women elected has steadily
diminished, and by 2003 it was one of the lowest in Europe.
In the second half of the 1990s, several attempts were made to mobilise
support for womens representation and to raise awareness in public
opinion. Two regulations were passed to allow affirmative actions to
increase womens presence in elective bodies: the adoption of a clause
into the laws on federalism of 2001 establishing that regional laws should
promote equal access of women and men to elective offices2 and the
amendment to article 51 of the constitution passed in 2003.
Institutions that make representation policy
Major decisions about political representation must be approved at
national level by both houses of the legislature. Italian citizens may
initiate referenda by collection of 500,000 signatures to remove or keep
an adopted law, or they may vote in referenda to approve a constitutional
law enforced by the National Assembly. The Constitutional Court can
1
The percentage of women in the Lower House (Chamber of Deputies) was 5.6 per cent in
1953, 2.8 per cent in 1968, 8.4 per cent in 1976, 12.8 per cent in 1987 and 8.1 per cent in
1992 (Guadagnini 1993).
It deals with the following laws: the amendment for the statutes of the autonomous regions
(Constitutional Law 31 January 2001, n. 2) giving the law-maker the power to adopt
measures suitable for promoting equal access to elective posts for both men and women,
and the amendment to Titolo V of the constitution Part II (Constitutional Law
18 October 2001, n. 3) (replacing article 117 of the constitution) 1st para., seventh new
line. This amendment provides that regional laws remove any obstacles preventing
equality of women and men in social, cultural and economical life and promote equal
access to elective posts for both men and women.
132
Marila Guadagnini
overturn legislation. Legislative initiative belongs to the government, to

each member of the legislature, and to the citizens who may submit bills
for legislative approval if they obtain the signatures of a certain number of
voters (at least 50,000). Since the constitutional reform adopted in 1999
(Const. Law 1/1999), some policies on representation at local level
(electoral system, form of government) may be decided at regional level
(Fusaro 2000).
Parties play a crucial role in the process, as they determine the contents
of the political agenda prior to policy-making action, they select the
candidates for the election, and adopt decisions about the rules
and procedures that establish who is to become a representative in the
decision-making bodies. When the party system collapsed, new parties
were created and the electoral system changed. In the process, parties
were forced to adapt their candidate selection strategies. Even so, their
crucial role in the selection of candidates remained unchallenged.
From the 1980s and 1990s, the most important debates about political
representation were of three types. First, there were debates on electoral
system change. Second, constitutional debates considered the architecture
of the political system. Examples included the introduction of federalism,
the reform of the Senate and change from the existing parliamentary
system to a presidential or semi-presidential form of government. Finally,
the capacity and suitability of political parties as organisations for the
representation of citizens demands and interests was debated.
From the end of the 1980s to the end of the 1990s debates focused
mainly on political parties and on institutional reforms. Accordingly the
first selected debate is the creation of the Partito democratico della sinistra
(PDS, Democratic Party of the Left) from the break up of the Communist
Party (PCI). The PCI was the first party to undergo a process of transformation, before the Mani pulite investigation. The PDS is now the second
largest party in Italy. The second debate is the reform of the system to elect
the Chamber of Deputies. Among the debates about electoral system
change,3 this one most involved public opinion, as it was preceded by a
referendum. Both these debates resulted in an end point decision in a
major institution, gave rise to a lively debate and received broad media
3
Besides the voting system for the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, the voting systems
for the election of municipal, provincial and regional councils were also reformed by
introducing the direct election of the mayor, of the chairperson of the province (provincia)
and the chairperson of the region (regione).
133
coverage. In both cases, the decision adopted marked the beginning of a

new debate. The PDS, since renamed DS (Democratici di sinistra,
Democrats of the Left) in the late 1990s, experienced an internal debate
on the selection of candidate and party leadership as well as on procedures
to promote greater participation and representation of the different groups
and interests that continues into 2005. The debate on the opportunity to
change the electoral system to the Chamber of Deputies was similarly
protracted. Neither debate was gendered per se. Hence they are particularly
suitable for an assessment of how the womens movement has been
able to affect mainstream debate. By contrast, the third debate was directly
about womens representation. The amendment to article 51 of the constitution, approved in February 2003, introduced the principle that the law
should promote equal opportunities in access to political posts and public
offices. This debate also illuminates wider debates on womens political
representation.
Debate 1: The creation of the Democratic Party of the
Left, 19891991
The renovation of the PCI was on the public agenda all through the
1980s, particularly after the death of its charismatic leader, Enrico
Berlinguer, in 1984. During those years, the party experienced repeated
electoral defeats (1979, 1983, 1987), as well as loss of membership. It was
confined to political opposition and had no chances of participation in
national government. The Socialist Party (PSI) led by Bettino Craxi
fiercely opposed an alliance with the PCI. The PSI was in government
in a coalition made up of centre parties. Until Achille Occhetto was
appointed its party secretary (1988), the PCI internal organisation rested
on the principle of democratic centralism, a characteristic of the
Marxist-Leninist party. The distinctive features of the organisation were
a strong centralisation of the decision-making process, the subjection of
deliberative to executive organs, control from above and prohibition of
any dissident group or faction.
The fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the eastern communist
regimes accelerated the process of reform. In 1989 Occhetto presented a
proposal to be discussed at the next party congress. The proposal was to
create a new reformist party. The new party would differ greatly from the
Marxist-Leninist working-class party of previous years. It would accept
the logic of the free market economy and would be a reformist party,
similar to the social democratic parties of other European countries.
134
Marila Guadagnini
At the 1991 party congress at Rimini the Occhetto proposal was accepted
by a majority of delegates (64.1 per cent) and a new party was formed with
a new name and a new symbol. The dissident minority formed a second
party, the Communist Refoundation (RC), which claimed to be the true
heir of the old PCI, a claim that it signalled by maintaining the old party
symbol (Bertolino 2004). The transformation process was characterised by
a lively debate that involved PCI members, party officials and leaders, and
received broad media coverage.
Between 1989 and 1991 debate turned to whether or not to abandon
ideological and organisational tradition along with the name and symbol of
the PCI. The question divided the party and the debate led to the formation
of two new political forces. The PDS debate focused on the ideological
redefinition of the party (the creation of a social democratic party based on
European examples) and on the reform of internal organisation to bring
about democratisation of the decision-making process, a streamlining of
the bureaucratic apparatus and a turnover of the political elite (Baccetti
1997; Ignazi 1992). Matters concerning political representation included
the procedures for the election of decision-making bodies, the selection
of candidates and the promotion of members participation in decisionmaking.
A central issue was who the party should represent and how representation should be guaranteed in a bottom-up rather than top-down
decision-making process. The new party embraced as its fundamental
values freedom, equality and equal opportunities. Therefore, womens
demands for representation were compatible with a programmatic
approach aimed at democratising the party and ensuring representation
of the greatest number of social groups.
Women were very active in the tumultuous phase leading to the creation
of the PDS. At the Rimini conference the majority of women delegates
voted for the creation of the new party, thus gaining the support of the
partys secretary Occhetto and many other leaders of the new party.
During the debate, women demanded both descriptive and substantive
representation. The demands were a continuation of old business, of
claims made and won in the old PCI. By 1986 PCI women had already
obtained a minimum threshold (25 per cent) for womens representation in
the partys executive board and in party delegations. In 1989 the percentage
135
was raised to 33 per cent (Guadagnini 1993). In 1986, the womens section
of the PCI, chaired by Livia Turco, drafted and published a document, the
Womens Charter (Carta delle donne). The charter provided an overview
of the way the request for womens representation was framed and the
kind of strategies to be adopted. The point of departure was that the
power of women can only come from women themselves. Only women
can represent women since sexual difference must be considered as one of
the elements upon which society is founded. By publishing and disseminating the charter, the PCI activists launched a wide-ranging debate
drawing in women from autonomous feminist groups, cultural centres,
trade unions, associations, the universities and the labour market, trying
to create a network of mobilisation and support outside the party. At the
end of the 1980s, the womens movement in the PCI was very lively. It
was becoming consolidated. There were by then a number of women
(about 30 per cent) in party decision-making bodies.
In the debate, women activists, officials and MPs wanted the new PDS
not only to include quotas for the presence of women in the partys
decision-making bodies and on candidate lists, but also to express the
point of view of women in the party programme. Crucial actors who
gendered the debate included some prominent women in the party, in
particular Livia Turco (who became a minister in the centre-left governments of the 1990s) and members of womens sections. Support also
came from a number of party leaders and officials who were convinced
that acceptance of womens demands would help consolidate a new
image of the party in contrast with the old PCI, both in terms of its
political elite and in its ideological content and programmes. Many
thought that reform would help increase the appeal of the party to
women voters (who, in Italy, had always tended to vote for centre parties,
especially for the Christian Democratic Party).
Policy outcome
The demands for womens representation were accepted in the new
party. This can be seen in three features of the regulations adopted in
1991. First, the PDS defined itself as a party of women and men that
proposed to create a society made to the measure of both sexes and
achieving full equal opportunities between women and men. Second, it
established quotas for the representation of women in all of the partys
decision-making bodies, delegations at congresses, and in candidate lists
on which neither of the sexes could constitute less than 40 per cent.
Finally, the new PDS provided for the establishment of womens
committees and sections within the party.
136
Marila Guadagnini
Despite the success achieved in terms of formal rules, the objectives

established by the regulations in 1991, although included in later regulations adopted by the party in the following years, were not achieved by
2003 when women still did not constitute 40 per cent of all decisionmaking bodies. Women elected to the Lower Chamber in 2001 were only
24.3 per cent of the DS deputies. Those womens bodies that have been
set up (there is now a Coordinamento delle donne DS, the Co-ordination
Organisation for Women) still complain that they have not obtained
satisfactory influence in party policy-making.
According to the RNGS model, because women were involved in the
decision-making process and the party accepted womens goals, the
response of the PDS to womens demands for representation can be
classified as a dual response.
At the time of the debate, the PCI contained a quasi-WPA, the National
Commission for Womens Emancipation and Liberation (CNELD,
Commissione nazionale per lemancipazione e la liberazione delle donne),
which in 1989 included all women members of the partys Central
Committee (CC) as well as others appointed by the CC. The commission
was a body for discussion and debate about the recognition of sexual
difference. Its task was to make decisions about proposals submitted by
the CC, about the convening and the agenda of the CC, and to propose
criteria for the inclusion of women in the candidate lists for local elections
and for the national and European parliaments. There was also a
Communist Womens National Conference (Conferenza nazionale delle
donne comuniste) that had the task of drafting the guidelines for policies
and initiatives.
When PCI secretary Occhetto advanced the proposal of transforming
the party, the CNELD was divided on the issue. The vast majority of its
members were in favour of the proposal while a minority disagreed.
Nevertheless, the CNELD was united and cohesive in requesting
womens descriptive and substantive representation. According to the
RNGS model, the role played by the CNELD can be classified as insider.
Outside the party, there were two WPAs at the national government
level: the National Committee for the Implementation of the Principles of
Equal Treatment and Opportunity between Workers of Both Sexes
(Comitato nazionale per lattuazione dei principi di parita` di trattamento e
137
uguaglianza di opportunita` tra lavoratori e lavoratrici), created in 1983 and

attached to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security,4 and the National
Commission for Equality and Equal Opportunities between Men and
Women (Commissione nazionale per la parita` e le pari opportunita` tra uomini
e donne, CNPPO), attached to the Prime Ministers Office.
CNPPO consisted of representatives of the political parties, the social
partners and womens associations. It provided guidance and consultation on the activities to be carried out to achieve equality between the
sexes and equal opportunities for men and women. It had little funding, a
modest staff and a purely advisory mandate for all issues not concerning
employment.
The National Committee and the CNPPO had no mandate to intervene in a debate within a party.
During the period of the debate, the womens movement was re-emerging,
but it was fragmented, divided into two broad segments of integrated and
autonomous feminism. Heir to the 1970s, autonomous feminists were
active in local womens projects and important cultural centres. The majority of them embraced the feminism of difference. Difference feminist
groups were opposed to participation in male institutions. They opposed
quotas, which they thought were a way of emphasising the weakness of
women. For this part of the movement, the issue of womens political
representation was a low priority. By the late 1970s, a separate part of the
movement, referred to here as the integrated womens movement, opposed
the autonomous feminists strategy and, on the contrary, tried to influence
public policy by working within the political parties, trade unions, womens
organisations and associations, and state bureaucracies. For integrated
feminists, womens political representation was a high priority issue in the
1980s.
The lack of cohesion on the subject of political representation that
resulted from the ideological and organisational disagreements between
the components of the movement helped weaken its capacity to put
forward an effective demand. The weakness was recognised by feminist
activists in the PCI who attempted to create a bridge between these two
sides. They tried to combine the idea of sexual difference and a radical
renewal of politics with the demand for more posts within the institutions.
Great emphasis was given to the need for a dual presence in both the
4
Consisting of representatives of trade unions and employers, womens associations and

movements, it was a consultative organisation for matters concerning employment.
138
Marila Guadagnini
feminist movement and the institutions in order to renovate politics. In

fact, the operation was not a success since it neither convinced the
autonomous groups nor fully involved integrated feminists, who simply
demanded greater womens representation in the name of equality.
Fragmentation not withstanding, the movement in this period was close
to the left.
Policy environment
In this debate, the PDS itself was the relevant policy sub-system. The new
partys regulations stated that the decision-making process should be open
to a wide range of party members. The official commitment of the new
PDS to openness and to equality enabled feminists, at least on paper, to
achieve their goals. The policy environment in the PDS can be described
as moderately open. During the debate (198991), the PDS was in
opposition, and the governments of those years were formed by a coalition
of five parties pentapartito (Christian Democratic Party, Socialist Party,
Social Democratic Party, Republican Party and the Liberals).
Debate 2: The change of the voting system for the

members of the lower chamber quotas in the electoral
law, 19911995
Changes in the voting system for the election of local and national
assemblies were on the agenda since the end of the 1970s (Fusaro
1995). In the 1980s, a parliamentary Joint Commission for Reforms
(Commissione bicamerale per le riforme) was set up to address the issue. As
a result of disagreements between political parties, no decision was
adopted on the type of electoral system to be chosen. Since it proved
impossible to change the existing electoral system through the parliament, a Committee for Electoral Reforms (Comitato per le riforme elettorali,
COREL) was created in 1990 to get the reform adopted by means of a
referendum. The committee consisted of some leading members of the
PDS, of the Christian Democratic, Republican and Liberal parties and
was presided by Mario Segni, a Christian Democratic MP. It was supported by a number of associations. The first referendum, held in 1991,
did not address the change of the existing proportional system for the
Chamber of Deputies, but it approved the reduction of the number of
preference votes permitted from three or four to one.
139
The 1992 upheavals accelerated the reform process. In March 1993

the National Assembly approved a new electoral system for the election of
mayors, municipal councillors, the presidents of provincial governments
and provincial councillors. In April 1993, a second referendum concerning electoral laws was held. This referendum proposed the elimination of
a short clause in the existing electoral law for the Senate. The elimination
of the clause would have made it possible to transform the electoral
system for the Senate into a primarily majority system. Its success
would have shown that voters were in favour of a majority system.5
Considerable participation in the referendum and the high number of
votes in favour of the reform compelled the parties not only to implement
the Senate reform according to the will of the voters, but also to change
the voting system for the lower chamber.
Mainstream debate justified change in the electoral system to reduce the
number of parties and to guarantee stability of government. Advocates
of the adoption of a majoritarian system claimed that it would produce
alternating party coalitions in government and direct responsibility
of representatives to their electors. It would give the electorate the possibility
to choose candidates on the basis of their personality, qualifications and
qualities. Thus the reform would weaken the domination of the party
barons and the party organisations. The discussion concerned the type
of electoral system to be approved and in particular the choice between the
adoption of an English-style uninominal, majority system and a variation of
the French two-round ballot system. The law that was approved provided
that 75 per cent of seats would be assigned using the majority system and 25
per cent using a proportional system (Law no. 277, 4 August 1993)
(DAlimonte and Chiaramonte 1995; Parker 1996).6
The size of the consensus was considerable. Not only was turnout high (77.1 per cent), but
votes in favour of change were 82.7 per cent (with minimal differences between men and
women). By the time of the referendum, the crisis of the political system was deepening
and the old party system was being dismantled and decapitated. Faced with this deep
crisis, what the electorate wanted was mainly to get out of it. The question posed by the
referendum was perceived not so much as concerning a choice between two different
electoral laws but as a positive or negative judgement on the need for change in view of the
inefficiency of the political system.
The path of the law towards approval was a difficult one. Discussion began in April 1993
and came to an end in August 1993. The debate first took place within the Committee on
Constitutional Affairs (Commissione affari costituzionali) of the chamber (1 April 199313
July), then in the chamber (1430 June), and then moved to the Committee on
Constitutional Affairs of the Senate (712 July) before being discussed by the Senate
140
Marila Guadagnini

Aware that the adoption of a majority system would penalise womens
representation, some women MPs demanded the introduction of quotas
in the new voting system. A quota system had already been adopted in the
previous electoral law approved in March 1993 for the election of the
local councillors.7 Among the strong advocates of the introduction of
quotas were two well-known representatives of the largest parties: Tina
Anselmi of the Christian Democratic Party, then president of the Equal
Opportunities Commission at the Prime Ministers Office, and Livia
Turco, a prominent PDS MP. The proposal to adopt quotas in the
electoral system for the Chamber of Deputies was first submitted to the
Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Affairs (Commissione affari
costituzionali) by a number of female MPs of the centre-left parties
(mainly of PDS and RC). In the National Assembly debate on the text
drafted by the committee, the quota proposal gave rise to a lively debate
that divided the right-wing parties (MSI, the extreme right-wing party,
heir to the fascist party, and Lega Nord, as well as the Republicans and the
Liberals) from those of the centre-left (Dossier no. 128/II, pp. 83846).
Right-wing women MPs who took part in the debate included Irene
Pivetti (Lega Nord), who was to become the president of the Chamber
after the 1994 elections, and Alessandra Mussolini (MSI), while those in
favour included important leaders such as Massimo DAlema (later to
become secretary of the PDS).
MSI female MPs openly stood by the official position of their party.8
Other members of parliament opposed quotas, including Ombretta
Fumagalli Carulli of the Christian Democrat Party, who voted in favour
of the preliminary question on unconstitutionality presented by the MSI.
The right wing and the Liberal Party called the quota system a panda
law as if it were a campaign to safeguard an endangered species. This
slogan, widely quoted in the media, helped create popular opposition to
quotas.
(1315 July): the law returned for the second hearing in the chamber (2328 July), before
being examined by the Committee on Constitutional Affairs of the Senate, and obtaining
final approval by the Senate itself.
Law no. 81 of March 1993, concerning the election of mayors, presidents of provincial
governments and of members of municipal and provincial councils. It contained a clause
establishing that neither sex could account for more than two-thirds of the candidates for
election to municipal and provincial councils. The adoption of this clause was strongly
supported by an alliance between Christian Democratic and left-wing party activists,
femocrats and WPAs (Guadagnini 1998).
Alessandra Mussolini stated: Obligatory alternation is offensive to women, who do not
need to be safeguarded in this way, but for what they are worth in the family, in their care of
children, and in the work they carry out within society. Cf. Bucci (1993).
141
Policy outcome
As stated, the law adopted in August 1993 provided that 75 per cent of seats
would be assigned using the majority system and 25 per cent using a
proportional system. A clause was included establishing that for the 155
(of 630) proportionally elected seats, lists should consist of candidates of
both sexes in alternate order (zipping). A few years later a quota system was
also introduced in the new law passed in February 1995 for the election of
regional councils.9
However, in September 1995 the Constitutional Court outlawed electoral quotas.10 According to the court, quotas were unconstitutional as
they infringed the principle of equality incorporated in the constitution.
In particular the quotas conflicted with article 3, which states that all
citizens . . . are equal before the law, without distinction of sex, race, etc.,
and article 51, which states that All citizens of either sex can have access
to public offices and elective posts under equal conditions.
The court decision has to be considered the end point of the debate
concerning the change in the voting system, since it abolished one clause
included in the law passed by the National Assembly.
After the court decision, the percentage of women elected in the lower
chamber, which had reached around 15 per cent in the 1994 election,
dropped to 11.1 per cent in the 1996 and to 11.2 per cent in the 2001
election.11

Two specific reasons explain the initial success of quotas in the debate
within the National Assembly. Advocates of quotas obtained policy satisfaction, first because the policy sub-system was weak and second because
10
11
Law 43, 23 February 1995, concerning new regulations for election of councils in regions
with an ordinary statute. The new electoral system provided for a double vote in a single
round and on a single ballot sheet: one to assign 80 per cent of the seats, with a proportional
system based on the territorial area of the provinces, the other to assign the remaining 20 per
cent of seats using a majoritarian system covering a single regional area. The latter quota of
seats was the reward destined for the regional list which obtained the greatest number of
votes. The law contained a clause which prescribed that neither sex should account for more
than two-thirds of the candidate lists for the seats to be assigned with the proportional
system.
Sentence 612 September 1995, no. 422, in the Gazzetta ufficiale della Repubblica
Italiana, 1a serie speciale, 39, 20 September 1995.
The number of women among the candidates for the election of the lower chamber
dropped from 17.3 per cent in 1994 to 12.5 per cent in 1996 and was 13.9 per cent in the
2001 election.
142
Marila Guadagnini
it was generally held that the provision adopted was likely to be cancelled
by the Constitutional Court,12 which is exactly what happened. Thus,
considering that the endpoint of the debate was the decision adopted by
the court, the womens movement impact/state response can be classified
as co-optation: in the first phase of the debate, held in the National
Assembly, women were involved with the policy process and obtained
policy satisfaction but afterwards the clause concerning quotas was
abolished by the Constitutional Court.
During the period of the debate in parliament, the CNPPO was chaired by
Tina Anselmi, an authoritative Christian Democrat who had many terms
of office as an MP. Anselmi had been the first female minister in Italy. She
strongly supported the adoption of quotas in the electoral laws as she was
convinced that quotas were an unpleasant but necessary measure to overcome the situation of under-representation of women. In this debate, the
role played by the CNPPO can be classified as marginal. The CNPPO
advocated the goals of the integrated womens movement (see below) but
was not successful in obtaining a gendered outcome: after the initial
success achieved in the National Assembly, the quota clause was abolished
by the Constitutional Court.
The womens movement characteristics in the first and second debates
were basically similar. The movement was re-emerging, it was close to
the left and it was still fragmented. The autonomous groups and cultural
centres of difference feminism opposed the quotas, as they regarded
them as a measure that accepted womens weakness. For them womens
representation remained a low priority issue. By contrast, the integrated
womens movement still prioritised increased womens representation.
However, it was divided on the means to achieve this goal. While part
of the integrated movement supported the introduction of quotas in
the electoral laws, some opposed it, considering that other measures
would be more suitable. These measures included: promoting political
training for women; putting pressure on the parties to increase their
nominations of women and on the media to give more coverage to
12
The same reasons explain the success achieved in obtaining a quota system in the law
adopted in March 1993, concerning local elections (cf. note 7).
143
women during electoral campaigns; creating talented womens data

banks, that is lists of women suitable for candidacy to be submitted to
the parties; and organising awareness-raising campaigns to promote
votes for women.
Its divisions caused the integrated womens movement to miss the
opportunity of using the debate on electoral laws to make public opinion
aware of the problem of womens under-representation. In the 1990s,
the question of womens limited presence in decision-making arenas was
still considered by public opinion as a womens problem and not as a
question of democracy (Guadagnini 2000).13
Policy environment
Advocates of quotas achieved their initial success in the National
Assembly in August 1993: there was fierce opposition to the inclusion
of the quotas clause in the law, but it was approved because the policy
environment was weak. Carlo Azeglio Ciampi was the president of the
ruling government, supported by the Christian Democratic Party, the
Socialist Party, the Social Democratic Party, the Liberals and left-wing
Independents. The Ciampi government had to contend with the ongoing
institutional transformation, a difficult economic climate (government
deficit), and judicial investigations that involved every sector of the political,
administrative, professional and economic elites. One-third of legislators
who passed the law were under investigation by the magistrates of Mani
pulite. In this period, the leading government parties the Christian
Democrats and the Socialists broke up, and so did their traditional allies
(Liberals, Social Democrats and Republicans).
Nevertheless, as stated, in 1995 the Constitutional Court outlawed the
clause concerning quotas included in the law passed by the National
Assembly, thus modifying the law itself. The Constitutional Court is a
closed, male-dominated sub-system: the womens movement do not have
access to it. At the time of the court decision, the policy environment was
not as weak as before: the ruling government was led by Lamberto Dini
and was supported by a centre-left majority.
13
According to the data collected in two surveys carried out in 1998 and 1999, only just
over half of all Italians (55 per cent) considered that a limited number of women in
parliament was a problem and that women should be better represented. It should,
however, also be said that there was a considerable difference between the sexes: the
problem was more keenly felt by women (63.7 per cent) than by men (47.3 per cent)
(Guadagnini 2000).
144
Marila Guadagnini
Debate 3: Amendment of article 51 of the constitution,

19972003
After the 1995 decision by the Constitutional Court, as the number of
women elected at all levels continued to drop, a debate began on the need
to modify the constitution in order to make it possible to adopt affirmative
action without stirring up controversies about its constitutionality.
An initial attempt to introduce into the constitution the principle of
equal opportunities of access to elective posts came about in the debate
on the reform of decentralisation of power from the national to the
local level. In 1997, the CNPPO submitted a number of constitutional
amendments to the Commissione bicamerale per le riforme costituzionali
(Bicameral Commission for Constitutional Reforms), presided over by
Massimo DAlema, secretary of the PDS. The commission was in charge
of preparing a proposal on the constitutional reforms concerning federalism, the form of government and the judicial system. The amendments
were incorporated in the committees final document, but they could not
be applied: the document was never approved by the National Assembly,
because of disagreement between the political parties on the reforms
proposed (Pasquino 1999). Nevertheless, in the constitutional reforms
concerning decentralisation adopted in 2001 by a centre-left majority, an
article was approved which stated that regional laws promote equal opportunities for access of women and men to electoral posts, thus making it
possible to adopt affirmative action in regional electoral laws.14 The ensuing success helped give new strength to the debate in favour of the reform of
article 51 of the constitution, aimed at establishing the constitutional
obligation to promote equal access to elective posts in all elections.
Furthermore, the debate gained impetus from the success achieved by
the parity movement in France, which obtained a constitutional amendment in 1999 that made it possible to adopt positive action in the electoral
laws to guarantee sex equality in candidate lists (see chapter 5).
A number of constitution revision bills were put forward to introduce
the principle according to which the law should promote equality of
access for both women and men to public posts and elective offices.
The first bill (2 March 1999) was proposed by Claudia Mancina, a DS
MP, together with other centre-left members of both chambers. Other
bills were subsequently introduced by MPs of the centre-left parties.
14
Cf. note 2.
145
In 2001, when Berlusconi was the head of government, a bill was

submitted, signed by various members of the government: by Prime
Minister Berlusconi himself and by the Minister for Equal Opportunities,
Stefania Prestigiacomo (Forza Italia), and the Minister for Constitutional
Reform, Umberto Bossi (Lega Nord). To the existing paragraph stating
All citizens of either sex can have access to public offices and elective
posts under equal conditions, it added the following sentence: For this
purpose the Republic promotes, by means of special measures, equal
opportunities for women and men. The passage of the amendment
through the legislature was slow. As a constitutional law, it had to be passed
twice by both the lower and the upper chamber. It was at last approved in
February 2003.
Arguments in favour of the constitutional amendment referred to the
decline in the number of elected women and to the need to take affirmative
measures to neutralise the negative effects of the new electoral systems
and parties resistance to select women candidates. The reform was
demanded in the name of equality, equal opportunities and the need to
reverse the democratic shortfall caused by the under-representation of
women. Comparison was frequently made with the experience in other
European countries where womens representation rose steadily during
the 1990s. Attention was also drawn to the regulations of international
institutions such as the UN, the Council of Europe and the EU.
Particular reference was made to France, where the constitutional
amendment adopted in 1999 paved the way for the adoption of a number
of regulations mandating parties to field 50 per cent female candidates in
elections run with a proportional system, and establishing financial
sanctions for those parties which do not observe the principle of an
equal number of male and female candidates in elections run with a
majority system (see chapter 5).
The debate was inherently gendered as it concerned a law designed to
promote equal representation of women and men. Female experts in
constitutional law and women from the centre-left parties, in particular
from the DS, who first proposed the amendment, played a key role in the
promotion of the debate. They were given support by their parties, which
had already promoted the introduction of quotas in the new electoral laws
in the 1990s.
146
Marila Guadagnini
The innovative element of this debate is the support given to the reform
by women of centre-right parties including Forza Italia and the National
Alliance Party (AN, heir of the MSI). Prominent members of these
parties, such as Alessandra Mussolini of AN, who clearly opposed the
electoral quotas in 1993, were now strong advocates of the constitutional
amendment. Different reasons may account for this change of attitude.
Women in right-wing parties became aware of how difficult it is to
increase womens representation without affirmative action measures.
In the second half of the 1990s, Forza Italia and AN had the lowest
percentage of women elected to the lower chamber, 7.3 per cent and 4
per cent respectively. In addition an increasing number of women voters
became aware of the problem of achieving equal opportunities. This is
probably why the centre-right parties and the Berlusconi government
supported the reform.
The constitutional amendment was inspired by the French experience.
In France, the reform was the outcome of a lively and widespread debate
held in newspapers, magazines and public assemblies. The debate helped
revitalise the womens movement and put the question of equality of
political representation onto not only the political but also the public
agenda. In Italy the debate that preceded the adoption of the reform
mainly involved the integrated womens movement: women elected at
all levels, political party activists, WPAs at national and local levels,
experts and some womens associations. It received limited media coverage (Beccalli 1999). It was the approval of the reform that actually
encouraged the widest debate: several conferences and seminars were
organised on how to implement the new law. These initiatives showed
how there was considerable interest in this matter among women in
general and widespread support among the various members of the
womens movement on the need to promote equal opportunities in
gender representation by means of affirmative action.
Policy outcome
The constitutional amendment was finally approved on 20 February
2003. The reform is permissive. It gives policy-makers the power to
adopt adequate measures to promote equal opportunities in access to
elective bodies.
The decision was followed by an implementation debate, a discussion
about the real provisions to be adopted (Guadagnini 2003). A number of
bills had been submitted which, in August 2004, had so far not been
approved by the National Assembly. They included various proposals
concerning todays diverse electoral systems. For the elections to
147
municipal councils, a bill submitted by centre-left parties proposed quotas in the electoral lists for small municipalities (with fewer than 3,000
inhabitants) and the rule that on every list the gap between the number of
candidates of each sex must not exceed one in larger municipalities.
All measures should be temporary and should be applied for a limited
number of years. For those elections run with a majority system, a
number of bills proposed a reduction in the percentage of electoral
expenses reimbursed to the parties presenting candidate lists that are
unbalanced in terms of gender. A number of bills proposed the extension
of party obligations to increase the percentage (from 5 to 10 per cent) of
their public funding that is dedicated to initiatives designed to promote
the participation of women in politics.
As far as European parliament elections are concerned (PR system with
multiple preference votes), a law was approved in April 2004 (Law no. 90 of
8 April 2004) which provided that in the lists of candidates, neither of the
two sexes may be represented by more than two-thirds of the candidates.
For the parties that did not respect this proportion, the amount of reimbursement of electoral expenses would be reduced to a maximum of half, in an
amount directly proportional to the number of candidates over the number
allowed. The regulation was to remain in force for ten years. The law was
preceded by a lively debate between those (centre-left female activists,
CNPPO) who demanded equal presence (50/50) of the two sexes in the
lists of candidates, and those (centre-right women, Minister for Equal
Opportunities, Prestigiacomo) who were in favour of the quota system
that was finally approved. The law had positive effects. The number of
female candidates in the 2004 elections rose 35 per cent and the number of
women elected by 20 per cent (about double the percentage of women
elected in 1999).
According to the RNGS model, the movement impact/state response can
be classified as a dual response, as female MPs took part in the debate
and in the decision-making process, and the policy outcome matched the
objectives of those who promoted the reform.
In the second half of the 1990s, the overall structure of the WPAs was
reinforced. In 1996, during the first centre-left government (presided
over by Prodi), a Ministry for Equal Opportunities (Ministero per le pari
opportunita`) was created alongside the two existing commissions.
148
Marila Guadagnini
The ministry has the task of mainstreaming the principle of equal opportunities in all policies adopted by the government. It is a ministry without
portfolio that commands limited economic means and resources. At
municipal, provincial and regional level commissions for equal opportunities were finally set up and operated. In the late 1990s, new WPAs were
created in Piedmont where the Council of Elected Women (Consulta delle
elette) was established. It is composed of women elected from all parties in
regional, provincial and municipal elections, and its task is to promote
womens political participation and representation.
The WPA that intervened in the parliamentary debate was the Ministry
for Equal Opportunities, whose minister at the time of the debate was
Stefania Prestigiacomo, a young manager from Sicily and a member of
Forza Italia who was not involved in the feminist movement. Not only was
Prestigiacomo the signatory of a bill concerning the reform, but when the
law was adopted, she credited this success to the centre-right women.
The reform was also given a substantial boost by the CNPPO, chaired by
Marina Piazza, a feminist sociologist. In terms of the RNGS model,
WPAs played an insider role in gendering the debate.
The movement was still fragmented, but it was growing. In the late 1990s
the autonomous wing consisted of a greater number of groups and
associations than during the previous debates. The autonomous movement may be described as a vast archipelago of small groups working at
local level. They tended to have a structured organisation and to specialise
in individual issues. The groups work in issue areas typical of the feminist
movement such as womens health and culture (Della Porta 2003). Many
associations provide social services, particularly services related to the
fields of maternity, gynaecology, intercultural mediation and violence
against women. They organise cultural and vocational courses, guidance
courses for family problems, legal advice, helplines for female victims of
violence and so forth.
In contrast to the previous period, feminist groups adopted a more
pragmatic approach. They sought alliances to achieve practical objectives
and began to appreciate relationships with the institutions, especially at
local level. The fact that in most cases the groups require public funding has
increased awareness of the importance of having women in decision-making
posts at both the local and national levels. Even though the issue of
increased womens representation in institutional bodies was still a low
priority issue, there was a greater consensus on the need to adopt positive
measures for ensuring balanced representation. The autonomous womens
149
movement may be considered as close to the left. The integrated womens

movement continued to prioritise the issue of womens representation and
was moderately close to the left.
Policy environment
The debate ended with a decision adopted by the National Assembly.
The sub-system can be considered as moderately closed in this debate:
there was an agreement between political parties on the adoption of the
amendment, since it only established a general principle and not specific,
practical measures. The debate started and developed during the centreleft governments presided over by Romano Prodi (May 1996 to October
1998), Massimo DAlema (October 1998 to April 2000) and Giuliano
Amato (April 2000 to March 2001). The debate concluded during the
second Berlusconi government (started in June 2001) composed of Forza
Italia, Allenza Nazionale, Lega Nord and CCD-CDU (a party created out
of the former Christian Democratic Party).
Conclusion
The impact of the womens movement and of WPAs in gendering the
debate on political representation produced positive and negative results.
In the first debate, success may be accounted for by the long struggle waged
by women activists in the PCI. This resulted in an empowerment of
women within the internal party organisation at the time of the debate, as
a result of which a number of women were present in the party decisionmaking bodies. The fact that the majority of female leaders, officials and
members adhered to the new party helped to create support from male
leaders. The official PDS commitment to represent different social groups
also facilitated the acceptance of womens demands.
In the second debate, the initial and short-lived success was mainly a
result of the weakness of the policy environment. The reforms adopted
in 1993 were approved at a time when parties and the political elite as a
whole had been considerably delegitimised. The party system had
crumbled and the new parties that had risen from its ruins were seeking
a fresh look. The determination of a number of female MPs and the
support given by the WPAs played a crucial role in ensuring the approval
of quotas. Subsequent defeat was a consequence of the closure of the subsystem which adopted the final decision of the Constitutional Court, a
male-dominated institution to which women did not have access. The
fragmentation and the lack of cohesiveness of the womens movement on
the issue of quotas prevented the debate from being used to raise public
150
Marila Guadagnini
awareness of womens under-representation. The parties (with the exception of left-wing parties) continued to evade the issue and to select a
limited number of female candidates.
In the third debate, the movements success can be explained by a
number of reasons. The law was permissive. Instead of requiring practical
provisions that would have to be implemented to increase the representation of women, it stated a general principle. Such generality enabled a
great number of actors to agree. It is likely that in the eyes of right-wing
politicians the law was considered as a useful rhetorical strategy to show
their positive attitude towards womens demands without committing
themselves to any real action. In actual fact, the debate following the
reform, the numerous legislative initiatives that had been presented, and
the new regulations for the European elections adopted in 2004
showed that there is true determination by women not to let the reform
be disregarded. Heightened awareness among public opinion, and among
women voters in particular, of the gender gap in political representation
probably helped reduce the hostility of the centre-right parties, which did
not want to lose consensus among female voters.
The use by feminist activists of arguments relating to the legislation
adopted by international organisations (UN, Council of Europe, EU) and
to the backwardness of Italy as compared with other democratic countries
proved to be an important element of pressure on reluctant male politicians.
Up to the end of the 1990s, the paradox in the Italian situation lay in the
contrast between the activism of the integrated womens movement and
the disappointing results achieved in terms of womens presence in elective
posts. In the 1980s and in the early 1990s this might be explained by the
lack of cohesion of the movement, which weakened feminist activists
attempts to achieve their goals. By the early 2000s there was a more widespread awareness of the problem of womens under-representation and of
the need to adopt affirmative measures, the only ones able to oblige parties
to include greater numbers of women in the candidate lists. Such awareness helps to explain the success achieved in gendering the debate on the
constitutional amendment. The next step is to obtain effective measures to
secure effective implementation of the amendment in all elections.
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High tides in a low country: gendering

political representation in the Netherlands
Jantine Oldersma
Introduction
The right to be represented was a central issue in the Dutch war of
independence (15681648) that resulted in the Republic of the Seven
United Provinces. The Netherlands, including Belgium, became a centralised kingdom in 1813 after the Napoleonic occupation; in 1830,
however, the Belgians revolted to become an independent kingdom.
The basic rules for representative government were formulated in 1848;
in 1917 universal suffrage, male and female, was won. The Dutch political system is based on proportional representation; the most important
legislative body is the second chamber, the first chamber having limited
powers. A multi-party system makes coalition governments a permanent
feature; political parties are key actors in the policy process.
Until the 1960s the political system was remarkably stable; Dutch
political parties followed the fault lines of society, forming Catholic,
Protestant and Social Democratic pillars. An extensive system of corporatist advisory boards played an important role in the consensus
democracy, providing institutionalised access to the policy-making process mainly for business and professional interests and labour unions
belonging to the three pillars (Andeweg and Irwin 1993).
From the 1960s onwards, when new social movements demanded
more democracy, representation was regularly on the agenda in three
types of arenas: in the media, political parties and parliament. A new
political party, D66, demanding a more confrontational style of politics,
entered parliament with seven members in 1966. The womens movement was another important factor. Its core organisation, Man-VrouwMaatschappij (MVM, Man-Woman-Society), founded in October 1968,
began campaigning for more women in politics during the 1972 election
and has subsequently put pressure on political parties to pay more attention to womens issues and womens representation. The demand for
more women in politics received media attention at every election thereafter. In the 1940s and 1950s the percentage of women in the second
153
154
Jantine Oldersma
chamber rose from 5 to almost 10 per cent. Towards the end of the 1970s
the percentage hovered around 15, and towards the end of the century
around 35 per cent. The first chamber, the city councils and the cabinets lag
behind with approximately a quarter of female members. The percentage of
women in the cabinet received a severe blow when a right-wing cabinet
formed in 2002 came up with only one female minister out of a total of
fourteen. This was remedied, however, a year later in a new right-wing
cabinet after vigorous protests from women in the conservative parties.
Policy-making institutions
Parties and parliament are the most important players where political
representation is concerned. Debates over representation, however,
mainly affected parties on the left of the political spectrum. D66 made
political representation their main concern, but the party has rarely
succeeded in winning more than 510 per cent of the votes.
The turmoil over democratic representation, brought to the political
agenda by political parties, reached parliament in the 1980s. The
Commissie-Biesheuvel reported in 1984 on reforms to strengthen the
influence of voters. In 1989 a committee of parliamentary leaders of all
parties (the Commissie-Deetman) made an inventory of frictions in the
Dutch political and administrative system. Six sub-committees followed
up on the initial analysis. The Commissie-De Koning examined the relationship between voters and elected officials, and the Commissie-De Jong
studied the corporatist system. Both reported in 1993. Representation of
women was an important issue in the 1970s and 1980s in two left-wing
parties, the Pacifistisch Socialistische Partij (PSP, Pacifist Socialist Party)
and the Communistische Partij Nederland (CPN), both of which would in
the 1990s become part of Groen Links (Green Left). The struggle over
political representation in the Social Democratic Party in the 1970s had
profound consequences for national politics because the party took part
in a governing coalition from 1973 to 1977. Womens representation
became an issue in the right-wing parties in the second half of the 1980s.
In the 1970s the main debates about representation in the Netherlands
were inside political parties. From these the debate about the action
party between 1967 and 1977 in the Social Democratic Party has been
selected. Though this party did not take the lead in debates about representation, the fact that they commanded a larger proportion of the vote
High tides in a low country: the Netherlands
155
make them more interesting, from our point of view, than D66 or the leftwing splinter parties.
In the 1980s, debates about representation were mainly concerned
with the political representation of women in elected positions. The
debate about the second memorandum on equality policy has been
chosen to highlight the discussions in the womens movement over the
issue of representation.
In the 1990s, there were three important parliamentary debates about
representation: on the electoral system, on the introduction of referenda
in the constitution, and on corporatism. Proposals to change the proportional electoral system to a majoritarian system were watered down to a
mixed system and then abandoned; the introduction of a corrective
referendum was defeated by a narrow margin of one vote. However, the
debate on corporatism has been chosen because this phenomenon has
been considered one of the defining characteristics of Dutch political
culture.
Debate 1: The Social Democratic Party (PvdA), 19661977
Between 1963 and 1966, the Social Democratic Party lost about a quarter
of its voters. A group of party members, calling themselves the New Left
(Nieuw Links), blamed the partys incumbent leaders; allegedly they were
too inclined to accommodation and compromise. The party could only
survive, they claimed, if it could win back the (presumably young) voters
active in grass-roots organisations such as the student and the feminist
movements. The New Left analysis of the partys problems became
dominant in the party executive: in 1973 it pleaded for a reorganisation
to turn the party into an action party (Beck et al. 1978). In 1977 a new
party platform incorporated these ideas.
The New Left wanted to make the socialist party more successful by
polarisation of the political spectrum. Organising the party in a more
democratic way and linking it to social movements was seen as a crucial
element in this strategy. In 1967 New Leftists published their views on
party organisation in a pamphlet: Een partij om mee te werken (A Party
to Work With). The party should aim at polarisation in politics; expose
oppositions and conflicts in society and represent them in the political
arena. They argued for a more active membership, more democratic
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Jantine Oldersma
control and transparency, and for persuading incumbent functionaries to

make room for new ones. In its organisational structure the action party
should reserve positions for active groups like young members and
women. Referenda and decentralisation of candidate selection to local
party branches should make the party more responsive to members. The
party congress installed a committee to study these proposals and in 1968
it published a report (Rapport van de Structuurcommisie).
While the New Left was mainly interested in grass-roots participation
and democratisation, an Amsterdam School of political scientists
within the party also pleaded for a more polarised style of politics. In
their view, the introduction of a majoritarian electoral system combined
with a directly elected prime minister would lead to more vitality and
transparency in politics. The electoral losses of religious parties were
interpreted as portending a full secularisation of voters. Dutch politics
would become a bipolar system with a progressive and a conservative
block. The pollution of politics with such non-political concerns as
religion would soon be a thing of the past. The 1969 party congress
accepted the principle of decentralised candidate selection and also
gave the New Left a substantive bridgehead in the party executive. New
Left members found their way into the party elite in the 1970s (Van Praag
1991).1
The Social Democratic Partys auxiliary organisation Vrouwencontact
(Womens Contact) played a key role in gendering the debates within the
party. The feeling in the 1960s was that separate womens organisations
were outdated and that women should integrate with the normal party.
Vrouwencontact, however, was revitalised under the influence of the feminist movement and could successfully claim to organise the grass-roots
activists that the party wanted to woo (Van de Velde 1994, pp. 21617).
Joke Smit and Hedy DAncona founded the first Dutch second-wave
organisation, MVM. Both were members of the Social Democratic Party,
but not of the partys auxiliary organisation. At their behest, in 1968, the
executive distributed a questionnaire on the position of women to the
members of Vrouwencontact. Concerns of the new womens movement,
like better education and career opportunities, childcare and abortion
1
To hasten this process, a substantial faction of party members argued that the party should
declare that they would not enter into a coalition with the Catholic Party, but make a joint
programme with other progressive parties before every election (Van Praag 1991,
pp. 667).
157
rights, turned out to be widely shared by the members. This resulted in a

resolution adopted by the 1968 Vrouwencontact congress, demanding
party support for these issues. In 1969 Ien van den Heuvel, a party activist
with feminist leanings, was elected party chair, which facilitated the
introduction of a feminist programme in the party itself. Following a
joint effort by MVM members and Vrouwencontact, the election programme of 1971 was amended to include a chapter on equal opportunities for men and women, including a reference to legal abortions
(Ribberink 1998, pp. 1015).
The response of party women to Smit and DAnconas questionnaire
showed that the concerns of feminism had a large following among Social
Democratic women. The adoption of feminism worked the other way
around as well: it attracted feminist women to Vrouwencontact and to the
party. This enabled feminist party members to present themselves as a
prime example of linking the party to new movements. Local womens
groups, in decline during the 1960s, flourished again in the 1970s (Beck
et al. 1978). A campaign for preferential voting in 1972 doubled the
amount of preferential votes for women on the Social Democratic list
(Ribberink 1998, p. 229). Activists calling themselves Rooie Vrouwen
(Red Women) took over Vrouwencontact and in 1975, the organisation
formally changed its name to Rooie Vrouwen.
Vrouwencontact had been a pressure group for women in politics for
most of its existence, and the feminist interest in the issue of representation naturally reflected with their concerns (Van de Velde 1994, p. 227).
It served as a convenient stepping-stone for gendering the debate on
democratisation of the party, bringing women into the party and into
the party elite. The feminist frame emphasising womens interests as well
as the high level of grass-roots activity of their members fitted very well
with the dominant frame of party activists. Although there was some
resistance, based on the idea that female candidates might compromise
the quality of politicians, this was not very strong.
Policy outcome
In 1973, women won a substantive representation (six of twenty-six
members) on the committee to design a new party platform. At the
party congress of 1977, the new platform, advocating more socialism as
well as more feminism, was accepted. The Rooie Vrouwen pushed even
more feminist issues through than had been in the draft. In 1975, the
Rooie Vrouwen successfully lobbied the party executive for a quota for
25 per cent women on party lists. The party executive decided to ask
the candidate selection committees in 1977 to strive for 25 per cent
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Jantine Oldersma
women; the 1977 congress also adopted 25 per cent as a target. In 1986
the party executive moved at congress to make the 25 per cent quota
mandatory and to adopt a voluntary target of 50 per cent female candidates in party committees and on party lists (Van de Velde 1994, p. 230).
The party discourse was gendered: not only were feminist issues introduced into election programmes, the basic party document was also
changed to incorporate feminism in 1977. The siege of feminists revitalised Vrouwencontact and more women took part in party committees and
in the party executive, making this a clear case of dual response. The issue
of womens representation was taken up by the party executive in 1971
and new measures were taken when efforts were not effective. The
percentage of women on the party lists slowly increased during the
1970s and more so during the 1980s.
A womens agency at national level did not yet exist during the first part of
this debate. The machinery for equality policy in the Netherlands was set
in motion in 1974 by the Den Uyl administration (197377), a coalition
cabinet of Social Democrats (PvdA), Democrats (D66) and the left wing
of the Christian Democrats (ARP). In response to a postcard campaign
and in view of the United Nations International Womens Year, in 1975
a committee was formed, consisting of independent experts, to give
advice on the needs of Dutch women. This Emancipatie Kommissie (EK,
Emancipation Committee) mainly consisted of MVM members. It
designed a five-year plan for equality policy, containing a programme
and a blueprint for a national machinery (Emancipatie Kommissie 1976).
Vrouwencontact, however, could qualify in this case as a quasi-womens
policy agency. It did have the capacity to impact on policy-making, and
could prepare and elaborate policy proposals relative to party politics.
Vrouwencontact was instrumental in persuading party members that feminist demands were widely shared by women in the party. The existing
network and their access to party resources facilitated feminists in gaining
access to policy-making circles within the party; proposals for quotas
gained legitimacy because Vrouwencontact supported them. The organisation thus played an insider role.
When the party became the dominant factor in a left-wing coalition in
1973, members of MVM and Vrouwencontact entered the national arena
to gain a foothold for feminism there.
159

The womens movement grew rapidly during the 1970s with a strong
emphasis on grass-roots activity and direct action. They were very close to
the left, and leaders of the movement were mostly members of left-wing
parties, but most clearly in the case of abortion there were tensions
between the autonomous part of the movement, who preferred independence from politics, and party members. The priority of the issue of
womens representation for women inside the Social Democratic Party
was high. They strongly believed that politics was very important if
womens position in society were to be changed. The red women, first
inside Vrouwencontact and later as Rooie Vrouwen, when the name of the
organisation was changed, acted as a pressure group and mobilised
women for political office. They were very cohesive on this issue and
counter-movements did not develop. There were debates with other parts
of the movement about the nature and desirability of party politics.
Policy environment
The policy environment during the 1970s, in the national arena and in the
Social Democratic Party, was open. The Social Democratic Party elite
was open to new ideas because they had suffered electoral defeat. They
hoped to gain new voters by incorporating women and the young, making
for difficulties when they became part of the governing coalition between
1973 and 1977. The unwillingness of activists of the new movements to
accept compromise in the course of coalition building eventually cost the
party a second term in power. This traumatic event of winning the
election but losing the coalition negotiations led to a recentralisation of
candidate selection in the party, and diminished the sympathy for the new
movements.
Debate 2: Equality policy plan, 19811985
Although the Netherlands had a junior minister and an agency in charge
of equality policy from 1978 onwards, womens movement activists were
dissatisfied with their accomplishments. The general feeling that the
feminist cause was severely hampered by the lack of female representation
in politics was voiced most impressively by Joke Smit at the beginning of
the 1980s, when she pleaded for an independent womens party. In
reaction to this, female members of parliament united in the Kamerbreed
160
Jantine Oldersma
Vrouwenoverleg (All Parties Womens Caucus) and agreed to work

together on womens issues across party lines. Independent feminist
intellectuals took the issue up by organising two conferences on feminism
and political power (Bleich et al. 1982; Dorsman et al. 1983).
The issue of feminism and political power became a central issue in
equality politics when the Social Democratic Party entered the cabinet in
1981. Hedy DAncona became junior minister for equality policy. She
initiated a new policy plan, incorporating recent theorising about gender
inequality. Unfortunately, the cabinet fell in May 1982 and a right-wing
coalition took over in November 1982. Equality policy was taken over by
Liberal Annelien Kappeyne van de Coppello, who proceeded with the
programme left by her Social Democratic predecessor. The programme
was translated into a policy paper in 1984, discussed with womens
organisations and adopted by the cabinet in 1985.
The debate resulting in a new policy paper was mainly concerned with the
conceptualisation of women. In the first policy paper for equality policy,
women were visualised as a backward group in society; to become normal
citizens they would have to be emancipated. This interpretation was in
tune not only with male (expert) views of women, but also with dominant
ideas in traditional womens organisations (Meijer 1996). Equality policy
was needed to change mentalities and to educate women. Traditional as
well as some feminist organisations received subsidies from the Directie
Coordinatie Emancipatiebeleid (DCE, the womens policy agency) to train
women in political skills. In terms of representation, women were not
thought to be ready to play a part in politics. Thus appropriate policies on
representation meant teaching women the skills deemed necessary to
function among male politicians. There was no place for policies to
change selection procedures or introduce quota systems as they would
compromise the quality of candidates. Moreover, they were unnecessary
women would enter politics naturally, once they were better equipped
(Oldersma 2002).
The new womens movement in the Netherlands in the 1980s did not see
women as backward, but blamed their position on a society that was
structurally biased against women. This is therefore a case in which an
already gendered debate was re-gendered in a more feminist fashion by
movement actors, party women and their allies in the womens policy
161
agency. The standard conceptualisations of women, politics, the state

and representation were all under attack during this period. The essentialism of early feminist notions of women was denounced, but formerly
antagonistic groups and organisations of women did join forces.
The nature of politics and its potential to change society was an
important theme of discussion. Feminisme en politieke macht (Feminism
and Political Power, Bleich et al. 1982), a collection of papers written for
a conference on women and politics in 1981, expressed many shades of
distrust in politics. Anarcafeminists wanted to remain outside society;
radical feminists saw politics as irrelevant and wanted to develop the
self; revolutionary feminists also saw politics or reformism as irrelevant
and wanted to fight the patriarchal class state. Another theme was the
corrupting influence politics might have on women (Outshoorn 1991).
Activists saw compromise and deliberation as high treason against the
movement. Women in political parties and in labour unions as well as
women from traditional womens organisations wanted to unite to gain
more influence in politics. In 1982, the Breed Platform Vrouwen voor
Ekonomische Zelfstandigheid (Federation of Women for Economic
Independence) was launched and united the new and the old womens
movements (De Jong and Sjerps 1987).
Feminist academics were also divided about the potential of politics to
empower women. A structuralist wing advocated studying power relations in society as the best way forward. Another wing wanted to pay more
attention to studying selection procedures and policy processes
(Leijenaar and Saharso 1983; Stasse et al. 1982). The structuralist wing
was influential in DCE policy in the 1980s and led to subsidies for
organisations in civil society to hire a femocrat. The other wing did not
influence policy before the 1990s, but was able to do important research
commissioned by the Ministry of Home Affairs (Leijenaar and Jansen
1981). A symposium in 1983, where the commissioned report was presented, provided the opportunity to explain why a political system that
excluded women could never be called truly democratic (Outshoorn
1984). In 1989, when a female Social Democrat became Minister of
Home Affairs, selection procedures became an object of policy.
Policy outcome
A committee of civil servants and experts formulated a Concept
Beleidsplan Emancipatie (Concept Policy Plan on Equality) in 1984
that largely followed recent feminist theorising on gender inequality.
Positions of influence in society and in politics are still male territory,
the document states, and this is seen as one of the reasons why women are
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Jantine Oldersma
as yet unable to realise the changes they desire. The overall aim of the
analysis was to shift the blame for womens under-representation from
their putative backwardness to the gendered nature of unequal power
relations. However, under-representation in politics received very little
attention, and where it was mentioned it was presented as a problem of
the backwardness of women. Women must be made aware of their position and helped to gain insight, the document states. They must organise
socially and politically to realise the aim of structural change in society:
This is why the proportion of women in public functions needs to
grow . . . Support for the womens movement (taken broadly) is therefore an essential part of the governments policies for women. The taken
broadly was to include traditional womens organisations, without which
the necessary support of the Christian Democrats would not be forthcoming. The price for a policy on women in politics, thus, was a retreat
into a more defensive policy frame.
This short clause formed the basis for granting subsidies to organisations that could hire, for a limited period, their own femocrat. Nearly all
political parties applied for one, to support their own auxiliary womens
organisation, and to help define their view on womens issues. The selection of women candidates received a further boost from 1988 until 1992,
when subsidies to political parties were granted under the condition that
they would contribute to the selection of more women on the party list
(Van de Velde 1994, pp. 299311).
In 1985, the Vereniging voor Vrouwenbelangen, Vrouwenarbeid en Gelijk
Staatsburgerschap (Vrouwenbelangen, Association for Womens Interests,
Womens Work and Equal Citizenship) received a subsidy to support
their organisation. Vrouwenbelangen was a direct descendant of the
Vereniging voor Vrouwenkiesrecht (Association for Womens Suffrage),
founded in 1894. It had a small membership of professional and politically active women from different parties. The 1985 International
Womens Year provided the occasion for starting Aktie m/v 50/50
(Action m/f 50/50), to stimulate attention to the issue of women in
politics. Vrouwenbelangen formed a coalition with most political parties.
The subsidy helped to professionalise the campaign and to give it staying
power (Angerman 1994).
Women and womens organisations, feminist or traditional, were taken
more seriously as participants in the policy process. Movement ideas were
taken over with very little alteration, making this a case of dual response.
Yet no specific policy on politics resulted. This was a result partly of
163
divisions within the movement about the correct way forward, partly of
lingering notions of the backwardness of women. A direct policy, confronting selection procedures and political culture, was unacceptable to
the cabinet or, for that matter, to many womens organisations or political
parties. Subsidies to womens organisations, however, did stimulate parties to pay attention to womens issues and to select women.
The leadership of the womens policy agency during this period changed
from Christian Democrat to Social Democrat to Liberal. Hedy DAncona,
feminist and Social Democrat, made an enormous impact by commissioning a new policy plan that gave the agency a cross-sectional scope and a
mandate that clearly included political representation. The staff as well as
the budget for research and subsidies increased considerably. Most of her
ideas were taken over and developed further by Liberal Mrs Kappeyne van
de Coppello, who turned out to be quietly feminist in her own way.
DAncona moved the agency from the Ministry of Culture and Social
Work to the Ministry of Social Affairs, where it remained. The agency
played an insider role, trying to change prevailing political discourses by
stimulating debate and research. The two conferences on women and
political power mentioned above were subsidised; dissemination of the
proceedings was financed, and a booklet on women in parliament was
commissioned in conjunction with parliament itself. The agencys research
policy prioritised research on power and politics and stimulated the publication of a number of studies into the gendered nature of Dutch politics.
Lastly, the subsidy politics of the Beleidsplan were utilised to set femocrats
to work on all political parties and on a front of feminists united around
Vrouwenbelangen as well. The agency, albeit in a roundabout way, both
gendered policy debates and advocated movement goals.
At the beginning of the 1980s the core movement organisation, MVM,
was still in existence; it would dissolve in 1988. The movement was a
large conglomerate of service organisations, semi-commercial organisations and many womens networks inside political parties and unions.
The womens movement was more or less consolidated in the course of
the 1980s, but may more aptly be seen as growing as a consequence of the
alliances with traditional womens organisations. This moved feminism
away from its left-wing allies to a position somewhat removed from the
left. Women in parliament united. During the 1980s nearly all political
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Jantine Oldersma
parties more or less adopted the goal of having more women on their lists.
In that decade, politics as such was not a high priority issue for the
womens movement, but it gained some strong advocates. This shift in
alliances within the womens movement makes it difficult to state whether
the movement was cohesive: this was not the case at the beginning of the
1980s, but cohesiveness was forged between different groups in the
second half of the decade. There was no counter-movement, but a very
small religious party, the Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij (SGP,
Calvinist), still refuses to put women on the list to this day.
Policy environment
A coalition of Christian Democrats and Liberals dominated Dutch politics from 1977 until 1989, with the exception of a brief spell between
September 1981 and May 1982 when a CDA/PvdA/D66 coalition provided a window of opportunity for feminists. Overall, the power structure
was closed, especially where women and politics were concerned: contemplating a policy of quotas or other direct ways to move more women in
to political positions was unthinkable and there was no question of
allowing women into policy networks. Hedy DAncona used her nine
months in office as junior minister of equality policy to the full by drawing
in feminists to write a policy plan that changed the conception of women
and by designing a subsidy policy that created opportunities for feminist
researchers and for femocrats. Though the political climate changed to
conservative, the Liberal junior minister made sure that the womens
policy agency remained a niche for feminism.
Debate 3: Corporatism, 19891997
In the 1970s, corporatism appeared on the policy agenda when Iron
Rings of interest organisations, civil servants and experts were blamed
for frustrating progressive politics.2 In the 1980s, the corporatist channel was seen by right-wing governments as an obstruction to cuts in
government funding. As a result of diligent weeding by a number of
committees, the committee system slimmed down to about half its size
during this decade (Commissie-De Jong 1993, p. 41). In 1989, D66
2
Ex-prime minister Den Uyl attributed the failure of his own progressive policies
to obstruction by obscure entanglements of civil servants and committee members
(Van den Berg and Molleman 1980).
165
managed to put constitutional reform on the parliamentary agenda in the

form of the Commissie-Deetman, formed by the leaders of all parties. The
Commissie-De Jong, consisting of parliamentarians, was then asked to
propose a renovation of the corporatist channel resulting in drastic
restructuring.3 The spirit of reform benefited from a parliamentary
enquiry in 1992, inspired by the failure of attempts to restructure the
welfare state (Commissie Buurmeijer 1993).
The debate about corporatism in the Netherlands was influenced by
Anglo-Saxon political science rather than the more benign views
expressed by Schmitter and Lehmbruchs 1979 volume. Overload of
the state by interest organisations was one major concern; the other was
the threat that corporatism might pose to the primacy of politics. In the
report by the Commissie-De Jong, Raad op Maat (Advice to Measure),
published in 1993, a shift away from interest organisations towards expert
advice was advocated. Good policy development required expert advice
that served parliament as well as government. Interest representation
might be useful, but only in policy implementation. In the liberal mood
of the 1990s, the report of the Commissie-De Jong met with general
acclaim. It was unanimously accepted in parliament and duly implemented. The report was criticised severely by Dutch academic experts who
regretted the muffling of the voice of civil society and predicted that
commercial consultancies would benefit, costing more and obscuring
the process of consultation. These voices went unheeded (Oldersma
and Woldendorp 1995).
In debates about gender and corporatism, the issue of descriptive representation fared much better than the issue of substantive representation.
That women should be present was readily accepted, but the presence of
expertise on gender issues or representatives of womens interests was a
different matter. The main actors pleading for both types of representation
were the Emancipatie Kommissie and its successor the Emancipatieraad (ER,
Emancipation Council).
3
It is worth noting that the Commissie-De Jong had two female members. The CommissieDeetman itself had 33 per cent female members; the sub-committees together had only
6 per cent. These 6 per cent, two female members, were concentrated in the committee on
corporatism, while the other five sub-committees were all male.
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Jantine Oldersma
The first study of committee members in 1967 revealed that only 5 per
cent were women. In a letter to all ministers, the Nationale Vrouwen Raad
(NVR, National Womens Council), a federation of traditional womens
organisations, drew attention to the statistics. The Emancipatie Kommissie
called for more women in advisory bodies in the report it published in
1976. A survey of advisory bodies by its successor, the Emancipatieraad, in
1991 showed that the rules meant to stimulate the appointment of
women were not only not implemented, but not even known to most
officials (Emancipatieraad 1991). The councils advice was to set and
implement targets. By 1993, the number of women in advisory bodies
had risen to some 15 per cent. A survey of all committee members in that
year showed that the goal, if not yet the practice, of descriptive representation had been taken on board by most political actors (Oldersma 1996).
Commenting on the report of the Commissie-De Jong in 1994, the
Emancipation Council stated that the introduction of twelve new strategic committees gave the cabinet a unique opportunity to realise immediately its long-term aim, namely that advisory bodies should have 50 per
cent female members. In the debate in parliament most parties agreed.
The history of substantive representation in the traditional corporatist
channel is different. In 1981, the Emancipatieraad (198197) followed in
the footsteps of the Emancipatie Kommissie (197581) to advise government on its policy on women. The selection of members posed problems.
Representation of womens organisations would have to incorporate
traditional womens organisations and thereby offend feminists. A committee of experts from the womens movement would contain only
feminists and was not acceptable to Christian Democrats. The compromise was a committee of independent members, carefully mirroring
party politics (Klink 2000). The ER was the main foothold of the
womens movement in the corporatist system. Over the years it gained
prestige in the eyes of movement actors as well as among politicians, as it
could benefit from gender expertise developed at universities and in
research institutions. It had a state-wide mandate and could largely follow
its own agenda.
Though the ER, as an expert committee, fitted the new policy, the
Commissie-De Jong categorised it as (womens) interest group oriented
and thus a candidate for abolition. The demarcations between new
expert committees would largely follow departmental boundaries and
have no place for equality policy. The council, however, made a final
attempt to fit equality policy in the new policy frame. If the advisory
function were to be spread over the new committees, the Raad stated,
then it would need to be formalised and members with expertise on
equality policy would have to be included. In addition an expert centre
167
was needed to monitor and stimulate the mainstreaming of gender advice

for a limited period (Emancipatieraad 1994).
Policy outcome
In 1980, the Ministry of Culture, Recreation and Welfare issued rules to
stimulate greater representation of women in advisory bodies, later
endorsed by the cabinet. The Beleidsplan Emancipatie (1985) briefly
argued for more women, as well as for more attention to gender by
special as well as normal committees. In 1987, the cabinet issued
guidelines aiming at a male/female ratio of 1:1 in advisory bodies. For
every open place the possibility of appointing a woman should be actively
considered.
The Commissie-De Jong developed a revolutionary plan for implementation of its proposals: the Desert Law abolished all existing advisory
bodies on 1 January 1997. In the new situation every department would
have only one advisory body for strategic long-term planning, consisting
of leading experts in the field. Descriptive representation remained on the
agenda. The Home Office, concerned with implementing the reform of
corporatism, installed a helpdesk to aid selectors to find women with
expertise in their field. Top Link, an organisation sponsored by DCE,
helped to find women if the resources of the ministries fell short.
Installation of some committees had to be postponed until a satisfactory
percentage of women had been found. The new committees averaged 37
per cent women, bringing the total to 2025 per cent (Klink 2000).4
Proposals to guarantee substantive representation encountered problems when a new government took power. The Emancipatieraad lost a
third of its members in 1993 and was dissolved in 1997. The new law that
was to present the framework for further regulations did not mention the
task of advising on equality policy; neither did laws to install the new
committees. Members were not explicitly selected for their expertise on
equality policy. The expert centre intended to stimulate and monitor the
process of mainstreaming advice on equality matters in the new committees was no longer on the agenda. Instead, the new leadership of the
womens policy agency embarked on a mission to force all the institutions
they subsidised to merge. This new expert centre would both support
movement activities and take the task of advising government in hand.
This was the start of a long, drawn-out conflict between the womens
movement and the policy agency. Eventually, Equality was formed, an
4
Some technical committees were not abolished after all, because the members advice
would be more expensive if given on a commercial basis.
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Jantine Oldersma
expert centre on gender and diversity, subsidised by DCE and with an

appointed executive board of independent feminists that has no formal
status as an advisory body.
ER members lobbied for a successor in 1997, to guarantee that the new
system of committees would take up equality issues. Pressure by womens
organisations and women in parliament succeeded in 1998 when the
government established the Tijdelijke Expertise Commissie voor
Emancipatie in het nieuwe Adviestelsel (TECENA, Temporary Expert
Committee for Emancipation in the New Advisory System), a small
committee of experts in womens studies, to ensure the mainstreaming
of the advisory structure. TECENA finished in 2001 and has no
successor.
Though the womens movement did not receive complete policy satisfaction, this case has to be classified as dual response. Women were participants in the policy process, and the discourse on selecting members and
on substantively representing women was gendered. In the end, female
experts on equality policy succeeded in having a niche in the advisory
committee system until 2001. The percentage of women on advisory
bodies also rose considerably.
The womens policy agency was in the hands of several Social Democratic
leaders from 1989 on. It was still cross-sectional, political representation
was part of the mandate and it had substantial resources. Elske ter Veld, a
feminist, used the ER to outline a policy on representation, including
descriptive as well as substantive representation in the corporatist channel. DCE participated in a committee of civil servants about the advisory
structure but could not save the ER, though Ter Veld managed to keep it
floating in a cheaper version until 1997. The advice of the council to
implement the 50 per cent rule for new committees and to form an expert
centre to mainstream advice on equality issues was received well in
cabinet, and two new politicians, Wallage at equality policy and Van
Thijn at the Home Office, agreed to implement it.5 The 1994 elections
frustrated these plans. Equality policy went to Social Democrat Ad
Melkert, whose main priority was labour market policies. The reform of
5
Ter Veld stepped down because she disagreed with a new proposal to cut back on invalid
pensions.
169
the corporatist system was in the hands of Kohnstamm, a D66 junior

minister. Although it did change its policies in the middle of the debate,
we have to call the agency an insider, as it both gendered debates and
introduced women into the policy process.
The womens movement at the beginning of the 1990s was highly fragmented and highly professionalised. The ER, though not a womens
policy agency, did have a large staff and did undertake the gendering of
debates on policy networks, aided by academic experts. Feminists in the
Social Democratic Party pushed through to the cabinet in 1989, but
Christian Democrats and Liberals were also under pressure from feminist
and female members. In the case of substantive representation, the
Liberal chairperson of the ER lobbied the Social Democratic minister
to act on plans, written by left-wing academic experts. There was no
counter-movement. The issue had a high priority for a small group of
dedicated women, mostly professionally interested in equality policy.
Policy environment
The return to power of the Social Democrats in 1989, in coalition with
the Christian Democrats, provided the womens movement with new
opportunities. The cabinet contained three women, including Hedy
DAncona and a number of female junior ministers. The Home Office
was in the hands of Social Democrat Ien Dales, who opened the policy
network to womens representatives. In 1994, a coalition of Social
Democrats, Democrats and Liberals came to power and effectively closed
policy networks down again. Social Democrat Ad Melkert prioritised
labour market policies and wanted the agency to form alliances with
industry; at the Home Office Kohnstamm took over, a D66 politician
who abhorred interest group politics.
Conclusion
State responses to the movement
In all three cases the conclusion is dual response, but there are some
reservations. In the first case, feminists boldly set up camp in the Social
Democratic Party, where they remain until the present day. In the second
case, gendering did take place and women did come into the policy
process, but they did not succeed in expanding the discourse to include
170
Jantine Oldersma
the issue of representation. This did happen at the beginning of the

third debate in terms of descriptive representation, but the demise of a
feminist leadership and the coming to power of a non-feminist leadership, all Social Democrats, frustrated the discussions on substantive
representation.
Womens policy agency activities and characteristics
In the first case the national womens policy agency did not exist, but we
treated Vrouwencontact as a quasi-WPA. It was quickly taken over by
feminists and was well placed to play an insider role within the party.
The national WPA had a political leadership from its establishment in
1978, but feminist leadership was restricted to brief periods of nine
months in 19812 and three years at the beginning of the 1990s.
Including Liberal Mrs Kappeyne van de Copello, the sum total is a
mere seven years in nearly three decades. In all three debates, however,
feminist leaders were crucial in bringing representation to the policy
agenda and in defining and redefining it in a non-essentialist way.
Feminist attempts to argue that all women had common interests in
politics soon faltered when political reality proved that opinions could
and did differ. Women from different parties, however, became a unified
force for the representation of women in politics when they eventually
managed to agree on common policies. Womens unity, in the end, was
not a given, but was forged in the policy process.
The womens policy agency provided linkages between different
groups within the womens movement and between movement actors
and the policy network around the issue of representation. This was done
by commissioning and stimulating research, by subsidising conferences
and, in the second half of the 1980s, by subsidising femocrats. Subsidies
to womens groups and the advisory function of the EK helped to disseminate the results of research and discussion.
In retrospect, however, the move from welfare to socio-economic
politics did not favour prioritisation of the issue of representation. The
discourse of the PvdA/VVD/D66 coalition in the 1990s, characterised by
its slogan work, work, work, led to definitions of womens equality as a
socio-economic problem and obscured the political dimension even
further. Nevertheless, the agency did manage to gender discourses on
representation and introduced women into the policy process on both
occasions that it had an opportunity to do so.
The feminist movement has always been ambivalent about representation: descriptive representation seemed desirable because it widened the
constituency but it de-emphasised politics. Substantive representation
171
has the opposite effect, which might partially account for its relative lack
of support. In the second and third debates there was no strong and
cohesive actor to advocate both substantive and descriptive representation: in the first debate there was such an actor and in that case feminists
were very successful.
As all three debates met with a dual response, it seems fair to conclude
that the Dutch state has been open to feminist concerns. There are some
caveats, however, as the measure of openness for the issue of representation has clearly shifted over time. In the first debate, the Social
Democratic Party was very open to feminists and provided them with a
wide-open window of opportunity when they led the governing coalition.
But their periods in power were interruptions to right-wing rule. Even
when they were in power, policies directly influencing the political system were anathema to left- and right-wing politicians. Nevertheless, the
second debate shows that in the 1980s, equality of representation policies were designed and were successful, but they maintained a discourse
of womens backwardness. Despite a promising start to the 1990s when
the Social Democratic/Liberal/D66 coalition came to power, the minister
in charge of the womens policy agency during the later part of the third
debate de-prioritised the issue of womens substantive political
representation.
Womens representation has progressed immensely in the Netherlands
over the past thirty years, despite disagreement among feminists and
right-wing coalitions. Movement actors, however, succeeded in framing
the issue in a way that resonated with the prevailing political winds. The
contribution of femocrats, able to transform any type of policy frame into
a suitable policy, is considerable.
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The womens movement, gender equality

agencies and central-state debates on political
representation in Spain
Celia Valiente
Introduction
This chapter examines the role of the Womens Institute (Instituto de la

Mujer, WI) and the womens secretariat of the Spanish Socialist Workers
Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol, PSOE) hereafter PSOE
womens secretariat in three central-state debates on political representation in Spain since 1983. The WI is the main central-state level womens
policy office in Spain.1 As the analysis in this chapter demonstrates, the WI
and the PSOE womens secretariat were able to represent womens movement goals and gender the frame of two debates on political representation:
the discussion that in 1988 led to the adoption by the PSOE of a 25 per cent
womens quota, and in 1997 resulted in the increase of this quota to 40 per
cent. In the third discussion (on a mandatory 40 per cent womens quota
for all parties submitted by the PSOE in 2001), an energetic PSOE
womens secretariat was unable to counteract the WI, whose activities
were not feminist. Women were allowed to participate in the policy process
but the policy outcome (the rejection of the bill in 2003) was contrary to the
demand advanced by the womens movement.
The women-friendly outcomes of the first two debates occurred under
governments formed by the PSOE. The womens movement was at a
stage of consolidation and the active WI and PSOE womens secretariat
were attentive to the development of measures to increase womens
political representation. This success of the womens movement was
facilitated by the presence of a left-wing party in office. Change of
government to the Conservative Peoples Party (Partido Popular, PP)
was the reason for the unfavourable outcome of the third debate.
In other countries, the issue of political representation of specific
groups of society is discussed in terms not only of gender but also of
ethnicity. Not so in post-authoritarian Spain, where the topic has been
1
For research on the WI, see Threlfall (1996, 1998) and Valiente (1995, 1997, 2001a,
2001b, 2004).
174
Women and political representation in Spain
175
debated mainly in terms of womens presence in representative institutions. Therefore, in general, debates on gender and political representation are the Spanish discussions on political representation.
Generally speaking, since the 1980s Spanish public debates on
womens political representation have four characteristics. First, deliberations are chiefly on womens quotas in political parties. Parties are the
main actors in the Spanish political system, and the second wave of the
feminist movement includes significant proportions of women who
belonged to both womens groups and left-wing parties. The main leftwing parties and coalitions have womens quotas. An example is the
electoral coalition United Left (Izquierda Unida, IU), which was created
in 1986 by the association of the Communist Party and other parties to
the left of the PSOE. The debate on womens political representation
developed principally (although not exclusively) on the left of the political
spectrum. By contrast the conservative PP remained strongly against
quotas. The PP participated actively in the discussion on quotas only
after the late 1990s when it responded to mobilisation by women on the
political left in favour of mandatory quotas for all parties.
Second, generally constitutional issues and womens political representation were discussed jointly only from the late 1990s. At that time
opponents to mandatory quotas declared them to be unconstitutional.
Previously constitutional matters were not a central topic in public discussions of political representation. Comparatively speaking, Spain was a
young democracy formed after the death of Franco in 1975. Most policy
actors were reluctant to reform the 1978 constitution because it was a
product of negotiation and compromise reached with difficulty by the
main parties during the transition to democracy. The existence of Euskadi
Ta Askatasuna (ETA) terrorism make changes in the constitution unlikely until the Basque conflict is settled, because the independence of the
Basque country (the terrorists goal) implies a constitutional reform.
Thus there was a reluctance to constitutionalise issues of political
representation.
Third, the discussions on political representation are conducted mainly
(but not exclusively) at the central-state level. The main left-wing parties
and coalitions that have womens quotas (the PSOE and the IU) are
central-state-based political organisations. The bill to impose a 40 per
cent womens quota on all parties was submitted in November 2001 by
the PSOE to the central-state legislature. However, in the twenty-first
century deliberations on womens representation gained importance at
the regional level. In 2003, two regions governed by the PSOE (alone or
in coalition), the Balearic Islands and Castile-La Mancha, were in the
process of establishing mandatory quotas of 50 per cent of women and
176
Celia Valiente
men in alternative positions (the so-called zipper lists) for all parties for
their regional elections.
Finally, debates on political representation often contained references
to international events. Examples include initiatives to increase the
presence of women in institutions taken successfully in other countries
such as the Nordic states, measures that failed because these were
declared unconstitutional, such as in France in the early 1980s and Italy
in 1993, and strategies promoted by supra-national organisations and
institutions, such as the United Nations or the European Union.
Institutions that make representation policy
The political representation of citizens at the central-state level is regulated in general terms by the constitution and in detail by the 1985
General Electoral Act of 19 June (Ley Organica 5/1985, de 19 de junio,
del Regimen Electoral General, hereafter 1985 General Electoral Act).
Acts are made and amended in the legislature.2 Political parties, through
formal and informal rules, recruit candidates to represent citizens in
political institutions. In short, the legislature and the political parties
make representation policy in Spain.
Universe of policy debates
The WI was created in 1983. Hence there was no possibility of womens
policy agency intervention in debates before that date. The PSOE was in
power between 1982 and 1996 and after spring 2004. It was the main
opposition party between 1996 and spring 2004. Three party discussions
on womens representation resulted in action to increase womens political
representation. These were the approval of a 25 per cent womens quota for
internal party positions and on party electoral lists in January 1988, the
endorsement of a new 40 per cent quota in June 1997, and the submission
to the legislature of a bill to reform the 1985 General Electoral Act, making a
womens quota of 40 per cent mandatory for all parties in November 2001.
The IU has usually been the third largest nationwide political party in
national elections. In the late 1980s, an internal party debate on womens
2
The legislature is composed of two chambers: a lower chamber called the Congress of
Deputies, and an upper chamber called the Senate. Members of the Congress of Deputies
are elected by proportional representation under the DHondt system with closed and
blocked lists. The vast majority of senators are elected by a majority system.
177
political presence finished with the 1989 commitment to a womens

quota of 30 per cent for internal party positions and on party electoral
lists. Two other IU discussions culminated in the adoption of new
womens quotas of 35 per cent and 40 per cent in 1990 and 1997
respectively (Ramiro 2000: 2256).
At regional level, a debate on womens political representation preceded the June 2002 Act requiring the alternation of men and women on
the lists of all political parties competing in regional elections in the
Balearic Islands (El Pas, 18 June 2002: 21). A similar measure was
adopted in the region of Castile-La Mancha (Act 11/2002 of 27 June on
the reform of Electoral Act of Castile-La Mancha 5/1986 of 23
December). The government then lodged an appeal to the
Constitutional Court on the grounds that the two acts were unconstitutional.3 On 15 October 2002, the court decided to deal with the appeal
(El Pas, 18 October 2002: 23). Implementation of the policy was suspended until the court pronounced its sentence.
The three debates chosen for close investigation in this chapter resulted in
the approval of a 25 per cent womens quota by the PSOE in 1988 (the first
debate), the establishment of a 40 per cent womens quota by the PSOE
in June 1997 (the second debate), and the rejection in 2003 of the
PSOE bill to endorse a 40 per cent womens quota mandatory to all
parties submitted to the legislature in November 2001 (the third debate).
The three debates fulfil the RNGS model criteria of decisional system
importance, life cycle and issue area salience. Regarding decisional system
importance, the three discussions developed within a political party (the
PSOE) but the final part of the third debate took place in the legislature.
The three debates took place at the central-state level. The abovementioned regional debates could not be analysed in this chapter because
they were still taking place when the research was completed. All of the
debates had extensive life cycles the topic of citizens representation
has been more or less continuously discussed since 1983. Between
them the debates covered the whole life cycle so far of political discussion
of this issue: the first took place in the 1980s, the second in the 1990s, and
the third from the 1990s on. In terms of issue area salience, the three
3
The Constitutional Court is the supreme interpreter of constitutionality, and can rule that
laws are unconstitutional and invalid. It reviews laws made by the Spanish legislature, the
national executive and regional governments, and its decisions apply to the whole territory
of Spain and cannot be appealed (Heywood 1995: 1056).
178
Celia Valiente
debates refer to all the arguments on political representation advanced by

major policy actors in Spain.4
Debate 1: Endorsement of a 25 per cent womens quota in
the socialist party, 19871988
In the 1970s, and especially in the 1980s, feminists within the PSOE
continuously denounced the low presence of women in top political
decision-making positions. In the 1977, 1979, 1982 and 1986 general
elections, the percentage of women members of the Congress of Deputies
was 6 per cent. Womens political representation in the PSOE did not
increase; its proportions of women deputies were 9, 5, 9 and 7 per cent in
successive elections (Instituto de la Mujer 1994: 7980). But as a result of
feminist pressure, the thirty-first PSOE federal congress in January 1988
discussed a proposal to institute a 25 per cent womens quota for internal
party positions and on electoral lists (Partido Socialista Obrero EspanolSecretara de Participacion de la Mujer 1988: 1).
The debate focused on questions about the low presence of women in
Spanish politics. Was it a serious problem that in the first decade of
Spanish democracy the presence of women in political decision-making
positions was very low? If so, what were the causes of this problem? Could
this problem be solved? If so, what would be the potential solutions? Is it
fair to reserve a proportion of political positions to any particular sector of
the population (women)?
The debate was gendered at the outset, because both supporters and (to a
lesser extent) opponents of the quota made explicit references to women
and men. Some opponents attacked quotas by using the classic antifeminist argument of the left: that feminist demands were particularistic
and bourgeois deviations from the main objective of a socialist party
(the improvement of the status of the working classes) (Bustelo 1979: 13;
4
The sources for this chapter mainly consist of published documents from the WI, the
womens movement and the PSOE; secondary analysis; and press articles from El Pas (the
main newspaper of general information with nationwide coverage).
179
Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol 1988a: 114). Other opponents were

more conciliatory. They agreed that the low presence of women in top
positions in the party and the state was a problem, but argued that its cause
was a matter of supply, that there was a shortage of women with enough
qualifications and ambition to hold decision-making positions. A quota
would not solve this scarcity of potential female candidates (Threlfall 2001:
4). Actually, women were in short supply in the party as a whole; they were
about 15 per cent of members (Gallego 1994: 670).
PSOE feminists used several arguments to defend the quota. They
countered that women were absent from the hierarchy of the party and
the state because they were discriminated against in subtle and not so
subtle ways, and not because there was an insufficient supply of potential
female candidates (Threlfall 2001: 4). Advocates argued that in the
absence of quotas men would never voluntarily release power, since
many party men seek power for its own sake, while numerous women
want power to improve society and help others. PSOE feminists time and
again pointed out that, historically, left-wing parties have not supported
(and have often even opposed) feminist causes. However, PSOE feminists
believed and hoped that left-wing parties would have the potential to be
women-friendly because of their general commitment to equality (Bustelo
1979: 14; 1980: 89; Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol 1988b: 269).
They reminded their opponents that the Socialist International recommendation on the measures to increase womens presence in political decisionmaking positions should be adopted by member parties (Threlfall 2001:
5). Finally, pragmatic arguments were made. Quotas are gender-equality
measures that would help the PSOE win a higher share of the womens vote
in subsequent elections by presenting a more feminised image and attracting more womens votes (Bustelo 1979: 14).
Policy outcome
At the thirty-first PSOE federal congress (2224 January 1988), delegates
passed the 25 per cent womens quota for party positions and electoral
lists (Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol 1988c: 84). Thereafter, the
proportion of female PSOE MPs rose steadily, to reach the level of 28
per cent of PSOE deputies and 23 per cent of PSOE senators in the 1996
election (Instituto de la Mujer 1994: 802; 1997a: 989).
The Spanish womens movement is composed of two branches: the
feminist branch and the non-feminist branch. Individuals and
180
Celia Valiente
organisations that consider themselves feminist comprised the feminist

branch of the womens movement (hereafter the feminist movement). It
has been amply researched, so this chapter refers mainly to this branch.
The non-feminist branch of the womens movement consists of housewives associations, cultural and religious groups, widows organisations,
mothers groups and the like. Hardly any research has been conducted on
these organisations.
During the transition to democracy, the problem of the relationship
between feminism and mainstream politics was raised in most feminist
gatherings. Some feminists thought that an important level of formal and
real equality could be attained through state action. It was thus important
that women were present in political decision-making arenas. Other
feminists rejected mainstream politics altogether, because they saw the
state as a site that actively contributed to the perpetuation of unequal
gender relations. At the end of the 1970s, the feminist movement was
bitterly split between supporters of both positions. However, this division
eroded slightly during the 1980s and more in the 1990s, mainly for three
reasons. First, the 1982 PSOE electoral victory meant that for the first
time since the 1930s a socialist party governed Spain. Some feminists
thought that this would be a unique opportunity to improve womens
rights and status. Second, the WI policy of subsidising the womens
movement meant that groups that did not want to relate to the state
would have considerably fewer resources than groups that dealt with
the state and received money from it. Third, the increasing energy put
by many feminist groups into the delivery of services to the female
population focused the attention of feminists on the details of the management of services and away from general and theoretical discussions on
the state (Duran and Gallego 1986: 20812; Gallego 1994: 671; Scanlon
1990: 958).
Party developments
In the PSOE, the main advocates of measures to improve womens
political representation (including quotas) were feminist activists and
leaders, many of whom belonged (or had belonged) both to the party
and to feminist associations in civil society. The PSOE accepted women
(PSOE feminists) representing gender interests in the process. By adopting the 1988 quota of 25 per cent, the PSOE answered one of the
demands of the sector of the feminist movement pursuing higher levels
of womens political representation. Thus, the PSOEs reaction to (a
sector of) the feminist movement was a dual response.
181

The WI was officially created in 1983 (Act 16 of 24 October). The scope of
the WI is very broad. It has five comprehensive goals: to promote policy
initiatives for women through formal enactment of policy statements; to
study all aspects of womens situation in Spain; to oversee the implementation of womens policy; to receive and handle womens discrimination
complaints; and to increase womens knowledge of their rights. The WI
is a permanent bureaucratic agency. Until 1988 the WI was a part of the
Ministry of Culture, one of the least important in the Spanish state.
Located within a ministry rather than having a cabinet position, the WI
was distant from major power centres. In the mid-1980s, the WI did not yet
have an extensive staff and budget, but was in the process of gaining them.
Between 1983 and 1988 the director was Carlota Bustelo, a well-known
feminist activist who had been a member of the Womens Liberation Front
(Frente de Liberacion de la Mujer, FLM). The FLM foundational document
demanded amongst other things the incorporation of women into all
social, productive, political and creative tasks (emphasis added; translation
by Celia Valiente Seminario de Estudios Sociologicos sobre la Mujer
1986: 367). Carlota Bustelo was also a PSOE deputy during the first
legislative term (19779). In protest at what she considered to be an
insignificant and unacceptable proportion of female PSOE MPs, she
refused to continue as an MP into the second legislative term (197982)
(Threlfall 1996: 120). Womens political representation was one of the
high priorities of the WI in the mid- and late 1980s.5
Some members of the WI were able to push demands for womens
political representation into the PSOE debate on quotas in the 1980s
because they belonged (or had belonged) to the party, the WI, and/or the
feminist movement. The case of Carlota Bustelo was not unique. For
instance, Matilde Fernandez, elected as a member of the PSOE executive
committee in charge of the Womens Secretariat in 1984 (Threlfall
1998: 85) and latterly Minister of Social Affairs (198893), belonged to
the WIs advisory council.6 In this way, members of the WI played the
role of an insider in the 1988 PSOE debate on quotas.
This high priority is reflected, for instance, in the special attention paid to the topic by the
WIs journal titled Women (Mujeres). Pages on the matter can be consulted in: 1984, No. 2:
42; No. 4: 613, 1825, 2830, 4956, 845, 957; 1986, No. 12: 3, 623, 2834.
Since 1985, the WI director has been aided by the advisory council (Consejo rector), which
is primarily composed of representatives from the major ministries and (up to the 1990s)
six people who had demonstrated a long commitment to gender equality (Matilde
Fernandez among them).
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Celia Valiente
The PSOE womens secretariat was also an insider in the 1988 debate
on womens quotas, since it incorporated the goal of the part of the
movement interested in mainstream politics into its own positions (a
higher womens presence in politics achieved through quotas) and
inserted these gendered policy demands into the dominant frame of
the debate on the PSOE quota. That the demands of PSOE feminists
could be heard was partly because they previously gained organisational
status within the party. In 1976, a womens caucus, Woman and
Socialism (Mujer y Socialismo), was formed in the PSOE and in 1981,
a member of the caucus was elected to the PSOEs executive committee,
with others following her in successive years. Carlota Bustelo (first WI
director, 19838) was the main advocate of the foundation of Woman
and Socialism. In December 1984, party leaders decided to institutionalise the womens caucus at the federal executive level, whereupon it
became the womens secretariat. The feminists in the secretariat successfully added clauses involving womens issues to PSOE congress
resolutions, electoral programmes, and other documents. The PSOE
womens secretariat has a broad and cross-sectoral mandate, since it is
in charge of gender equality within the party. It is a permanent bureaucratic agency of the party. It is part of the Federal Executive Committee;
therefore it is close to the major power centres. It has a medium institutional capacity (staff and budget), and has generally been headed by
feminists. Womens political representation was one of the highest
priorities of the PSOE womens secretariat from the 1980s (Duran
and Gallego 1986: 213; Folguera 1988: 1245; Threlfall 1985: 489;
1998: 823).
After emerging in the 1960s and early 1970s, and growing from 1975 to
the early 1980s, the feminist movement was in a stage of consolidation
by the mid- to late 1980s. The Spanish feminist movement, while not
negligible, has been historically weak, its activities involving only a
minority of women. The movement occasionally showed some signs of
strength, however. For example, it organised national feminist conferences regularly attended by between 3,000 and 5,000 women. In comparison with other western countries, the feminist movement in Spain
does not have high visibility in the mass media. In the 1980s, most of the
feminist groups were very close to the left. Political representation was a
priority for one of the sectors of the feminist movement that believed that
state policy could improve the status of women, but it was not a unifying
issue for the movement as a whole. The part of the movement interested
183
in political representation was cohesive. Movement organisations active

on the issue agreed on the frame and proposals, although each group
tended to pressurise the political party to which it was closest. Left-wing
political parties were thus a privileged location for feminist advocates of
political representation. Conservative politicians openly opposed
womens quotas. They provided arguments against quotas in the general
discussion on the issue, but could not directly intervene in the debate
within the PSOE. Thus the strength of the counter-movement to
womens quotas may be characterised as moderate.
Policy environment
Since the 25 per cent quota was an internal PSOE rule, the policy
environment of this measure was not only the state but also the PSOE.
The structure of this policy sub-system was moderately closed to feminist
demands. PSOE feminists could take part in the decision-making process
at federal congresses because some of them already belonged to the party
hierarchy, and they and others successfully pressurised highly ranked
PSOE officials. In contrast, members of the feminist movement interested in political representation but not belonging to the PSOE could not
participate in PSOE federal congresses. The policy frame that initially
shaped the debate at the thirty-first federal congress was compatible with
the frame in which movement goals were expressed by activists because
both frames referred to the same issues (although in different ways). In
the late 1980s, the PSOE controlled the executive and had an absolute
majority in both chambers in the legislature.
Debate 2: Endorsement of a 40 per cent womens quota in
the socialist party, 19921997
The concept of parity democracy was introduced at the European
Summit of Women in Power held in Athens in 1992. PSOE feminists
took up the parity democracy issue, generated a continuous debate in the
party and pressurised the party hierarchy to increase the 25 per cent quota
to 40 per cent.
The discussion of parity democracy in the PSOE in the 1990s addressed
and extended the questions already raised in the first debate. There was
184
Celia Valiente
discussion about whether it was the right moment to increase the

womens quota, and whether the party might better concentrate on the
resolution of more pressing problems.
As in the case of the previous debate, participants in this debate raised
explicitly gendered questions, although defenders of the 40 per cent
womens quota did so more often than opponents. Supporters of the
new quota argued that left-wing parties need quotas because of their
differences from right-wing parties. The parties of the right, it was argued,
maintain a social Darwinist ideology that resists special measures to
ensure womens representation. These parties believe that only the
most qualified and capable individuals within parties reach power positions. Nothing prevents women from competing in that race. When party
women are good enough, they will reach top positions. If fewer women
than men are present in the upper ranks of parties and state, then this
difference is a result simply of womens inadequate performance in the
competition. Left-wing parties are ill disposed to such theses, because
these parties are (or should be) more sensitive and critical to pre-existing
inequalities that impede some groups (Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol
1988b: 269; 1997: 207).
Policy outcome
As a result of sustained PSOE feminist pressure, delegates at the thirtyfourth PSOE federal congress (2022 June 1997) discussed and approved
the increase of the internal and electoral womens party quota to 40 per
cent (Partido Socialista Obrero Espanol 1997: 207). Subsequently, the
proportion of women who became PSOE deputies increased from 28 per
cent in 1996 to 37 per cent in 2000 and to 46 per cent in 2004. The
percentage of women among PSOE senators decreased from 23 per cent
to 17 per cent between 1996 and 2000 and increased to 27 per cent in
2004 (Instituto de la Mujer 1997a: 989; 2002; 2004).
The sector of the Spanish feminist movement pursuing parity democracy
in the 1990s and the twenty-first century (hereafter the Spanish parity
movement) consists of feminist leaders and activists in political parties
and in womens organisations, primarily from the left. It includes
feminists from the PSOE and the IU. In terms of feminist associations,
185
the parity movement grew out of well-known womens groups mainly

linked to political parties, including (among others) the Federation of
Progressive Women (Federacion de Mujeres Progresistas), close to the
PSOE, and the Dolores Ibarruri Foundation (Fundacion Dolores Ibarruri),
close to the IU. Other less well-known feminist organisations, such as the
Forum of Feminist Politics (Forum de Poltica Feminista), are also mobilised
in favour of parity democracy.7
Spanish parity feminists pressurised the hierarchy of left-wing parties to
increase the already existing womens quotas. The 1997 PSOE move to
increase its quota to 40 per cent coincided with the goals of the sector of
the feminist movement active on the issue of political representation.
Within the PSOE, feminists were consistently among the main participants in the internal deliberation on the new quota. Thus, the PSOEs
reaction to the womens movement was a dual response.
This second debate ran across two very different political periods:
between 1992 and spring 1996 (socialist rule); and between spring 1996
and June 1997 (conservative rule). During both periods the WI was a crosssectional permanent bureaucratic part of the state with a broad policy
mandate, and was distant from major power centres (between 1988 and
1996 the WI depended on the Ministry of Social Affairs, and after 1996 on
the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs). In the 1990s, the WIs administrative capacity was high as it boasted an extensive staff and budget.
Between 1991 and 1993, the WI director was a feminist lawyer,
Purificacion Gutierrez, and between 1993 and 1996, a feminist sociology
professor, Marina Subirats (Threlfall 1998: 86). In the 1990s (until 1996),
political representation was one of the top priorities of the WI.8
Until the 1996 PSOE electoral defeat, the WI incorporated the
womens movement goal of parity democracy into its own positions,
leading many activities on the matter domestically and abroad. WI officials advanced the aim of the 40 per cent quota within the socialist party
because some of them also belonged to the PSOE and even to the party
hierarchy. Others were very close to the PSOE: WI directors Carmen
Martnez-Ten (198891) and Purificacion Gutierrez, and Ministers of
7
8
For more on the Spanish parity movement in comparison with that of France, see Jenson
and Valiente (2003).
Many sources document this priority status in the 1990s. Most issues of the WI periodical
journal Women (Mujeres) contain pages on the topic: 1990, No. 2: 27, 33; 1992, No. 9: 14,
2630; 1993, No. 10: 289; 1993, No. 12: 245; 1994, No. 13: 226; 1995, No. 18: 16;
1996, No. 21: 68.
186
Celia Valiente
Social Affairs Matilde Fernandez (198893) and Cristina Alberdi

(19936), among others. Thus, the activities of some WI members
(until spring 1996) could be characterised as those of an insider.
In spring 1996, the conservative PP came to power. While the institutional characteristics of the WI remained the same as during the period
between 1992 and 1996, the leadership and the priority given to political
representation both changed. In 1996, the PP appointed Concepcion
Dancausa as WI director. She was a civil servant with no ties with the
feminist movement and apparently with no previous significant experience in the policy area of womens rights (Mujeres 1996, No. 22: 5).
Political representation was a topic of very low priority for the WI during
the years of conservative rule. The main WI policy document of the late
1990s was the Third Gender Equality Plan (Instituto de la Mujer 1997b),
which ran from 1997 to 2000. It is divided into ten sections. The shortest
sections are on power and decision-making and environment (three
pages each). The devices contained in the Third Gender Equality Plan to
foster participation of women in decision-making were soft measures,
such as the promotion of research, the improvement of statistics, and
support for training programmes for potential female decision-makers.
The Third Gender Equality Plan did not establish numerical targets of
political representation. After the 1996 PP electoral victory, the WI did
not participate in the internal PSOE debate on political representation. It
was neither an advocate for movement goals (quotas) in the PSOE
decision-making process, nor did it gender PSOE policy definitions on
the issue. Between spring 1996 and the 1997 PSOE federal congress, the
WI activities regarding the PSOE debate were therefore symbolic.
As was the case in the first debate, during the whole debate on the
PSOE 40 per cent womens quota, the PSOE womens secretariat continued to be a cross-sectional bureaucratic agency of the party with a
broad mandate. It was close to the major power centres, it had a medium
institutional capacity, and it was headed by feminist leaders very interested in parity democracy and very active in the PSOE debate on the 40
per cent womens quota (Threlfall 1998, 2001). Then, the PSOE
womens secretariat played the role of an insider in this debate.
Most feminist movement characteristics were unchanged from the first
debate. The feminist movement was in a stage of consolidation, and was
very close to the left. Political representation was an issue of high priority
for an important sector of the feminist movement, which was cohesive on
the matter, and faced a moderate counter-movement contrary to quotas
187
from the PP and womens groups close to the conservative party, such as
Women for Democracy (Mujeres para la democracia). As shown above, in
the second debate, feminist activism in support of quotas was located not
only in left-wing political parties (as in the first debate), but also (although
to a lesser extent than in parties) in womens groups to some degree
autonomous from political parties.
Policy environment
The structure of the policy environment where the PSOE 40 per cent
womens quota was approved in June 1997 was moderately closed for the
sector of the feminist movement interested in political representation.
Members of this sector who did not belong to the socialist party could not
participate directly in the internal party debate, but PSOE feminists could
take part in the discussion and played a major role in it. Joaqun Almunia,
the PSOE leader who prepared the political document on the model of
the party to be discussed and voted on at the thirty-fourth congress (and
who became PSOE general secretary in that very congress), was in general moderately favourable to feminist causes. The frame that shaped the
debate on the proposal of the 40 per cent womens quota was expressed in
terms that were compatible with movement goals as expressed by activists. The 19936 PSOE government was a minority government supported in the legislature by the regionalist Catalan coalition, Convergence
and Union (Converge`ncia i Unio, CiU). Between the elections of spring
1996 and spring 2000, the PP formed a minority government supported
by three regional parties or coalitions of parties, CiU, the Canary
Coalition (Coalicion Canaria, CC) and the Basque Nationalist Party
(Partido Nacionalista Vasco, PNV). However, the PNV withdrew its support for the government around the middle of the legislative term.
Debate 3: The 2001 socialist bill on mandatory quotas for

all parties, 19982003
In August 1998, the PSOE announced that it would submit a bill to
reform the 1985 General Electoral Act in order to require all electoral
lists to limit their candidates of the same sex to no more than 60 per cent.
In other words, the bill would, if approved, mandate 40 per cent minima
of each sex for all political parties. The IU supported the idea, but the
governing PP strongly opposed it (El Pas, 31 August 1998: 18).
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Celia Valiente

The same issues discussed in the first two debates were prominent in the
third debate. However, in addition, constitutional matters were present in
this discussion, because opponents to mandatory quotas agreed that
mandatory quotas were unconstitutional. The right of a party to impose
any rule of candidate selection on other parties was also debated.
Supporters of mandatory quotas were situated on the left of the political
spectrum and tended to use gendered arguments. They argued that a
democracy of high quality is one in which half of the population (women)
is politically represented by significant proportions of women. Some documents in favour of mandatory quotas presented gender parity as an end in
itself, as a matter of justice (see for instance Alberdi 1998; Chicano 1999;
Ruiz-Tagle 1999). While they were fighting for the right of women to be
elected, PSOE parity activists represented themselves as followers of the
first suffragists who fought for the right of women to vote. In the same
documents gender parity was also claimed on the basis that female activists
maintained a broader social and feminist agenda. Advocates claimed that if
women and men were equally represented in the political arena, policy
outcomes would be different and more positive. Policy outcomes would
better meet the particular needs of women. Policies would be elaborated in
a more consensual way. Public measures would include the interests not
only of women but also of other, less privileged groups. Moreover, the
distinction between the private and the public was averred to be fictitious
since the personal is political. Responsibilities should then be shared:
political decision-making should not be the monopoly of men, as family
and caring responsibilities should not be the monopoly of women. Care
services in the welfare state had to be developed, to help women and men
combine their professional and family responsibilities.
The most vocal opponents of quotas were conservatives. They were
less likely to use gender notions than were supporters of mandatory
quotas. In common with conservative policy actors in other countries,
the PP and womens associations close to it thought it was wrong to
intervene in the recruitment process in order to elect more women. The
process had to be fair and neutral, so that the best people (including
women) could be elected. Some conservative leaders and activists
accepted soft measures (such as encouraging women to stand for office)
but opposed hard ones (quotas). PP politicians termed quotas a form of
discrimination (ABC, 27 January 2002: 28). Others claimed that only the
189
PP gave women real opportunities to gain the centres of power, in contrast to the artificial quotas of the PSOE. They used as evidence the
increase in the numbers of PP women in elected office after the party
won the general elections of 1996 and 2000 (ABC, 27 January 2002: 28;
El Pas, 30 January 2000: 29; Nasarre 2002).
Policy outcome
In November 2001, the PSOE submitted a bill to the legislature on the
reform of the 1985 General Electoral Act to make parity mandatory. The
bill was debated and rejected in the legislature on 8 April 2003.9
Womens movement impact/State response
Continuous mobilisation in favour of higher levels of womens political
representation and mandatory quotas has been a feature of Spanish
politics since the late 1990s. Parity activists actively sought the advice
of constitutional experts, some of whom declared that the bill was
constitutional. They based their judgment on article 9.2 of the constitution which states that public power will promote the conditions under
which citizens freedom and equality are real and will facilitate citizens
participation in political, economic, cultural and social life (see, for
instance, Peces-Barba 1999).
The PSOE bill on mandatory quotas was submitted in November 2001
to the legislature by two PSOE female deputies: Micaela Navarro, PSOE
Womens Secretary, and Mara Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, PSOE
parliamentary spokesperson, who is known for her support of feminist
causes. Female MPs played a central role in the parliamentary debate on
the bill, a common phenomenon when the legislature is considering a
womens issue. Thus, the states response to womens movement parity
advocates was one of co-optation, because the state accepted parity advocates in the policy-making process but did not give policy satisfaction to
the parity mobilisation.
The characteristics of the WI in this third debate were similar to the second
phase of the second debate. The WI was a cross-sectional permanent
bureaucratic agency distant from major centres of power. Its mandate is
9
The debate in the legislature can be consulted in the Congress of Deputies web page
(www.congreso.es).
190
Celia Valiente
broad and its extensive staff and budget gave it a high administrative
capacity. In 2000, the PP appointed Pilar Davila del Cerro as WI director.
She was a former civil servant. To my knowledge, she had no ties with the
feminist movement. She had significant experience in the policy area of
womens rights because she was the WI sub-director between 1996 and
2000. Between September 2002 and March 2003, the WI director was
Carmen de Miguel y Garca (a civil servant with expertise in trade issues).
She was then replaced by Miriam Tey de Salvador (a professional with a
previous career in the private publishing sector). Political representation
was not a WI priority during conservative rule.
After the 1996 PP electoral victory, the WI did not support mandatory
quotas. In the late 1990s, in reaction to the concept of parity democracy,
the PP coined the expression of balanced representation (representacion
equilibrada) (Jenson and Valiente 2003: 92). The WI produced a Fourth
Gender Equality Plan in March 2003, extending the Third Equality Plan,
which theoretically expired in 2000, until March 2003. According to the
Third Equality Plan, the goal to be achieved regarding women and
politics was balanced participation (participacion equilibrada) (Instituto
de la Mujer 1997b: 55). This wording is also present in the Fourth
Equality Plan to be implemented between 2003 and 2006 (Instituto de
la Mujer 2003: 235). As in the Third Plan, the section on gender
equality in decision-making is the shortest section. It offers soft measures such as the improvement of statistics and research on the matter
but not numerical targets (quotas). Thus, womens policy agency activities are non-feminist because the WI did not advocate the goals of the
parity advocates. Instead it defended the weaker goal of balanced participation and the weaker method of soft measures.
The characteristics of the PSOE womens secretariat during the third
debate were the same as during previous debates. With a medium administrative capacity and headed by a feminist socialist (Micaela Navarro)
between 1997 and 2004, the PSOE womens secretariat continued to
include womens political representation as one of its top priorities. The
PSOE womens secretariat advocated the goal of the parity movement in
the debate. It intervened in and gendered the debate. An example is the
intervention by Micaela Navarro (not only PSOE womens secretary but
also an MP) who defended the PSOE 2001 bill in the 8 April 2003
parliamentary debate.
As in previous debates, the feminist movement was in a stage of consolidation, was very close to the left and faced a moderately strong counter-
191
movement opposing quotas. The priority given to political representation

by the sector of the feminist movement interested in the topic was high.
This sector of the movement was cohesive, but cohesion did not mean
frequent joint actions by different womens organisations. The location of
activities of parity activists included not only autonomous womens
groups and political parties (as in the second debate) but also the legislature. Parity activism was feminist.
Policy environment
The final part of the debate on the 2001 PSOE bill on the 40 per cent
womens quota for all parties took place on 8 April 2003 in the legislature.
It has some characteristics of closed policy environments: parliamentary
proceedings are codified through regular meetings and rules, and participation is limited to leaders of political parties with parliamentary representation. The PP used its absolute majority in the legislature to reject the
bill altogether. The frame of the parliamentary discussion prior to the
rejection was compatible with that used in the womens movement to
discuss political representation, since both frames deal with the same
topics (although in a different manner).
Conclusion
This chapter has shown that the womens movement, the WI and the
PSOE womens secretariat inserted their policy preferences in two of the
three debates that preceded the most important public decisions on
political representation (more specifically, on womens quotas) since
the 1980s. The presence of the womens movement, WI and PSOE
womens secretariat in these two debates occurred while political representation was an issue of high priority for both the movement and the
womens policy agencies. The fact that the socialist party was in office was
a key element for the policy success of the movement, the WI and the
PSOE womens secretariat. In contrast, in the third debate the womens
movement and the PSOE womens secretariat were still very attentive to
the issue of political representation but did not secure approval of the bill,
even though women participated extensively in the whole discussion.
The closed policy environment and the low priority given to political
representation by the WI were two major factors in the rejection of the
PSOE bill on a 40 per cent mandatory quota for all parties.
Quotas have been implemented in the PSOE and constitute the main
variable explaining the increase of womens presence in political decisionmaking positions (Threlfall 2001: 29). Although womens quotas have
192
Celia Valiente
been adopted exclusively by left-wing parties, the improvement in womens

political representation is not a phenomenon restricted to left-wing politics.
In part as a reaction to left-wing quotas, since the 1990s, the presence of
conservative female politicians has also increased, to 28 per cent of PP
deputies and 25 per cent of PP senators in 2004 (Instituto de la Mujer
2004). Ironically the indirect influence on political representation of the
movement and policy machineries under socialist governments has been
more extensive than their effect in the left side of the political spectrum.
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Alberdi, Cristina 1998, Democracia y ciudadana, El Pas, 2 November: 26
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Espanol
1980, Mujer y socialismo: para cambiar la vida, Madrid: Partido Socialista
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Chicano, Enriqueta 1999, Democracia paritaria, El Pas, 25 January: 30
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and the New Spanish Democracy, in Drude Dahlerup (ed.) The New
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Folguera, Pilar (ed.) 1988, El feminismo en Espana: Dos siglos de historia, Madrid:
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Gallego, Mara T. 1994, Womens Political Engagement in Spain, in Barbara
Nelson and Najma Chowdhury (eds.) Women and Politics Worldwide, New
Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp. 66173
Heywood, Paul 1995, The Government and Politics of Spain, London: Macmillan
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tradicion a la modernidad, 19601980, Madrid: Tecnos, pp. 2940
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10
Party feminism, state feminism and womens

representation in Sweden
Diane Sainsbury
Introduction
Issues of political representation in Sweden during the past four decades
have been influenced by two processes: the modernisation of the worlds
second oldest written constitution adopted in 1809 and a struggle over
extending democracy. Constitutional reform and enlarging democracy
provided a contradictory setting both hospitable and unfavourable to
womens demands for better political representation. Until recently feminist actors and perspectives were generally marginalised in discussions
on constitutional reforms, with women at the last minute expressing
apprehension that a specific reform would adversely affect their representation. By contrast, the discussion on extending democracy and promoting equality offered a discursive opportunity of crucial importance to
the impressive growth of womens representation.
Besides issues of the day, aspects of the Swedish understanding of
political representation have formed an auspicious environment.
Historically social representation has had a strong tradition, dating from
the establishment of the four estates parliament in 1435. This parliament
originally rested on a broader basis than similar bodies elsewhere and
survived much longer (until 1866). Social representation, combined with
a constitutional provision that interested parties should be consulted in
the decision-making process, and the idea of a representative bureaucracy
paved the way for corporatist arrangements in policy-making and subsequently in administration. The political parties, in particular the Social
Democrats, the Centre Party and the Conservatives (the Moderates
since 1969), which have represented the interests of workers, farmers
and business respectively, also carried on the tradition of social representation. The principle of proportional representation, which furthers
representation of a broad spectrum of interests and ideas, has also been
central to Swedish politics. It has been reflected not only in the electoral
system since 1911 but also in the distribution of the chairpersons of
parliamentary committees, the county governors, and in some cases
195
196
Diane Sainsbury
local and regional government executives. Lastly, the Swedish notion of

citizenship is inclusive, pertaining to all members of society. Its inclusiveness is demonstrated in the voting rights of groups that do not have the
franchise in many other western democracies, such as non-citizens who
are legal residents and citizens in prison. In summary, the environment
was characterised by a political culture of egalitarianism, a strong tradition
of social representation, and the principles of proportional representation,
consultation and inclusiveness.
It is in this context that womens representation in parliament rose
from slightly less than 15 per cent in 1970 to 45 per cent in 2002, and
representation in the cabinet climbed from roughly 10 to 50 per cent.
Gains in elected office have also been accompanied by a dramatic
increase of women in appointed positions from the late 1980s onwards.
Currently the proportion of women in some appointed offices approximates their share of elected positions. This chapter examines the impact
of the womens movement and womens policy agencies and more
specifically feminist ideas and actors on increasing the political representation of women in elected and appointed offices.
The policy sub-systems that make the most important decisions about
political representation vary according to type of office involved elected
or appointed positions. For elected office the key institutions or arenas are
the political parties. It is the prerogative of the parties to select the
candidates and draw up party lists. Moreover, there is little legislation
regulating Swedish parties. For appointed positions in the state bureaucracy,
the policy sub-system is much more complex, involving actors in government, the major interest organisations and the parties. Sweden has an
unusual administrative system. The ministries are primarily involved in
policy formulation with a staff numbering a few hundred civil servants in
each ministry, while implementation of policy is assigned to separate
national administrative agencies. This arrangement also gives ad hoc
inquiry commissions a unique role in policy-making, and in some
instances, the commissions draft legislation. Formally it is the government
that appoints the members of inquiry commissions and administrative
boards. Prior to the 1990s the corporatist composition of the boards of
the national administrative agencies, regional bodies and several inquiry
commissions gave responsibility to the major interest organisations to
nominate persons for these positions. The political parties also make
nominations, and in the 1990s party nominations became increasingly
Party feminism in Sweden
197
important with the supposed abandonment of the corporatist form of

representation.1
The universe of debates on political representation since 1960 consists of
a dozen or so major debates. They centred on modernising parliament
(elimination of the indirectly elected upper chamber) and the electoral
system (reducing disproportionality in representation and increasing
voters influence in the election of candidates), improving the representation of poorly represented groups (women, immigrants, young people and
the elderly), and the citizenship rights of both immigrants and emigrants.
I have selected the following three debates: first, the debate on greater
democracy and more women in politics (196772); second, the debate on
quotas for administrative bodies (19857); and third, the debate on
establishing a womens party in the wake of the decline of womens
parliamentary representation (19914). This selection meets several of
the RNGS project criteria. The debates span four decades and thus meet
the life-cycle criterion. They also occurred in different arenas and had
high saliency. The initial debate, however, occurred before womens
policy agencies as defined by the RNGS project existed. The most difficult decision has concerned the debate occurring in the 1990s choosing
either the debate on the womens party or that on greater influence of
voters in the election of party candidates. The choice of the debate on the
womens party is based on its much higher saliency. It should be noted,
however, that the outcomes of these two simultaneous debates have very
different implications for womens representation. The debate on the
womens party improved the position of female candidates on most
party lists in the 1994 and 1998 elections, and strengthened the principle
of alternating female and male candidates on party lists. By contrast, the
1998 change in the electoral system reduces the importance of party lists
by giving the voters the option to indicate a preference for a specific
candidate, which can alter the order of candidates elected to office.
For a variety of reasons, it was feared that the new electoral system
would have a negative impact on womens representation. These fears
were not transformed into reality during the first parliamentary elections
after the reform. In the 1998 and 2002 elections womens representation
continued to inch upwards (42.7 per cent in 1998 and 45.3 per cent in
2002), and the number of women elected to parliament was slightly
higher than it would have been otherwise. However, the full impact of
the new electoral system has still to be felt. Only between one-quarter and
one-third of the electorate utilised its option to vote for a candidate in
1
For a more detailed discussion of the Swedish political system, see Arter (1999); Einhorn
and Logue (2003).
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Diane Sainsbury
addition to a party; as a result, ten or twelve candidates in each election

entered parliament, and they comprised a mere 34 per cent of the
members of parliament.
Debate 1: Greater democracy and more women in politics,

19671972
The issue of womens representation grew out of a larger project to place
gender equality on the public agenda. The push to put gender equality on
the agenda came from two sources: first, a network of academics who
launched a debate on sex roles in the early 1960s, and second, the
womens organisations of the political parties. Of the womens organisations, the efforts of the Social Democratic Womens Federation (SSKF)
were the most important. In the mid-1960s it published Womans
Equality (Kvinnans jamlikhet), an ambitious programme of reform. Its
proposals dealt with taxation, labour market policy, family law, education, social security and public services; and they were eventually incorporated in the Towards Equality programme, adopted by the 1969 party
congress. Ironically, the demand for womens representation was not
included in the 1964 womens programme, and the problem of underrepresentation of women in public office was only briefly mentioned in
the Towards Equality programme ( Jamlikhet 1969: 24, 94). Emphasis on
other reforms to achieve equality of women and men initially eclipsed the
issue of womens representation.
Among the first to voice the demand for increased political representation for women were the reform communists. The 1967 programme of the
Left Party-Communists (VPK), Socialist Alternative, contained a strong
plank advocating equality of the sexes. It proclaimed, Women are also
under-represented in the leadership of the Labour Movement organisations. It is a blatant injustice and a threat to democracy that half of the
population of Sweden is poorly represented on boards and executive
committees (Socialist Alternative 1967: 13). The Centre Party women,
who had the poorest representation in parliament in the 1960s, were also
very early in pointing to womens under-representation as a contradiction
in democratic principles (Larsson 1973). By 1968 the demand began to
gain momentum, and it was raised in many quarters and across the political
spectrum. The womens organisations of the political parties, the Fredrika
Bremer Association (a womens rights organisation founded in 1884) and
the reform communist party called for more women in politics.
199

All proponents framed the demand for womens representation in similar
terms. From the outset, the dominant frame or the master frame was the
implications for democracy. The problem was the deficient functioning of
Swedish democracy, manifested in gross under-representation. Women
were half the citizenry, but only a small portion held political office.
Women gendered the wider debate on extending democracy and promoting equality. The equal right of participation and influence or equality in
power and influence was central to the Towards Equality programme but
the thrust of the demand was to extend participatory rights to the economy
and the immediate environment on the job, at school and in the neighbourhood. Furthermore, the programme trumpeted that the demand for
equality concerned everybody but without relating it to the sexes: [T]he
demand for equality encompasses broader spheres [than economic differences] and concerns all members of society . . . Equality requires a society
where . . . individuals have greater opportunities to participate in the
decision-making processes that influence his [sic] everyday situation
(Jamlikhet 1969: 13). This general demand for equal participation and
influence was gendered by underlining womens representation and the
inequalities in the political representation of women and men.
At the same time women framed their claims in ungendered terms. They
made their claims as voters and citizens not as women. As citizens they
demanded that the principle of equal rights to political office be translated
into reality. Framing the issue of womens representation as citizens
rights had several strategic advantages. First, it enhanced unity among
women. Politically organised women constituted a minority within each
of the parties, and they were divided along partisan lines. As citizens they
had equal rights and were joined together in redressing the denial of their
rights. Second, as half the citizenry, women were entitled to a corresponding share of the seats. Third, framed as a contradiction of democratic principles, the demand for increased representation for women was
hard to argue against. In fact, everyone concurred in principle, and all the
party leaders expressed their support of more women in office.
Policy outcome
This debate produced two distinct outcomes. The first was the initial
adoption by the political parties of guidelines for womens representation
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Diane Sainsbury
in party and elected office. In 1972 the Liberals were the first party to
adopt such guidelines. The party conference decided that women were
entitled to at least 40 per cent of the posts in all party bodies (Sandberg
1975: 80). Eventually the Social Democrats also adopted guidelines.
At its 1978 congress the party laid down the following guidelines: the
share of women in elected public office ought to reflect their proportion of
the population; while in the case of party office, womens share ought to
be in proportion to female party membership, which then totalled roughly
one-third of party members. The Social Democratic Womens
Federation had proposed that neither sex should have more than 60 per
cent of the positions, and that quotas should be introduced if a fair
distribution of positions could not be reached through agreement
between the sexes (Karlsson 1996: 160).
The second outcome was the establishment of the Advisory Council on
Equality between Men and Women in late 1972. It was attached to the
Office of the Prime Minister; the first chairperson was Thage G. Peterson,
the key administrative officer (the permanent under-secretary) of the prime
minister, and Anna-Greta Leijon headed the councils secretariat
(Karlsson 1996). After the 1973 election Leijon entered the cabinet
as Assistant Minister of Labour with special responsibility for womens
issues, and she later became the chairperson of the council (Leijon
1991: 119).
Both outcomes corresponded with feminist goals, and women were pivotal in the process. However, at the time the initial guidelines were a
disappointment to women, but in a long-term perspective they were the
beginning of a process in which the parties set forth guidelines and
recommendations that women could use in their fight to gain elected
office.
Of special interest is the creation of the Advisory Council. Many
accounts of its formation fail to note the role of women. Instead Prime
Minister Olof Palmes speech at the 1972 party congress has been hailed
as a turning point, and he is assigned credit for its establishment
(e.g. Elman 1995: 241; Karlsson 1996). On the basis of these accounts,
the outcome would be classified as pre-emption. This interpretation,
however, overlooks the actions of the SSKF.
Embittered by the results of the 1968 and 1970 elections, which
actually decreased their share of the parliamentary delegation, Social
Democratic women mounted their own campaign for more women in
politics. As part of the campaign, the SSKF congress in 1972 drafted a
201
six-point resolution on gender equality. One point was to appoint a

special task force at cabinet level to monitor and promote issues related
to womens equality (Fagerstrom 1974: 45). Subsequently the party
congress adopted a decision supporting the establishment of a working
group on gender equality at cabinet level, which led to the Advisory
Councils formation. In other words, the creation of the council corresponded to the demands of the SSKF, and therefore should be categorised
as a dual response. Party women proposed the council, and it was eventually staffed almost entirely by women.
This debate pre-dated the existence of womens policy agencies.
However, the womens organisations of the parties were inside agitators,
and they can to some extent be regarded as quasi-womens policy agencies seeking to advance womens representation in descriptive and substantive terms through direct access to party decision-makers. Compared
with their counterparts in other countries, the womens sections of the
parties, especially those of the Liberals and the Social Democrats, have
strong traditions as independent associations. The independent position
of the Social Democratic womens organisation has afforded both advantages and limitations. The SSKF has often developed its own policy
positions and lobbied for them inside the party, but independence has
also entailed a more peripheral position in the party. For example, the
SSKF is much less integrated in the party organisational hierarchy than
the womens sections of the non-socialist parties. Party by-laws do not
guarantee full representation at the party congress or in the national
committee and the executive committee. Importantly, however, the
SSKF does have the right to attend and express its views at meetings of
these bodies, although its representatives lack the right to vote unless they
are elected as a delegate to the congress or as a member of the committees. Nor did the SSKF have direct access to the cabinet at this time,
which may have prompted its proposal for a body at cabinet level.
The initial demands for more women in politics preceded the emergence
of the new womens movement. The major feminist actors were the
members of organisations established during the first wave of the
womens movement the Fredrika Bremer Association and the womens
organisations of four of the political parties: the Conservatives, the
Liberals, the Centre Party (formerly the Agrarians) and the Social
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Diane Sainsbury
Democrats. The demand for political representation was originally overshadowed by other reforms, but by 1972 it had top priority and was a panpartisan concern. Its increasing priority paralleled the early growth of the
movement and the political mobilisation of women. The new womens
movement initially strengthened leftist forces but simultaneously posed a
challenge to the Social Democrats. The main organisation associated
with the new movement was Group 8 and its affiliates. Group 8 was
formally established as an independent socialist feminist organisation
in 1970.
Policy environment
The policy sub-system was the political parties, and as such the system
was only open to party members or around one-third of the electorate at
the time. The party congress/conference, where the party leadership often
predominates, makes decisions on nomination rules and guidelines. In
terms of access it was a moderately closed system, but importantly the
system was not closed to women. In terms of decision-makers few women
were delegates to the party congress/conference or in positions of party
leadership during the period of the debate.
Because this type of decision is an internal party matter, the composition of the government is less significant than when the issue requires a
parliamentary decision. More important is the nature of party competition, and whether measures to improve womens representation are
perceived to strengthen or weaken the parties competitive positions. In
the 1968 election the Social Democrats experienced a sweeping victory,
receiving 50 per cent of the vote, and they formed the only majority noncoalition government in their history. However, the Social Democrats
hold on majority power was short-lived, and the elections of the 1970s
were highly competitive contests where a fraction of the vote determined
control of the executive. The 1970 election the first under the party
leadership of Olof Palme resulted in a drop in electoral support but not a
loss of government. Unhappy with the election results, the Social
Democrats were bent on reversing the downward trend, and the votes
of all groups became critical.
In short, strategic and ideological imperatives conjoined, offering a window of opportunity. Strategically the Social Democrats were under pressure
as both the right and the left outflanked them on the issue of womens
representation. The pressure was keenly felt because the party wanted to lay
claim to the issue of gender equality. On the right, the Fredrika Bremer
Association brought up the issue of quotas and mounted a campaign, More
Women in Politics, in 19723. The Liberals were first to adopt guidelines
203
for party office setting 40 per cent as a goal for womens representation.
The transformation of the Communist Party into a leftist alternative
emphasising womens issues and the emergence of Group 8 as an independent socialist womens organisation also gave Social Democratic women
extra leverage (Karlsson 1996). Moreover, all parties were vying for the
support of women, especially those whose interest in politics had been fired
by a growing and enthusiastic womens movement. Ideologically the radicalisation of the Social Democratic Party emphasising greater democracy
and equality offered a discursive opportunity. How could the party present
itself as a proponent of greater democracy and at the same time not improve
its own record on womens representation? The partys emphasis on equality also made it especially difficult to deny the legitimacy of womens
demands for equal representation.
Debate 2: Quotas for appointed positions, 19851987

During the first year of its existence (1973), the Advisory Council to the
Prime Minister on Equality between Men and Women wrote to the
government, pointing out that few women were members of inquiry
commissions or on the boards of national administrative agencies. In
1975 the council went on to criticise the low representation of women
in regional administrative bodies (Sandberg 1975: 81).
Reports to the UN offered opportunities for agenda setting and advancing positions for negotiations. Step by Step, a national plan for gender
equality that also served as the report to the 1980 United Nations
Womens Conference, stressed the necessity to improve womens representation in the corporatist and bureaucratic channels (Step by Step 1979:
10321). The Swedish governments report to the 1985 UN Womens
Conference in Nairobi, Side by Side, also brought up the issue, contrasting
the poor representation of women on national administrative boards,
regional bodies and inquiry commissions with their advances in elected
office. The stated goal of the government was to increase womens
representation so that both sexes were included in all administrative
bodies by 1991 (Side by Side 1985: 90). It identified the problem as the
freedom of organisations and their failure to nominate women despite the
governments request that a man and a woman be nominated for each
position. The same year, the Minister of Gender Equality, Anita Gradin,
appointed an inquiry commission to propose measures to increase
womens representation in the state bureaucracy.
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As in the first debate, womens under-representation was the problem.
It contradicted democratic principles and womens under-representation
in appointed office was more pronounced than in elected office.
The commissions final report argued that government bodies should
represent the will of the people and be a mirror of the population.
Representative democracy required that women and men participate in
decisions in the same proportions and on equal terms (SOU 1987: 51).
Increased womens representation was a matter of increasing democracy
and widening the basis of decision-making. For democratic reasons,
increased womens representation was a goal in itself, but it was
also a means a means to promote new issues and points of views and
make them politically relevant. In this instance the goal was policies
jointly formulated by women and men that accommodated the interests
of all.
The commission gendered decision-making in the state bureaucracy,
stressing that administrative bodies make decisions that distribute
resources but women and men have different concerns. Without
women representatives in these bodies, decisions would fail to take into
account the interests of women and their priorities. Examples of conflicts
of interest between the sexes, mentioned by the commission, were different priorities concerning investments in road construction vis-a`-vis public
transport, social services and work time. The commission also pointed
out that certain womens issues only reached the policy agenda through
womens efforts, such as womens representation, gender equality,
womens health issues, shelters for battered women, pornography and
prostitution (Sou 1985: 46).
Finally, the commission argued: [w]e live in a male society where
mens experiences and values are the norm, insisting that changes in
attitudes were insufficient to eliminate womens subordination. Attitudes
were usually embedded in power structures; what was needed was
changes in power. Today men dominate politics and consequently
have a profound influence on womens lives. If women are to gain real
influence over their own lives, they must gain entry to the councils where
decisions are made. The goal is that women and men share power,
influence and responsibility in all spheres of society (Sou 1985: 45).
It also declared that if women were to acquire their fair share of decisionmaking power, men had to relinquish power and influence.
205
Policy outcome
The most controversial proposal of the commission was the introduction of
quotas. It recommended quotas and drafted a bill to this effect. At the same
time the commission mixed strong words and recommendations with a
conciliatory stance. The commission stated its firm conviction that only
quotas would achieve quick results. However, as a concession, it had chosen
a softer approach as a sign of its confidence in the nominating organisations assurances that they only needed more time. Accordingly, the commission recommended that the government give the organisations a chance
to show their good intentions by nominating more women. Strategically,
the commissions concession put the onus on the nominating organisations.
Quotas could be avoided if they nominated women. The commission also
laid down specific targets for womens representation on administrative
bodies and inquiry commissions: 30 per cent by 1992, 40 per cent by
1995 and 50 per cent by 1998. If the goal of 30 per cent was not reached
by 1992, the commission proposed the introduction of legislated quotas.
The commission and its proposals set in motion a remarkable growth in
womens representation in appointed positions. At the time of the commissions investigation in the mid-1980s, women held roughly 15 per cent
of the positions, but in the late 1990s over 40 per cent of the members of
inquiry commissions and the boards of national administrative agencies
were women. In the case of the prestigious position of general director of
an administrative agency or head of an inquiry commission, women
increased their share to approximately 30 per cent compared with around
5 per cent in the mid-1980s (Ds A 1986, 4: 32; Bergqvist 1997: 235;
Kommitteberattelse 1999: 395). Still these gains fell short of the target of
50 per cent set for 1998, and growth in womens representation on
regional bodies was lower and more uneven.
Womens movement impact and womens policy agency activities
This debate represents a dual response par excellence women were central
in the debate as well as the policy process and the outcome corresponded to
the goals of the womens movement. The activities of womens policy
agencies were critical to the response and are clearly classified as insider.
From the start, the drive to increase womens representation in appointed
positions in the state administration has been a project of femocrats
involved in womens policy machinery. The Advisory Council to the
Prime Minister first brought it up as an issue. The council, together with
its successors an all-party commission that drafted a national gender
equality plan and the Minister of Gender Equality worked to get the
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Diane Sainsbury
issue on to the policy agenda and to keep it there, using the reports to
the UN womens conferences as a vehicle. Femocrats were not only
involved in agenda setting, they also framed the debate, gendering the
decisions of the state bureaucracy by emphasising their relevance for
women. Feminists were also in charge of the inquiry commission leading
to legislation, the government bill, and the eventual evaluation to see
whether the targets for womens representation were fulfilled (Bergqvist
1994: 1045). Furthermore, when the Social Democrats returned to
power in 1982, they consolidated the position of the Minister of Gender
Equality, increasing her resources (Pincus 1998). Most decisive, however,
the womens policy agencies had a mandate, which they had carved out for
themselves.
In the 1980s some observers and even activists believed that the womens
movement was in decline; and there were signs of waning. The most
visible organisation of the new womens movement Group 8 was
losing members. Nevertheless it seems more appropriate to view the
1980s as a period of consolidation. The decline of Group 8 was partially
offset by its members joining the Left Party-Communists, and the membership of the womens sections rose, reaching a peak during the time of
the debate. Women also continued to consolidate their positions at all
levels of elected office. New feminist organisations, such as the womens
shelter movement, were growing (Gustafsson et al. 1997), and women in
trade union organisations made steady gains. Networks of feminist academics were created through funding provided by the research unit under
the Minister of Gender Equality. Finally, womens activism, measured as
various forms of individual political participation, increased compared
with the previous decade (Sainsbury 1993; cf. Stark 1997: 2301).
The key actors were very close to the parties of the left. The issue of
womens representation was of high priority to the movement as a whole
but there were divisions over quotas as a means to increase representation. The conciliatory move by the commission prevented an open rift
among women over the issue of quotas. The compromise also largely
defused a counter-movement that the proposal for quotas produced.
Policy environment
In the 1982 election the Social Democrats won 46 per cent of the vote
and formed a minority government based on a left majority in parliament,
and the party remained in power for the rest of the decade. The policy
207
sub-system was moderately closed. The main actors in formulating policy

the expert commission and the Ministers of Gender Equality formed a
tight circle, but several other actors had a potential veto. As part of the
policy-making process, commission reports are sent out to interested
parties for comment in what is known as the remiss system. Negative
comments during the remiss procedure can kill a proposal, while favourable opinions strengthen it. In this instance, the labour market organisations also held a trump card by virtue of their power of nomination.
Furthermore, the media often scrutinise commission reports, and the
commissions first report generated much controversy in the media.
These features, together with a preference for inclusive decisions, worked
in favour of the compromise solution.
Debate 3: The establishment of a womens party, 19911994

Womens representation in parliament fell from 38 per cent to 34 per cent
in the 1991 election; it was the first time since 1928 that there was a major
setback. Women were both angered by their weakened position in parliament and fearful of the consequences. Immediately after the election,
women formed a network, the Support Stockings (Stodstrumporna),
whose rallying cry was Half the power, full pay. Their goals included
improving womens representation in parliament and preventing the new
coalition government headed by the moderates from dismantling the
public sector and women-friendly policies (Stark 1997).
In a more pronounced fashion than previously the issue of womens
representation was framed in terms of power, as evident in the demand
for 50 per cent of the power. One network leader explained the emphasis
on power in the following way: women, with far less access to economic
resources, at least have votes. Power in the democratic process is more
accessible than economic power (Stark 1997: 241). The problem was the
failure of parties to nominate women. The solution, proposed by the
Support Stockings, was to start a womens party that would put up its
own list of candidates in the 1994 election. The establishment of the party
depended upon whether the major parties selected sufficient female
candidates to reinstate and even improve womens parliamentary representation so that they held half the power.
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The parties failure to nominate women was blamed on mens power and
a male political culture in the parties. Feminists now more emphatically
gendered power and the parties, and network spokeswomen adopted an
adversarial stance. In the Social Democratic womens magazine in early
1992, Maria-Pia Boethuis a leading Support Stocking maintained that
men in overalls were still the party norm. She further complained, Your
guys have not listened [to women] and in the process they have committed political suicide (Morgonbris 1992: 3). In short, the Support
Stockings gendered both the problem and the solution of the debate.
The problem was male power and the solution was a womens party.
Social Democratic women also pointed to the male political culture of
the party, but this sort of argument was wedded to the master frame of
womens representation its implications for democracy. A report on
womens representation in the party noted that the Social Democrats had
a tradition of representing working-class men that had shaped the partys
organisation and functioning. It concluded that if women were not represented, male interests and knowledge would govern decisions, and that
under-representation meant that democracy was incomplete (SD 1993:
3, 16). Similarly in the 1993 party congress debate, an active trade union
woman argued, The problem is not women but a political culture that
has failed to take womens views seriously; it has failed to realise that
womens exclusion from political bodies is a problem for democracy
(SD 1993 kongressprotokoll, B: 323). Finally, the programme adopted
by the congress declared: The foundation of democracy is the equal
worth of all human beings. Gender equality entails the same rights,
obligations and opportunities for men and women. To achieve gender
equality is to broaden democracy (SD-programme 1993: 15).
Policy outcome
On the eve of the election the Support Stockings confidently predicted
that no matter which parties made gains in the election, the proportion of
women MPs would increase (Boethuis et al. 1994). Indeed womens
parliamentary representation rebounded, reaching a new high of 40 per
cent in the 1994 election. A further outcome was that at the 1993 party
congress the Social Democrats changed their by-laws to stipulate that the
party lists provide an equal distribution of sexes. Party womens share of
parliamentary seats rose from 41 per cent to 48 per cent in the 1994
election, and the Social Democratic government that came into office had
the first cabinet in which women and men were equally represented.
209

The outcome dual response was the product of the combined pressures of women inside the parties and the external womens movement.
In this debate the external movement, and especially the network, figured
much more prominently than previously. Obviously, the threat to start a
womens party was critical, and party women utilised this threat during
the candidate selection process. The Support Stockings also backed up
the threat by mounting several campaigns as shows of movement
strength. Among them was a sticker and button campaign to emphasise
that the movement was everywhere, even in the mens lavatories in the
parliament building. The Support Stockings also held a womens tribunal
in Stockholm to scrutinise the non-socialist governments roll back of the
public sector, and they urged that similar tribunals be organised across
the country.
Within the Social Democratic Party, the SSKF joined forces with
women in top party positions: Mona Sahlin, then the first woman general
secretary of the party and later deputy prime minister; Ingela Thalin, a
member of the party executive committee; and Margot Wallstrom, former
Minister of Gender Equality. Sahlin and Wallstrom were also members of
the working group to analyse party losses in the 1991 election. In addition
to pointing to the threat of a womens party during nominations, Social
Democratic women used the threat in a different way. In the words of
Margareta Winberg, president of the SSKF: Let us demonstrate that the
Social Democrats are the womens party in Sweden (SD 1993 kongressprotokoll B: 35). A working group chaired by Wallstrom charted womens
representation in a report entitled Are the Social Democrats a Womens Party?
(Ar socialdemokraterna ett kvinnoparti?). It found that womens representation was highest (approximately 40 per cent) in parliament, the executive
committee and the national committee (partistyrelse), but in key
positions in local politics (chairpersons of municipal executive boards,
the parliamentary constituency organisations, municipal constituency
organisations (arbetarekommuner) and the local chapters), womens representation was much poorer ranging from 12 per cent to 22 per cent.
To become a womens party, the report concluded, women must have the
same opportunities to influence society as men. This demand encompassed all elected positions, chairpersons and party functionaries (SD
1993). Simultaneously, as an alternative to this demand, SSKF women
proposed special womens lists (Eduards 1992; SD-motioner 1993). In
effect, SSKF women pursued the same tactics as the Support Stockings
but inside the party. If the party did not act to improve womens representation, women would introduce their own lists.
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In this debate the WPAs were symbolic. They did not enter the debate,
and they were not involved in the process of restoring womens representation in parliament. Nor would they have supported the quota solution
adopted by the Social Democrats. The WPAs had other tasks and
were fully occupied with improving womens representation in appointed
positions as part of the five-year gender equality plan adopted by parliament in 1988. The non-socialist government pledged to continue to work
along the lines of the plan. The post of Minister of Gender Equality went
to the Liberals who have been part of the alliance advocating radical
policies to secure equality between women and men. Instead it was
a quasi-WPA that played the insider role. The SSKF gendered the
debate, complaining about the male political culture of the party and
welcoming a dialogue with the Support Stockings. Now, however, top
party women aided the SSKF by throwing their political weight behind
the demand for equal representation of women and men in all public and
party offices.
The 1990s witnessed a resurgence of the womens movement. The
impressive mobilisation across classes and generations was heralded as a
new womens movement (e.g. Morgonbris 1992: 3). Its newness was
reflected in a new generation of activists, new tactics, more emphasis
on networking than previously, and a much stronger presence of trade
union women. The key organisers of the Support Stockings were women
academics and publicists mostly on the left, but they were not
party members. Several had been active in Group 8 and radical feminist
campaigns of the 1970s and 1980s. The network and the movement
represented a wide range of political views, but both were united in giving
top priority to the goal of increasing womens political representation.
The idea of a womens party provoked hostile criticism across the political
spectrum and sometimes ridicule; network leaders also paid a high
personal price, having to endure harassment at work and hate mail
(Stark 1997). Nonetheless, this counter-movement was politically
ineffectual mainly because the leading members of the network preferred
not to start a womens party. The failure to form a womens party,
however, drove a wedge into the leftist part of the movement; young
radical feminists who viewed women organising as women as the ultimate
challenge to the patriarchal order regarded the failure as a betrayal
(Ulmanen 1998).
211
Policy environment
The government was a minority centre-right coalition composed of
the Moderates, Liberals, Centre Party and Christian Democrats. The
Moderates held the post of prime minister, and the governments parliamentary base included the right-wing populist New Democrats.
Together with the New Democrats, the Moderates had made sizeable
gains and interpreted their victory and the rightward shift in the electorate
as a mandate for change.
As in the first debate, the political parties were the arena of decisions. In
three respects the policy sub-system was now more fluid and open. The
Support Stockings practised the tactics of disruption by creating uncertainty. They kept threatening to form a party but always at the last minute
postponed the decision. If they had acted upon their threat, it is likely that
the new party would have thrown the party system into a state of disarray.
Opinion polls indicated that a womens party formed by the Support
Stockings could attract 25 per cent of the vote some reports claimed
as much as 40 per cent (Stark 1997). Furthermore, the media were a
major player in the debate, showering attention on the Support Stockings
and booming up the prospects of a womens party. The constellation of
party strength also added an element of uncertainty. The 1991 election
not only removed the Social Democrats from office; it was their worst
election since 1928. The disaster at the polls caused much soul searching
within the party, opening up space for new ideas and the acceptance of
previously controversial proposals. Moreover, opinion polls showed that
supporters of left parties were most prone to vote for a new womens
party. Finally, the votes of women were perceived as especially important
to the left parties. In recent elections, a larger proportion of women than
men had voted for the Social Democrats and the Left Party.
Conclusion
In the major debates on the political representation of women, feminists
have been successful in achieving dual responses from the state and
the political parties. The debates produced a change in policy content
corresponding to movement goals, and they fundamentally altered the
understanding of democratic representation. Women participated in the
policy process, and womens political representation reached impressive
levels in a cross-national context.
The gains in representation resulted from party feminists and state feminists working in tandem. Party feminists concentrated on improving
womens representation in party and elected offices. They also spearheaded
212
Diane Sainsbury
the move to create WPAs and have filled the key ministerial positions.
Femocrats turned their energies to bettering womens representation in
appointed positions in the state bureaucracy.
The advances involved the activities of both womens policy agencies
and quasi-womens policy agencies. In the first debate quasi-womens
policy agencies within the parties achieved initial successes, while the
activities of womens policy agencies were both effective and necessary
to the outcome in the second debate. The insider position afforded
unique opportunities to influence the formulation and implementation
of policy. The crucial determining factor in this debate was the existence
of a mandate. Since nominations to elected office are the prerogative of
the political parties and state intervention in party activities has been
minimal, this area was largely outside their jurisdiction but posts within
the state were not. In the third debate it was again the womens party
organisation, but now in alliance with individual high-ranking women
party members, that influenced the outcome.
Specific characteristics of the womens movement help to explain
these successes. Consistently high priority was assigned to the goal
of increasing womens political representation, and the movement was
united behind this goal. The initial framing of the issue as the equal rights
of the citizenry reinforced movement unity. In the second debate, the
proposal to introduce quotas was divisive but the commissions compromise restored unity. The pan-partisan nature of the goal of womens
representation was also essential to the outcome of more womens nominations across most of the political spectrum in the third debate.
The stage of the movement varied (emergence and growth, consolidation
and resurgence respectively) but this conceals an important common
denominator the womens movement was not in decline but gaining
strength. Most significantly, movement access to major decisional arenas
strengthened over time through the institutionalised presence of women.
The location of feminist activists, working both inside and outside
the political parties and the state, has also been of key importance to
movement success. The stance of the movement has often been proactive
rather than reactive. This stance was possible because of the lack of an
organised counter-movement. At an early date, the political parties
went on record in support of womens representation, and the positive
positions of the parties limited the space for an overt counter-movement
to emerge.
Of the policy environment variables, the importance of frame fit stands
out. The master frame of womens representation has been its implications for democracy, and the emphasis on womens under-representation
as a glaring contradiction to democratic principles has had enormous
213
resonance. It appears to have been especially great when the policy subsystem is the parties, possibly because they see themselves as the main
vehicles for a functioning representative democracy. In contradiction to
the assumption that openness provides the most favourable policy environment, feminist successes have occurred in closed or moderately closed
sub-systems. Because of their institutionalised presence, women have
had access and opportunities to influence policy outcomes even in closed
sub-systems.
With regard to the parties in power, the Swedish case offers evidence
both for and against the hypothesis that womens movements are more
effective when parties of the left are in government. On the one hand,
the ascendancy of the left from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s
promoted a public discourse on equality and greater democracy that
feminists used, triggering the growth of womens representation in
elected and appointed positions. The movement has been more effective in increasing womens representation compared with most other
countries in this book, and the Social Democrats have been the dominant party in power. Moreover, it was a Social Democratic government
that established the first WPA. On the other hand, the non-socialist
government created additional WPAs and formalised the post of the
Minister of Gender Equality. Furthermore, during the last debate the
parties in power were a centre-right coalition. Despite this, the outcome
was a dual response. In other words, the party in power is not a necessary
condition for a dual response, especially when the policy sub-system is
the political parties. In addition, women experienced little success
in improving their representation during the first two decades of the
post-war period when the Social Democrats were also the party of the
government. Then a critical factor was missing the widespread political mobilisation of women.
Finally it needs to be stressed that the womens movement has not
influenced the outcomes of all debates on political representation.
The basic explanation lies in the low priority many feminists have
given to debates not specifically dealing with womens representation.
Furthermore, several of these debates have caused heated partisan controversy between the left and the right, such as voting rights for immigrants in parliamentary elections, undermining the prospects for an
alliance of women across parties. Such divisions can neutralise party
women who have been a political force essential to the successes of
bringing women into elected office. In short, two of the major prerequisites of feminist success in increasing the political representation of
women movement unity and high priority have not existed in several
other debates.
214
Diane Sainsbury
References
Arter, David 1999, Scandinavian Politics Today, Manchester: Manchester
University Press
Bergqvist, Christina 1994, Mans makt och kvinnors intressen, Skrifter utgivna av
Statsvetenskaplig foreningen i Uppsala 121, Uppsala: Acta Universitatis
Upsaliensis
1997, Korporatismens nedgang kvinnornas framgang?, in Anita Nyberg and
Elisabeth Sundin (eds.) Ledare, makt och kon (SOU 1997: 135), Stockholm:
Ministry of Labour, pp. 21244
Boethius, Maria-Pia, Ebba Witt-Brattstrom and Agneta Stark (eds.) 1994,
Kvinnors lilla lista, Stockholm: Norstedt
Ds A 1986, 4. Ska aven morgondagens samhalle formas enbart av man? Kartlaggning
av konfordelningen i central och regional statsforvaltning, Stockholm: Ministry of
Labour
Eduards, Maud L. 1992, Against the Rules of the Game: On the Importance of
Womens Collective Actions, Rethinking Change: Current Swedish Feminist
Research, Stockholm: The Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities
and Social Sciences, pp. 83104
Einhorn, Eric S. and John Logue 2003, Modern Welfare States: Scandinavian
Politics and Policy in a Global Age, Westport, CT: Praeger
Elman, Amy 1995, The States Equality for Women: The Equality
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Comparative State Feminism, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 23753
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1970 och 1973, unpublished paper, Department of Political Science,
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Gustafsson, Gunnel, Maud Eduards and Malin Ronnblom 1997, Towards a New
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Stockholm: Prisma
Karlsson, Gunnel 1996, Fran broderskap till systerskap. Det socialdemokratiska
kvinnoforbundets kamp for inflytande och makt i SAP, Lund: Arkiv
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Kvinnans jamlikhet 1964, Stockholm: Tiden
Larsson, Maj 1973, Kvinnor i tidsspegel. En bok om Centerns kvinnorforbund,
Stockholm: LTs forlag
Leijon, Anna-Greta 1991, Alla rosor ska inte tuktas! Stockholm: Tiden
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Swedish Case, in Joni Lovenduski and Pippa Norris (eds.) Gender and Party
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Prime Minister on Equality between Men and Women
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september 1993, Stockholm: Socialdemokraterna
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1993, Stockholm: Socialdemokraterna
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Stockholm: Atlas
11
Party government and womens

representation debates: the UK
Joni Lovenduski
Introduction
Although parliament is formally sovereign, UK decision-making is determined by party government. Supported by a single member simple plurality electoral system that normally produces working majorities for the
winning party in the House of Commons, governments are dominated by
a cabinet composed of majority-party politicians that is in turn dominated
by the prime minister and a few other senior ministers. Party government
secures the centralisation and closedness of the political system. Party
discipline secures passage of government bills. Formally accountable to
the House of Commons, the power of the cabinet is such that the system
is frequently referred to as an elected dictatorship. Major decisions are
taken by a combination of a minister, their policy advisers and civil
servants. Details of decisions are worked out in the civil service where
legislation and other policy documents are drafted. The formal arrangements conceal the extent to which decisions are significantly influenced
by the Number 10 policy machine.
Political representation takes place in both elected and appointed
bodies. The rules and procedures that determine who becomes a representative differ by sector. For elected bodies the political parties make the
most important decisions about who are the elected representatives
because nomination of candidates is a party matter, subject to very few
external constraints. In contrast, the nature of the electoral system is a
constitutional matter, subject to considerable regulation. Until recently
trade unions, business and employers associations, interest and advocacy
organisations and civil service officials made nominations for vacant
positions in government-appointed bodies whose membership is formally
agreed by ministers. Activity in support of equality of womens representation brings at least three international actors into the decision-making
frame: the United Nations, the European Union and the Council of
Europe. As with other members of the European Union, EU legislation
takes precedence in its areas of competence, which, since the 1997
216
Party government and representation: the UK
217
Amsterdam Treaty, have included equality provision for the composition

of decision-making bodies. The key institutions in which British political
representation takes place pre-dated representative democracy. David
Judge argues that British political institutions did not accommodate to
popular sovereignty. This sequence suggests that institutions adapted
inadequately to take account of democratic responsibilities. As a result,
discussion of political representation in Britain is replete with paradoxes
in which common assumptions about the democratic nature of the system
are not expressed in institutional arrangements (Judge 1999: 1920). The
growth of governance with its array of appointed bodies exacerbates this
disjunction. Whereas models of representative government suggest simple flows of power between the represented and their MPs, modern
systems of governance differentiate the represented and their relations
with government (Judge 1999: 121). Between 1970 and 2001 the rules of
the game changed for both elected and appointed offices. The most
important changes in the rules about elected office included the introduction of new elected bodies at regional level with accompanying new
electoral systems, reform of the structure of local councils and changes
in the system of elections to the European parliament. Political parties
repeatedly adjusted their rules about the selection of candidates, but
their control over nomination was neither challenged nor altered.
Rule changes for appointed office included the introduction of a system
of self-nomination and public advertisement of vacancies.1
Universe of debates
In the post-war period British debates about political representation
preoccupied only a few groups of political reformers interested in altering
the constitution. Led by the Charter 88 group a movement for constitutional reform gained support in the 1980s. Political representation issues
were a central part of its agenda. This group of intellectuals and activists
was able to mobilise informed opinion and secure support in the political
class. Demands included the establishment of Scottish and Welsh parliaments with powers to tax, directly elected by some form of proportional
representation; devolution of power to the English regions; proportional
representation for parliamentary (Westminster), local and European
elections; the reform of the House of Lords to an elected second chamber
with the abolition of its hereditary principles.
The Standing Committee on Standards in Public Life first reported in 1996. It has
changed the rules on public appointments to make them more transparent.
218
Joni Lovenduski
Much of the Charter 88 programme was incorporated into the election

manifesto of the Labour Party, elected in 1997. After 1997 reforms
included devolution of some parliamentary powers to new assemblies
under proportional electoral systems in Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland, partial reform of the House of Lords, some modernisation of the
procedures of the House of Commons, reform of local government, the
establishment of the Greater London Assembly headed by a London
mayor and the beginnings of a programme of regionalisation in
England. The European Convention on Human Rights was incorporated
into British law in the 1998 Human Rights Bill. In addition, changes in
the regulation of UK political parties from the 1990s were described by
influential commentators as amounting to constitutional change
(Beetham et al. 2002). These events generated debates that created
unprecedented opportunities to raise issues of womens representation.
The movement for equality of womens representation pre-dated the
reform and modernisation movements by many years. Comparatively
and historically, womens representation in the House of Commons was
low, rising slowly in the 1980s and more rapidly in the 1990s to a peak in
1997 of around 18 per cent at Westminster (Appendix 1). At the 1997
general election a record number of women MPs were elected to the
House of Commons. Subsequently activists were able to ensure a substantial presence of women in the newly formed Scottish parliament and
Welsh Assembly, and were immediately engaged in improving womens
share of seats in the European parliament, in local government and in
publicly appointed bodies.
Notable was the use made by womens advocates of the opportunities
afforded by the Scotland and Wales devolution debates. Feminists, many
of them political party members, intervened in this process to become
part of the movement for change. In Scotland their goal was a legislature
in which women held 50 per cent of the seats and were well represented in
its cabinet and executive. Under the umbrella of the Scottish Womens
Co-ordinating Group they lobbied the Constitutional Convention and
the political parties to gender the debate. They drew attention to the kind
of electoral system that would most benefit women and secured agreement from party leaders to this effect. As the prospects for devolution
became more promising equality advocates were involved in discussions
about institutional design. The achievement of feminist advocates in
Scotland was considerable. When the first Scottish parliament opened
for business 37 per cent of its members were women. In its first executive
women were 30 per cent of ministers, and women took 41 per cent of the
committee places including six of seventeen convenorships (Mackay
2003). Its blueprint included arrangements for inclusive consensual and
219
co-operative ways of doing business. In Wales where a similar process

occurred, women won 40 per cent of the seats in the new assembly. In
both countries the absence of incumbents was an important opportunity
for feminists. After elections in 2003 women were 40 per cent of members
of the Scottish parliament and 50 per cent of members of the Welsh
National Assembly. This example illustrates well the principles of successful intervention in British politics. It was a process that involved
classic political strategies. Engagement in debate, an understanding of
the rules of the game, the mobilisation of support, the formation of
alliances, the remaking of political discourse, and the accumulation and
dissemination of expertise all operated to affect the rules of the game.
Prior to 1997 much of the activity over womens representation took
place within the political parties, especially the Labour Party, in the trade
unions and in womens advocacy organisations, many of them ad hoc and
short lived. After 1997 activity expanded into the legislature and government as women and some male supporters in parliament and in government set about mobilising support for and sensitising opinion to the need
for special measures to achieve equality of representation. When the
general election of 2001 returned fewer women to the House of
Commons than in 1997, government acceded to demands for changes
in the law so that there would be no legal obstacles to parties wishing to
introduce quotas of women candidates. Accordingly the Sex Discrimination
Electoral Candidates Bill was introduced by the government in the
autumn of 2001 and received Royal Assent in 2002.
Debates about political representation in Britain are of three main
types. First, constitutional debates deal with the architecture of the
system. Second, debates about the rules of the game are mainly but not
exclusively carried on within political parties during periods of opposition. Such debates are highly salient because the political parties are the
foundations of the architecture of British government. Third, presence
debates treat both the composition and the existence of decision-making
bodies and may have important implications for the organisation of the
machinery of government. Not least because of the fluid nature of the
uncodified UK constitution, the three kinds of debate do not operate
within clearly defined boundaries. They may and do spill over into each
other as the discussion below suggests.
Womens policy machinery
At government level the Womens National Commission (WNC), with
responsibility for ensuring consultation between government and
womens organisations, was established in 1969. The Equal
220
Joni Lovenduski
Opportunities Commission (EOC) was established by the Sex

Discrimination Act of 1975 as a cross-sectional agency with responsibility
to oversee the sex equality legislation. From 1986 a ministerial group on
womens issues operated under the aegis of the Home Office; in 1992 it
became a cabinet committee, its brief to consider womens issues on a
cross-sectional basis. A succession of cabinet members were given, in
addition to their other responsibilities, the womens portfolio, which
they sometimes accepted only reluctantly (Lovenduski and Randall
1993). In 1997 the Labour government inaugurated a Ministry for
Women. The ministry took over responsibility for much of the equality
machinery and the minister worked with a cabinet committee on women,
which later was renamed the Women and Equality Committee to signify
concern with other equalities, such as homosexual rights. Since 1997
there have normally been two Ministers for Women, one at cabinet
level and a junior minister who takes day-to-day responsibility for
womens equality issues. As we go to press the UK government is in the
process of establishing a single equality unit with responsibility for all
equality legislation, a change expected to take place in 2006. Most British
political parties also have quasi-WPAs, which consist of womens offices,
committees and shadow ministries.
The selected debates took place in the Westminster decisional system. To
represent the decisional system it is necessary to cover the political parties,
the executive and the legislature. To represent the time span of the existence of womens policy machinery, it is necessary to begin in the 1970s.
Accordingly, one debate is selected from each part of the system, one from
each decade of the life of the policy machinery and one from each sector of
government. The three debates are on the reform of public bodies,
197981; the role of trade unions in Labour Party candidate selection,
1993; and the modernisation of parliamentary sitting hours, 2002.
All the debates addressed issues of central importance to presence in
decision-making throughout Britain and resulted in an end-point decision in a major institution during the lifetime of a womens policy agency.
Each received widespread media coverage, was the subject of parliamentary questions or other prominent discussion, and led to extensive further
debates. The devolution debates described briefly above have not been
selected because, although of some constitutional significance, they
directly affected only a small proportion of the population (less than 15
per cent). In addition they are widely written about elsewhere (Mackay
et al. 2002, 2003; Russell 2003).
221
Debate 1: Reform of public bodies, 19791981

In common with other liberal democracies, modern UK government is
characterised by the delegation of a number of responsibilities to appointed
committees, commissions, tribunals and regulatory agencies, known as
quasi-autonomous non-government organisations (Quangos). They receive
government funding to dispose of a significant amount of power and
resources. Although appointed by government they are by convention at
least partly autonomous. Debates about their accountability frequently
occur, generating considerable parliamentary and media discussion. The
debate between 1979 and 1981 was about the need to reform the Quango
system, which was judged to be out of control, unaccountable and costly.
Prime Minister Thatcher took an interest in their reduction after her election in 1979. The debate centred on the need to cut the costs of running
Quangos and eliminate duplication of tasks and other inefficiencies.
Attention focused on the growth of Quangos over a ten-year period. The
end point was in two parts: the publication of the Pliatzky Report (Report on
Non-Departmental Public Bodies) in 1980, followed by the publication of
Non-Departmental Public Bodies: a Guide for Departments in 1981. The
1980 report recommended changes that were partly implemented and
reported in the following year (Pliatzky 1980, 1981).
This was the first of a series of debates on the nature and composition of
UK public bodies. Prime Minister Thatcher promised to eliminate the
inefficiencies and expense of Quangos.2 Cuts in the social services and
education began in 1979. In the same year Leo Pliatzky, a senior treasury
civil servant, was appointed to review the functions of Quangos, identify
which were non-essential and recommend guidelines for reviewing
Quangos in the future.
Policy outcome
The first of the two Pliatzky Reports recommended a moderate cull and
included a list of Quangos that should be targeted for drastic budget and
staff cuts or elimination altogether. The 1981 report identified executive
bodies, with expenditure on capital and current account approaching
5,800 million, and employing approximately 217,000 staff. In addition,
2
A clear-out of the previous regimes appointments is a normal activity for incoming UK

governments.
222
Joni Lovenduski
Pliatzky identified 1,561 advisory bodies, and found that it was impossible to count the number of tribunals.
The policy outcome was a review of the functions of Quangos, the
abolition of more than 400 of them, reduction in the budgets given to
remaining Quangos, reduction in staff and public appointments to them
(3,700 ministerial appointments and 250 permanent posts), guidelines to
ensure their accountability to parliament, guidelines to ensure any new
Quangos were evaluated before being established, and establishment of
thirty-one new bodies to take over the functions of the eliminated
Quangos! Guidelines were established for reviewing Quangos at least
once during each parliament. Subsequently regular reports on public
bodies were published including annual press notices listing separately
bodies that had been created and abolished since the previous report.
In keeping with Thatcherite rhetoric the problem was identified as the
inefficiency and expense of Quangos. The dominant discussion frame
was of efficiency and the reduction of government spending. Blame was
put on successive governments and government departments and the
practice of hiving off government functions to non-departmental
bodies. The frame did not fit with womens movement goals.
Parliament did not discuss the effects of the elimination and reduction of
Quangos in gendered terms. No specific parliamentary consideration was
given to how the reduction/elimination of Quangos, particularly in education and health sectors, might affect women. However, there was discussion of womens representation in the debate about appointments
to the new public bodies that were established to replace the Quangos
(The Times, 5 March 1980). Jo Richardson MP, later Shadow Minister for
Women, argued in the House of Commons that women should be better
represented in public appointments. She argued for equality provision to
be written into the statutes on public appointments. The government
responded by pointing out that women were listed among the candidates
for Quango positions.
In the press both substantive and descriptive representation were discussed. Substantive issues were also trailed in a related debate about the
effects of government cuts in public expenditure, which elided with the
Quango debate. Concerns originated with reports by trade unions and
the EOC. An article in The Times (11 July 1980) discussed the loss of
223
womens administrative jobs as part of the cuts affecting the education

system and questioned the governments attacks on bureaucracy, stating
that very few administrative jobs existed prior to these cuts. The press
drew attention to cuts to Quangos in areas predominantly used by
women. Press reports presented women as a distinct group, mainly in
relation to men. Women and men had different social roles. Most of the
articles described women as a group who moved between the public and
private sphere. For example, it was stated that education cuts force
women back into the home. Differences among women were explicitly
discussed. The public/private divide was discussed prominently in terms
that depicted women making gains in the public sphere through education and increased job opportunities, and then being the first to lose status
either through job loss or because of responsibilities such as childcare, not
assigned to men. No solution to the problem was offered. By contrast,
descriptive representation, discussed in the appointments debate, led to a
clear proposal made by the Shadow Minister for Women to mandate the
inclusion of women.
The debate was gendered in three ways. First, the effects of Quango
cuts were analysed in terms of womens issues, particularly the effects of
health, education, social services and manpower cuts, and their disproportionate importance to women was made explicit. Second, the debate
considered issues that affected women more than men, such as the role of
carer, and what this means when cuts take place; an example was the
elimination of day nursery places in the education system. Third, the
public/private divide was invoked in gendered terms.
Womens policy agency characteristics and activities
The Equal Opportunities Commission was itself under some threat as it
was a Quango. It intervened in the debate mainly via the press and also
made a case for its own continuation as a necessary implementation
agency. With responsibility for sex equality issues the EOC and trade
union equality officials argued that cuts in Quangos would have a negative impact on womens employment and training. The Manpower
Services Commission (another Quango) made the same arguments.
The Shadow Minister for Women argued for the greater representation
of women among public appointees. At the time of the Pliatzky Reports
the EOC and the WNC could be described as marginal. They attempted
unsuccessfully to raise womens issues in the debate but had only rudimentary and arguably pre-feminist conceptions of womens interests.
Neither agency was well respected, and both were remote from centres
of power and thought to be weakly led by a succession of party political
224
Joni Lovenduski
appointees who had no loyalty to the womens movement.3 The EOC,

with a budget of about 1.2 million in 1981, was better resourced than
was the WNC, which consisted of a small office led by a junior civil
servant.
British feminism was revitalised in the 1970s when the Womens
Liberation Movement emerged and established feminist organisations
gained strength in the trade unions and some political parties. By the
end of the decade the movement was divided into a radical, autonomous
wing and liberal and socialist wings that were increasingly associated with
the political parties. The movement can therefore be thought of as comprising autonomous and integrated feminists analogous to the other
movements described in this volume. At the beginning of the 1980s the
womens movement was divided over issues of difference and over strategic and tactical concerns. Organisationally it was fragmented, characterised by numerous autonomous and affiliated (to parties, trade unions,
professional associations, etc.) feminist groups. The autonomous movement was not interested in womens political representation. The
affiliated movement was close to the left. Scattered individuals engaged
the issue, but there was little coherent movement organisation. Most
contemporary accounts of the womens movement suggested that it was
in decline. However, a substantial womens movement within the trade
unions and the Labour Party was (re-)emerging and would soon have an
appreciable impact. In retrospect, however, the early 1980s might be seen
as a period of consolidation as feminists learned to operate in mainstream
politics in order to resist new right policies that were thought to be
harmful to women. There was no counter-movement on the matter of
womens public appointments.
Policy environment
This was the first Thatcher government. The policy system was closed.
The political initiative largely belonged to the prime minister and senior
members of the cabinet. The dominant image of women in the debate was
Commissioners were appointed on conventions of modified bipartism whereby the head

was a nominee of the governing party and the deputy head was nominated by the opposition party, with others nominated by trade unions, business associations and the voluntary
sector.
225
the participation of the anti-feminist, anti-Quango, anti-spending Prime

Minister Margaret Thatcher.

This issue was definitely a concern for unions and Quangos, which were
prominent in the debate. The womens movements did not figure prominently in the debate. They were seldom mentioned in the press in relation
to the cuts to Quangos. At this stage issue priority was low. The autonomous womens movement did not take up issues of political representation and was not much concerned with mainstream politics, while the
integrated movement had not yet found a coherent voice. Womens
movement impact was negligible; there was no state response. No legislation resulted from the gender perspectives of the debate. The Pliatzky
Reports made no recommendations on womens representation.
However, there was an aftermath. The EOC began an active campaign
for and monitoring of womens representation on public bodies. In 1986
the Women into Public Life campaign was launched by a coalition of
womens organisations. The head of the EOC, Baroness Platt, spoke in
support of the campaign from the platform of the launch meeting. In
1988 civil servants advising ministers on public appointments were given
guidelines by the Cabinet Office (which has responsibility for public
appointments) and the EOC on how to find women suitable for such
posts. Annual reports on public appointments since 1986 include reference to womens share of new appointments. The issue remains on the
agenda and is a prominent concern of the Women and Equality Unit,
which devotes a section of its website to public appointments.
Debate 2: The role of the trade unions in the selection of

parliamentary candidates for the Labour Party, 1993
During Labours four successive periods of opposition after 1979
repeated debates over party organisation took place in a process of modernisation that afforded many opportunities for feminist advocates to
intervene. Issues of descriptive political representation were addressed
in terms of candidate selection and de-selection, leadership selection, the
composition of the partys ruling National Executive Committee (NEC),
the rules governing election to the shadow cabinet, the enfranchisement
of party members in internal decision-making, the scope and role
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Joni Lovenduski
permitted to internal factions and tendencies, and control over the promises of the election manifesto.
After their 1992 general election defeat, Labour modernisers initiated
another wave of party organisational reforms. Believing that the influence
of trade unions, which were affiliated via the partys federal structure, was
electorally damaging, modernisers sought to reduce this influence on
party decision-making. Unions had special voting rights that gave them
block votes on important decisions at all levels of the party including
leadership selection, candidate selection and policy matters. The debate
on the selection of parliamentary candidates was brought to the 1993
party conference by leader John Smith as part of a package of measures
designed to reduce trade union influence and especially to remove the
block vote.
To understand the debate one needs to be familiar both with candidate
selection and with wider debates in the Labour Party between 1979 and
2001. British electoral candidate selection is almost entirely a party
matter. The main decisions take place at constituency level. In the early
1990s trade unions had considerable influence over constituency selections because they were affiliated to the party at constituency as well as at
national level. Affiliation gave them guaranteed places on constituency
selection committees and entitled them to a fixed percentage of votes in
constituency candidate selection decisions. Their vote was normally cast
by local union officials in support of trade union candidates who were
usually men. There was no obligation for the local officials to ballot their
members before casting their vote.
Several months before the autumn annual conference, which is the
partys supreme decision-making body, Smith proposed that trade
unions give up their fixed share of the votes so that each party member
would have one equally weighted vote. Smith needed to persuade unions
to cast their votes in favour of one member, one vote (OMOV), thereby
reducing their own power in the party. The controversial move was
fiercely resisted.
Policy outcome
The proposal for OMOV was narrowly approved by party conference by
a vote of 47.5 per cent to 44.4 per cent, marking the end point of the debate.
The resolution included a clause establishing a system of all-women
shortlists (AWS) in half of the partys winnable and safe seats in the
next general election. Constituency parties chose their parliamentary
candidates from a shortlist of nominees of the various affiliated branches.
The AWS proposal therefore meant that local selectors in some
227
constituencies could consider only women when they chose their parliamentary candidate. The AWS clause was crucial to John Smiths victory.
The modernisers won because one trade union, the Manufacturing,
Science and Finance Union (MSF), which opposed OMOV, decided to
abstain because it favoured AWS (Lovenduski and Norris 1994). The
clause was inserted at the behest of the Womens Committee, a subcommittee of the partys NEC. The NEC Womens Committee debated
the options at a meeting attended by John Smith who committed himself
to implementing the proposal. OMOV was subjected to a clause-byclause vote at the 1993 conference. The clause establishing all-women
shortlists was overwhelmingly passed (Short 1996). The party quickly
implemented the policy.
The debate on candidate selection was polarised between modernisers
who favoured OMOV and traditionalists who favoured the retention of
some form of electoral college that privileged the trade unions. Founded
by the trade unions in order to facilitate the representation of their
members and interests, the Labour Party was attuned to the requirements
of descriptive representation. The debate was conducted in terms of who
should decide who the representatives would be. The issue of union
power within the party informed a discourse in which descriptive and
substantive representation were inseparable. The dominant (public) discourse of the debate was based on arguments about fairness, equity,
representation and policy improvement, and hence fit well with the
demands of the womens movement.
The gendering of the OMOV debate was made explicit in the clause of the
resolution that established all-women shortlists. The crucial actors who
gendered the debate were Clare Short, who was chair of the NEC
Womens Committee, Deborah Lincoln, who was party womens officer,
the members of the NEC Womens Committee, trade union equality
officials and womens sections, and a number of supportive party leaders
and officials including the party director of organisation, Peter Coleman.
The debate took place when the movement for womens representation in
the party was ascendant. Through the activities of womens advocates
organised in the party and unions a series of quotas had been established
at every level of the party except candidacy for legislative office, where a
target of 40 per cent was set in 1989. When it first emerged, the demand
228
Joni Lovenduski
for AWS was a radical claim made by Labour Womens Action

Committee, a leftist feminist fraction that campaigned for AWS in every
seat. Gradually the tactic gained wider support. The influential Labour
Womens Network became an advocate of the strategy. However,
although the womens conference of the party voted regularly throughout
the 1980s to introduce the system in selection, it was repeatedly voted
down at the partys annual conference and less effective methods were
adopted instead. During the 1980s changes were made to the nomination
and application stages of candidate selection. For example, constituencies were required to shortlist a woman if one applied. These stratagems
had little effect, however, and the number of female MPs grew only very
slowly. The problem was how to gain support in the party for more
effective measures to elect female MPs. The breakthrough came when
advocates switched their claim to a system of all-women shortlists in only
half of Labours vacant and winnable seats. Their position was strengthened when advocates suggested a means of implementing the proposal by
holding regional consensus meetings in which constituency Labour parties would be invited to volunteer to select from a women-only list
(Labour Womens Network 1994; Short 1996). Because the demand
was for only half of the available seats and because its implementation
was to be achieved by consensus, it could be argued that the proposal
was fair.
In the course of the debate the rights of female voters to be represented
by women and the rights of female party members to be nominated were
explicitly asserted. Within the party discussion of the proposal ranged
across substantive policy issues, the necessity for the party to present a
women-friendly image and the necessity for women to be represented by
women. Claims were made that increasing womens representation
would increase the partys appeal to female voters and its ability to
produce policies that incorporated womens perspectives (Short 1996;
MacDougal 1997).
WPA and QWPA characteristics and activities
Party QWPAs, including the NEC Womens Committee, the Shadow
Minister for Women and the party Womens Office, were extremely
active. Insider strategies were used to gain the support of party leader
and union leaders. The Smith leadership was sympathetic to its goals.
Senior party and trade union women were active and influential. By 1993
most unions had active womens officers and internal equality movements. For most of the 1990s the womens officer of the party was an
influential senior figure. QWPA activities were supported by many party
229
womens sections at branch, constituency, regional and national level.

The cross-sectional scope of the QWPA was backed by the womens
officer and included membership support, training, candidate matters,
representation and policy and communications; hence it was relatively
extensive in terms of sex equality and womens issues. The Womens
Office, headed by Deborah Lincoln, provided support for a hierarchy of
womens committees throughout the party and acted to promote womens
movement goals. Activists included many MPs and women who entered
the House of Commons in the subsequent 1997 election, including Angela
Eagle, Fiona MacTaggart and Barbara Follett. They had important support from sympathetic men. In 1993 the QWPA leadership was particularly close to both the sympathetic party leadership and the party womens
movement. It advocated womens movement goals and gendered the
debate both in the sense that it ensured that issues of womens presence
were included and by relating womens representation to issues of difference and exclusion. In contrast to the QWPAs, WPAs were not active in
the debate, which was not at that time part of their mandate. Neither the
EOC nor the WNC, whose characteristics had not changed since the first
debate, were empowered to intervene in party debates.
In this debate the relevant sections of the womens movement were those
mobilised within the Labour Party. By 1993 there was a substantial
womens movement within the party. Activists organised both to secure
womens political presence and to make sure their interests were represented (Lovenduski and Randall 1993; Perrigo 1996). Other actors
included trade union feminists, often womens officers or equality officials who were also members of the Labour Party. Key figures included
Anne Gibson (senior official of the MSF, the union whose abstention
secured the OMOV decision). The MSF was explicit that its decision was
determined by its support for all-women shortlists. As explained above,
the clause-by-clause voting on the OMOV approved it, hence OMOV
victory secured the all-women shortlist proposal.
The Labour Party itself occupied the centre and left of the political
spectrum in 1993. Within this configuration the most influential fractions
were on the centre-left of the party. Increasing womens presence was a
high priority for the integrated movement, which had already succeeded
in increasing womens representation within the party hierarchy.
Advocates were able to draw on well-placed supporters who were crucial
to the implementation stage of the policy when it was necessary for
constituencies to agree to select candidates from women-only shortlists.
230
Joni Lovenduski
A strong counter-movement existed, mainly based in constituencies

where the policy was likely to frustrate the ambitions of favourite sons.
Their voices were not decisive in the conference debate, but later they
became very important in the implementation process and were able to
overturn the policy in the courts three years later. The EOC, then led by a
Conservative appointee, intervened after the debate when two male party
opponents to the decision decided that their right to be a representative
was infringed by the all-women shortlist procedure. Supported by the
EOC they took their case to an industrial tribunal, which ruled the
procedure to be illegal under the Sex Discrimination Act (Jepson and
Dyas Elliot v. Labour Party 1996). However, on the debate in question
there was no counter-movement.
Policy environment
The moderately closed policy environment was a complex internal party
configuration of procedures, officials and factions. It is classified as moderately closed rather than closed because the recently installed internal quotas
of women on party decision-making bodies afforded access for feminist
activists. However, the traditionally masculinist culture of the Labour
Party continued to be a barrier to women. This culture, despite considerable
recent improvement, was underpinned by pervasive traditional trade union
values. Historically union organisational practices were imported wholesale
into the party and still dominated in 1993. Indeed this is what the debate was
about. This was a policy environment accessible only to well-established,
politically skilful labour movement activists.
There was no state response to this debate, which was an internal party
matter. Although there was resistance, increasing womens representation found at least some resonance with the culture of the party. The
notion that a representative must be a member of the group she represents, for example, is a principle borrowed from trade union principles of
descriptive representation. Inside the party the decision is an example of a
dual response. Within the Labour Party, womens advocates were
accepted into the policy-making process and feminist goals were agreed.
The debate outcome confirms recent research by Caul (2000) who argues
that pressure from senior party women is a major factor explaining party
adoption of gender quotas. Opponents of all-women shortlists were not
much heard in the conference where the focus was on OMOV principles.
231
Debate 3: Modernisation of the House of Commons:

parliamentary sitting hours, 20012002
During the 1990s parliamentary reform was discussed in the press in
articles, editorials and letters to the editor from private citizens. Public
opinion polls included items on reform which was also supported by
civic organisations and the business community. The reform of House
of Commons procedures is the responsibility of the Leader of the
House, who is also a member of the cabinet. The Leader chairs the
parliamentary modernisation committee set up in 1997 in the House of
Commons and the modernisation sub-committee of the cabinet
(Rogers and Walters 2004). The issue of sitting hours was raised at
the first meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party after the 1997
election. Prior to the reforms commons debate frequently continued
beyond the 10 p.m. finishing hour and, until the 1997 parliament, often
went on into the small hours of the morning. All-night sittings were
regular events.
The problem was that parliament was thought to be inefficient (it took
a long time to pass bills), old-fashioned (it worked according to practices
devised for the nineteenth century including a fair amount of ritual
and fancy dress) and not particularly successful at scrutinising government. A powerful system of party whipping controlled MPs, operating
a system that included control over career progress, timetable and
information. Sitting, or working, hours were therefore only one of
several perceived problems, but one which had considerable support
from new MPs. But the Leaders of the House, Anne Taylor and then
Margaret Beckett, believed that such reform would be unpopular and
resisted the idea until a letter calling for hours reform, originated by
Anne Campbell and circulated by Fiona MacTaggart (both feminist
MPs), obtained 200 signatures from members. When Robin Cook, a
keen moderniser, became Leader of the House in 2001, he let it be
known that he favoured sitting hours reform and acted to ensure that it
was included in the Modernisation Committee proposals (Cook 2004).
The proposals debated in October 2002 included various measures to
streamline procedures and make the commons more efficient, including
changing the hours of work, reforms to debate procedures, timetabling,
the carry-over of bills from one session to the next and time limits on
MPs speeches. Proposed changes to parliamentary working hours
proved very controversial.
232
Joni Lovenduski
Dominant frame of the debate

The dominant frame was the nature and future of democratic institutions. Differences between women and men were discussed within that
frame. The themes were modernisation and democratisation. Those who
favoured change argued that the public was entitled to the best attention
their MPs could give. The Times, for example, argued that the current
sitting hours led to the routine scheduling of important decisions at late
hours when everyone involved is mentally unfit to make them and no one
else is up to hear that they have been made (times.online.co.uk,
30 October, accessed 4 November 2002). Those who favoured reform
argued that normal hours would be more democratic and efficient, more
family friendly, better suited to the media, better for the health of MPs
and better suited to the modern era. Robin Cook expressed concern
about low voter turnout in the 2001 general election, which he associated
with the need to make the work of the Commons more accessible to the
electorate. In a speech to the Hansard Society he stated that We must
enhance the status of the House of Commons as a representative chamber, so that it is seen as a robust and effective part of the process of
government decision making (Hazell et al. 2003). Opponents, including
some Labour backbenchers, believed the reforms would further increase
executive power at the expense of the legislature. They argued that the
changes would further marginalise Westminster, make MPs look lazy,
diminish the effectiveness and importance of committee work, and create
a metropolitan elite of those MPs whose constituencies were near
Westminster. Older MPs (few in number more than half of the
Commons has experience only of Blair as prime minister and only 7
per cent were MPs during Mrs Thatchers premiership), including
Gwyneth Dunwoody, drew attention to the powers that had been
lost by parliament. In short the debate was framed in a complex set of
arguments in which concerns about democracy and accountability were
cross-cut by considerations of institutional continuity, professionalisation
and representation. Divisions between and among female and male MPs
of the various political parties from northern and southern regions made it
difficult to characterise the issue in conventional political terms. The
frame of modernisation, efficiency and democratisation was compatible
with womens movement goals.
For feminists the debate and discussion around womens underrepresentation rapidly elided into discussion about the barriers to women
233
that current parliamentary practice presented (Lovenduski 2005). The

issue of the parliamentary culture and its brutal and family-hostile working
hours and practices was highlighted by many female Labour MPs. Press
attention increased when Labour MP Tess Kingham announced that she
would stand down at the 2001 general election because it was impossible to
combine being a mother to her children with the demands made on an MP.
Her view, shared by many, was that evening hours of business and especially frequent late-night sittings were unnecessary. Many commentaries
about Commons reform made reference to its likely impact on women.
Both Joan Ruddock, former Minister for Women, and Barbara Follett, the
founder of the British EMILYs List,4 were at the forefront of demands for
a more family-friendly parliamentary regime. However, although sympathetic, those responsible for organising the vote on hours believed that
explicit reference to gender dimensions of the reforms might cost them the
support necessary to get the new arrangements through. They therefore
advised advocates to play down the family-friendly arguments of some
supporters, even though such arguments were made by both women and
men.5 Even so the issue of family friendliness was aired by MPs during the
debate. Caroline Flint said that the late Commons hours affected family
life and that she did not wish to return to her family at weekends too
exhausted to be a good mother to her children. Oona King drew attention
to the need for MPs to fulfil their family responsibilities. The views of
the family-friendly proponents were widely reported in the media. The
gendering of the debate was rudimentary. The few references to difference,
to sexuality and other issues of the body were made in reports from feminist
organisations such as Fawcett, not in parliament. Public debate and media
reports tended to depict women as a unitary group. For example, they used
the terms gender and sex interchangeably and implied that women
and ethnic minorities were necessarily separate rather than cross-cutting
categories. The parliamentary debate did not address issues of differences
among women or the possibility that women might bring different
perspectives to the parliamentary agenda. Gender was invoked in the
dichotomous terms of equal opportunities, of removing obstacles and
barriers to women most often seen as constrained by a traditional division
of labour.
EMILYs List is a Labour Party group formed to raise and allocate funds to aid women
seeking to become candidates. It is modelled on the US organisation of the same name
(see chapter 12).
Discussions between author and Meg Russell (see note 7).
234
Joni Lovenduski
Policy outcome
In September 2002, Robin Cook announced plans to rationalise the
hours by shortening the twelve-week summer break and abolishing latenight sittings. On a free vote (that is, free of official party whipping) with
an exceptionally large turnout of MPs and with considerable behind the
scenes activity by supporters and opponents of reform, the proposal to
pilot a changed schedule of sittings was accepted. According to The Times
whoops of joy by female MPs greeted the announcement of the result,
an indication that for some MPs the issue of womens representation was
part of the frame. Thus the policy outcome coincided with the goals of the
movement, a dual response.6
Womens policy agency characteristics and activities
WPA activities included reports and seminars on the issue, press releases
and public announcements. Their mandate extended by the Amsterdam
Treaty, they favoured increased womens representation and should be
regarded as advocates of womens movement goals. The Women and
Equality Unit put the transcript of the parliamentary debate on its website; the EOC, perhaps emboldened by the provisions of the Amsterdam
Treaty, officially supported modernisation in its statements and press
releases. The WNC used its extensive email circulation list to draw
attention to the debate. An email was circulated asking those on the
circulation list to write to their MPs to stress the importance of familyfriendly sitting hours for parliament. WPA activities were thus insider.
The affiliated womens movement developed significant professional
capacities by the end of the twentieth century. First, womens advocacy
organisations became more skilled at lobbying on issues of political
representation, at placing their views in the press and at networking
with influential politicians, journalists, think tanks and experts. An
important example is the Fawcett Society. Once a suffrage organisation,
it was revitalised in the 1990s. By the end of the decade Fawcett was
central to campaigns for womens political presence.
Second, feminist advocates expanded their affiliations, increasing and
extended their memberships of and activity in influential lobbying
6
The decision was partly overturned in a parliamentary vote on 26 January 2005 when the
pilot scheme was due to expire. This issue is likely to be revisited by subsequent parliaments.
235
organisations, review bodies, trade unions and pressure groups.7

Feminists were also active and prominent in the electoral reform movement,
in Charter 88 and as part of various think tanks such as the Institute for
Public Policy Research, the Bow Group and so forth. Such infiltration may
be seen as evidence of a very advanced stage of movement consolidation.
Similar developments took place in the wider womens movement, which
now was more supportive of womens political representation. For example,
the Womens Budget Group adopted a proposal to increase the proportion
of women in decision-making bodies to at least 40 per cent. Some feminists
were unwilling to engage political institutions but their views were rarely
if ever heard in the debates on constitutional reform. Although formally
cross-party, the movement organisations engaged in the debate have best
access to the political left and should thus be characterised as close to the
left. There was no feminist counter-movement. Counter-movement was
the work of the traditionalists in parliament and to a lesser extent of the
political right.
Policy environment
The policy environment was moderately closed. A feminist presence in
the cabinet after 1997 increased access for feminist advocates but in a
closed system. The first Blair government (19972001) only grudgingly
honoured its pledge to put womens issues at the heart of government
(Lovenduski 2005). After 2001 first Sally Morgan and later Patricia
Hewitt became Minister for Women. Both were feminists under whom
the WPA became more powerful and competent.

Movement impact may be classified as dual response because feminist
advocates participated in the debate and womens movement goals were
realised.
For example, Sheila Diplock became executive director of the Hansard Society after
leaving Fawcett. Becky Gill, political officer of Fawcett, moved to the TUC. Laura
Shepherd Robinson went from Fawcett to the General and Municipal Workers. Alice
Brown was appointed to the Neil Committee and later became public policy ombudsman
for Scotland. Deborah Lincoln, a Labour Party womens officer in the early 1990s, was
made special adviser to the Minister for Women. Meg Russell, former Labour Party
womens officer, went first to the Constitution Unit and then to become political adviser
to Robin Cook on House of Lords reform.
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Joni Lovenduski
Conclusion
All the selected debates addressed long-standing issues that surfaced and
resurfaced between 1970 and the present. Arguably the proportion of the
fragmented womens movement interested in issues of womens representation expanded over the years of the debates. None of the decisional
systems may be regarded as open in RNGS terms, a finding that is
congruent with most assessments of UK party democracy. Parliament
and the parties with their elaborate procedures, rules and conventions are
moderately closed, whilst the executive with its limited participation and
closely managed procedures and access is closed. However, the policy
environment did vary between issues and over time. The executive was
more open during the modernisation debates than it was during
the Quango debates. This development appears to be the result of
the favourable location of feminist advocates in the party in power. In
the third debate the womens policy agencies and the womens movement
co-operated, parts of the debate were gendered and considerable political
skill was assembled to press womens movement demands.
All three debates touched on womens descriptive and substantive
representation. However, the discourse was one in which differences
among women were rarely considered and the notion that men have
gender largely unexplored. Yet there is evidence that the gender implications of Commons modernisation were well understood by opponents.
The day after the vote to change working hours, the traditional, conservative and anti-feminist tabloid the Daily Mail raised the alarm about the
reforms, declaring that what was under threat was masculinity and
respect for the traditional skills and abilities of men. Such sophistication
is rarely found in the coverage of more sympathetic press commentators.
The research suggests that the womens movement began the period at
a stage of decline but that the integrated movement consolidated after
1979. It was close to the left, operating in the Labour movement and in
the Liberal Democratic Party. By 2001 it had some support on the right of
the political spectrum, as prominent Conservative women became more
vocal advocates of womens representation. The counter-movement
waxed and waned. For example, it re-emerged in the Liberal
Democrats after 2001 when that party rolled back its commitment to
equality of representation, reducing the number of guaranteed places for
women on its European parliament electoral lists.
Prior to 1997 WPAs had no mandate to influence womens elected
representation. Their efforts during the Quango debate were rooted in
concerns about womens economic position, which was within their
mandate. In the Labour Party debate on OMOV, the party QWPA was
237
both present and connected to party feminists. The QWPA in the Labour
Party was remarkably effective, possibly because of a widely held consensus that political parties are the appropriate forums in which to make
decisions about political representation. In addition the Labour Party
QWPA worked closely with advocates of womens political equality in the
womens movement.
It is notable that all three debates have a considerable, and continuing,
aftermath. The Quango debate turns out to have been the first of many,
and debates on candidate selection led to legal change permitting parties
to adopt quotas of women in 2001. Some mobilisation of MPs discontented with the changed working hours was apparent at the end of 2003,
and their votes proved decisive in 2005. This research highlights the
necessity for advocates of womens representation to mobilise in political
parties. It is likely that the successful establishment of party machinery
and infrastructure may be a precondition for effective state machinery.
Assuming that government will change hands at some time in the future,
then in the UK continuation of effective WPA will require at least some
integration of machinery and movement in all of the political parties.
Acknowledgements
Alison Warner of Nuffield College Oxford conducted some of the
research for this chapter. Meg Russell, Deborah Lincoln and Mary Ann
Stephenson all supplied important information and gave their time. Meg
Russell, Deborah Lincoln, Dionyssis Dimitrakopoulos, Diane Sainsbury
and Alan Ware offered helpful comments on earlier drafts of this chapter.
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12
Womens policy agencies, the womens

movement and representation in the USA
Janine A. Parry
Introduction
Debates over political representation are pervasive in the USA.1 Pluralist
by design, many of the countrys core political values and institutional
arrangements are premised on the belief that the number of voices in the
process is at least as important as the outcome produced. Definitions of
representation thus tend to focus on opportunities for participation in
public decisions. A host of the key constitutional and statutory developments of the twentieth century are telling in this regard, including direct
democracy, secret ballots, primaries, expanded voting rights, campaign
finance reform, eased voter registration, and more. American affinity for
the rhetoric of representation has hardly resulted in participatory parity,
however. The US Congress remained less than 14 per cent female in
2003; the state legislatures averaged just 23 per cent women members
(ranging from 37 per cent in Washington to 9 per cent in South Carolina);
and only six women a record currently serve as governors.
Another aspect of representation in a democratic system, especially
one so heavily draped in formal constitutionalism, is the manner in
which citizens are identified under its governing document. The Equal
Rights Amendment (ERA) of the 1970s and early 1980s addressed this
matter with respect to sex. Its ratification would have produced both
practical and symbolic effects. In the former case, most analyses conclude that it would have elevated the consideration of sex discrimination
cases to the level of strict scrutiny, the judiciarys highest threshold for
examining publicly sponsored differential treatment. Labour regulations and educational opportunities would have been greatly altered as
a result. With respect to its symbolic importance, scholars have made
the case that formal, especially constitutional, language matters greatly.
1
The author would like to thank Dorothy McBride Stetson for her expert guidance on this
project, and the National Science Foundation (Grant #SES-0084580) for its financial
support of the research reported in this chapter.
239
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Janine A. Parry
According to DuBois, for example, concepts of rights, individualism,

and equality have had a distinct impact on the way that women have
understood themselves and have expressed their sense of their proper
position in society (quoted in Zimmerman 1991: 188). Political representation, then, is a matter of identity and citizenship as much as it is a
chance to participate in the day-to-day hum of politics.
In addition to selecting debates reflective of both definitions above, it was
important to consider that the US political environment places conflicts
about political representation in several places simultaneously. Though
party organisations are notoriously weak and not among the key decision
venues, multiple arenas are found in the many layers of American government. The most important of these are the US Congress and the fifty state
legislatures. The former, after all, has been the only source of constitutional change in the nations more than 200-year history (though only
with the consent of at least three-quarters of the states), and the constitution establishes the very definition of citizenship from which the rights of
voting and office holding are derived. Filling in the gaps in such provisions have been decisions of the US Supreme Court and federal statute
(passed by both chambers of Congress and signed by the president). The
national constitution, however, leaves not only the ratification of national
amendments to the states but also the details of elections, making them
the key venues for political representation debates. Decisions about voter
eligibility, campaign finance and (sub-national) candidate qualifications
remain the sole domain of the states.
With these considerations in mind, three cases were selected from a
rich universe of national and state-level debates: ERA ratification in
Arkansas; term limits for Michigan state officials; and eased nationwide
voter registration through the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).
The first was a battle to alter the US constitution. Stretching from the
1970s into the early 1980s and providing an example of political representation in its more abstract form, the ERA debate especially the
state-by-state ratification battle demanded that Americans address the
matter of citizenship in a manner akin to the epic civil rights struggles of
the 1950s and 60s. The Michigan term limits case is representative of a
policy issue that raged nationwide in the early 1990s, and resulted in
capped terms for elected officials in nearly half the states. Finally, the
NVRA presents a policy debate over a plain Jane federal statute, one
that, though formally initiated in 1988 and closed by 1993, has been
pervasive in American politics. Taken together, these three cases,
WPAs and representation in the USA
241
spread among the key decision systems in American politics, capture the
most salient political representation conflicts in the decades spanning
from 1970 to 2000.
Debate 1: ERA ratification in Arkansas, 19721977
The addition of an explicit recognition of sex equality to the US constitution was proposed in 1923 by a radical wing of the victorious suffragists.
Though congressional passage was not achieved until 1972, nearly half the
states voted to accept the proposed amendment the same year, and in early
1973 it seemed virtually assured that Arkansas would join the rapidly
growing list of ratifying states. ERA-backers, including the state chapters of
the Womens Political Caucus, the Federation of Business and
Professional Women, and the League of Women Voters (LWV) as well
as the Governors Commission on the Status of Women (GCSW), had
been contacting policy-makers since the spring of 1972, and had received
public declarations of support by Democratic Governor Dale Bumpers and
several legislators (Woodruff 1972; Talbot 1972). But on 15 January a
busload of South Arkansas women calling themselves the Committee for
the Protection of Women disembarked at the state capitol building to
express objections to the radical changes they claimed the ERA would
invoke. The ratification debate in Arkansas was officially underway.
Law-makers and journalists considered ratification by the Arkansas
General Assembly a foregone conclusion at least at the outset. After
all, nearly one-half the states and almost two-thirds the number needed
for ratification had consented to the amendment already; it was widely
expected that Arkansas would follow suit. Proponents had been actively
courting legislators for nearly eight months, reassuring them that a constitutional guarantee of sex equality would affect legal rights only, not
social customs. Indeed, by 11 January 1973 the ratification resolutions
chief sponsor in the Senate proclaimed twenty-two affirmative vote commitments from his colleagues, four more than needed, and the House of
Representatives version had been co-sponsored by more than half the
chamber, assuring its passage (Arkansas Gazette 1973). In short, the
dominant frame of the early debate in Arkansas as elsewhere was that
ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment was a non-contentious
even symbolic gesture that women wanted and deserved.
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The debate was quickly reframed, and regendered, however, once the
opposition arrived. Central among the themes soon engaged by the pro
and anti camps was whether the Equal Rights Amendment was necessary. Opponents of the measure insisted that women already had gained
the legal rights they needed with the passage of the Equal Pay Act in 1963,
the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Equal Employment Opportunity Act
in 1972. The Fourteenth Amendment to the US constitution also was
presented as evidence that Congress already had the power to ameliorate
any remaining inequities between men and women. National anti-ERA
champion Phyllis Schlafly articulated this position during visits to
Arkansas, cautioning that the measure only stood to deny women the
extra rights and privileges they had been granted, particularly in matters
related to the workplace and the military. Advocates of ratification
acknowledged the text of the Fourteenth Amendment and other measures but pointed to the Supreme Courts failure to interpret such provisions as strictly in sex discrimination cases as it had in cases related to race
or ethnicity.
Another issue of ample dispute was whether adoption of the ERA
would reduce the rights and privileges granted to women, or instead
expand them to men. Opponents argued the former position, charging
that the amendment would nullify laws that afforded special protection
to women. Among these were the rights of women to be supported by
husbands and womens rights to their husbands property. Equally threatening was the amendments impact on the military draft. No one,
warned one state senator, would want to see these sweet, tender little
bodies with their heads torn off by shrapnel (Steinmetz 1973).
Proponents countered that most of the legal changes required by the
amendments passage were likely to take the form of female-specific
laws being extended to males. In the case of military service, expert
testimony concluded the ERA will not require that all women serve in
the military any more than all men are now required to serve. Women
who were physically unable or unqualified, who were conscientious
objectors, or who were exempt due to particular responsibilities (e.g.
those with dependants) would not have to serve (US Congress 1972: 13).
A third theme was the degree to which the ERAs passage would alter
traditional relations between women and men. Opponents suggested that
the naming of children would become muddled, placing obstacles in the
way of tracing lineage later in life. Proponents insisted that the amendment required equality in legal matters only, not in cultural customs.
Similarly, concerns about biblical interpretations of malefemale
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relationships surfaced. Carrying placards reading From the breadmakers

to the breadwinners, the anti-ERA contingent based their message on
the customary, and reputedly Bible-based, vision of femininity. A debate
that was gendered at the start as a simple matter of justice was successfully
regendered as a threat to the social order, particularly womans accepted
place in it.
Policy outcome
Shortly after the arrival of the El Dorado contingent, surprised legislators
moved to address their concerns by proposing the addition of a draft
protection amendment to the proposal, debating a resolution to amend
the state constitution to preserve the right of the General Assembly to
enact legislation giving special rights and privileges to women, and
ultimately refusing to vote on the issue in the 1973 session. Pro-ERA
momentum never recovered. After a February 1975 poll revealed, for
example, that nearly two-thirds of the House membership had decided
against the measure, it was consequently left to languish in committee.
Proponents who pressed the assembly to again take up the issue in the
following session saw similar results. By the spring of 1977, the Arkansas
ERA ratification effort was effectively dead.
Regardless of a near-perfect match between the goals of the womens
policy agency the GCSW and the goals of the other feminist activists
(not to mention the support of both political parties and numerous
churches), the substantive policy change sought was not achieved.
Thus, this debate presents an example of co-optation. The state received
individual female activists and constituencies into government, but failed
to concede to feminists goal. Instead, conservative powerbrokers relied
upon the objections of a vocal counter-movement, insisted that they were
merely arbitrating a womens war, and refused to grant the womens
movement an important form of political representation.
Demonstrating vastly more life than its predecessors, the Arkansas
GCSW of the 1970s became deeply entangled with the womens movement and the ERA-ratification effort (Parry 2000). While it also conducted research in the areas of employment, education, government,
health and childcare, it placed the ratification of the Equal Rights
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Amendment high on its agenda. Though the units administrative capacity during the decade was minimal, it did have a broad mandate that
covered or at least did not prohibit its active endorsement of the ERA.
It also had an independent (if small) budget, maintained moderately close
ties with the states progressive governors during the period of the ERA
debate, and was guided by some of the states most respected and accomplished feminist leaders.
The GCSW thus worked collaboratively with even indistinguishably
from other actors in the feminist movement in the ERA struggle.
Commissioners moved freely between the GCSW, the League of
Women Voters, the Arkansas Womens Political Caucus and other proratification organisations. Such interchangeability of personnel might
suggest that the Arkansas GCSW operated as an insider, wholly incorporating and prioritising womens movement goals and rhetoric in
gendering a policy debate of great significance to both. The problem,
however, is that neither the GCSW nor the womens movement won the
gendering war in this case. No longer a simple matter of symbolic
equality nor an overdue tool for the advancement of women, the debate
saw the ERA regendered by its opponents into a threat to the right of
women to be financially supported, to have access to sex-segregated
restrooms, to be non-combatants in military conflicts, etc. In this case,
then, the womens policy agency activities are best characterised as
marginal.
With respect to the characteristics of the feminist movement, the ERAs
early chances for ratification in Arkansas looked encouraging. Cohesion
among the states pro-amendment groups was strong, and by early 1973
the measures passage had become the priority item on the movements
agenda. The state chapters of Business and Professional Women, the
League of Women Voters, and the American Association of University
Women, long vibrant on other issues in the state, were actively lobbying
on behalf of the measure, and were working in tandem with the GCSW.
What little state labour presence there was at the time also had come to
support the ratification position by 1977. Endorsements also were
acquired from the state Democrat and state Republican parties, the
Gazette, and many mainline churches. The caveat to this happy condition lay in the strength of the counter-movement in this debate. It was
numerically smaller, but formidable in volume and rhetoric. As in
venues around the country, Arkansas anti-feminists (and imported
ones such as Schlafly) successfully cast the ERA as anti-motherhood,
245
anti-man and most importantly anti-woman. This fact, together with

a political environment inconducive to change, killed ERA ratification
in Arkansas.
Policy environment
Arkansass failure to ratify the ERA was largely a result of a policy
environment in which the central powerbrokers possessed a negligible
commitment to equal rights, and to the policy process. On the first score,
it was a host of conservative state legislators, not the relatively liberal
governors of the 1970s, who maintained responsibility for deliberating
over the merits of ratification. The formers record on progressive change
was not promising. The fact that Representative Paul Van Dalsem was an
early champion of the amendment in the House is telling in this regard.
Van Dalsem was widely perceived to be pushing ratification in 1973 to
atone for an infamous declaration ten years earlier that women who
meddled in politics should remain barefoot and pregnant (Thompson
1998). Van Dalsems meagre efforts to advance the measure broke down
when he angered his colleagues by delaying a vote on an unrelated matter.
They retaliated by blocking his pro-ERA resolution. Such contempt for
the normal legislative process was a consequence of the low electoral
competition and thus closed policy environment endemic to the
twentieth-century American South. Arkansass legislative turnover had
long been among the lowest in the country, leading to the rise of powerful,
forty-year veterans who often were stalwart protectors of the status quo
(Blair 1988). The result was a secretive, old school modus operandi, an
environment in which backroom deals were frequently struck and votes
were conducted by voice if at all. New ideas feminist or otherwise were
destined to fail.
Debate 2: Term limits in Michigan, 19911992
The late 1980s and early 1990s were ripe for the re-emergence of term
limits in American politics. A banking scandal in the US House, a floundering economy and dismally low electoral competitiveness at the
national level produced a sour mood. The solution or at least, in
many eyes, a just punishment to be exacted on the ruling class was
to cap the number of terms elected officials could serve. Receiving little
support for the idea from national office holders (despite polls which
consistently registered overwhelming public support), term limits
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Janine A. Parry
advocates turned to the individual states, especially those in which citizens could take policy matters into their own hands through the mechanisms of direct democracy. California, Colorado and Oklahoma led the
way in 1990 by limiting the service of their state legislators. Activists in
other states soon followed suit, adding to their proposals caps on the
terms of executive officers as well as members of Congress.
Michigan which recently had seen lower-than-average state legislative turnover and other signs of increased legislative professionalisation
and at the time was represented by some of the longest-serving national
elected officials in the country was among these other states. Though at
least two earlier Michigan petition drives failed to produce the necessary
number of signatures to present voters with a term limits proposal, in
December 1991 proponents submitted nearly 150,000 more signatures
than required. The measure was among the most comprehensive of any
proposed: state representatives were limited to three two-year terms, state
senators to two four-year terms, state executive officers to two four-year
terms, US Representatives to three two-year terms, and US Senators to
two six-year terms. In addition, a lifetime cap was to be placed on service
at each level.
Proponents painted a picture of a term-limited Michigan as one enjoying
the leadership of citizen legislators preferably from business backgrounds rather than career politicians. By implication, anyone could
make a bid for public office, serve a few terms, and return home before
becoming too cosy with crooked lobbyists and too comfortable with
the trappings of public life. (This was a claim that the anti-term-limits
alliance of 36-year congressional veteran John Dingell, the Upjohn
Corporation, the Big Three automakers and the unions buoyed considerably.) Term limits opponents relied upon equally familiar arguments:
inexperienced law-makers would be at the mercy of complex issues,
career civil servants and professional lobbyists; citizens, faced with
lame-duck incumbents, would lack leverage over representatives in their
final terms; and a term-limited Michigan would find its national power
diminished in comparison with the congressional delegations of nonterm-limited states. Good government groups further scolded that term
limits were a shortsighted solution to the long-term problem of weakened
government accountability. Common Cause activists, for example,
championed campaign finance reform as an alternative that would give
challengers a better shot, while the League of Women Voters favoured
greater citizen responsibility in carefully examining the actions of their
247
representatives. As League President Fran Parker repeatedly insisted in

printed news accounts, Michigan already had term limitations: they were
called elections (Daubenmier 1992; GONGWER 1991).
Participants in the Michigan term limits debate made few public arguments about the issues gender implications. Though the activist who
spearheaded the campaign once noted that term limits would destroy the
good ol boy system by opening things up for more women, more
minorities to serve, little more was said on that point by him or anyone
else (Boyle 1992). Instead, in Michigan and nationwide, concern over the
preponderance of white males serving in elective posts remained secondary to punishing current office holders regardless of their demographic
characteristics. Further, while there was some scholarly discussion in the
1980s and 1990s of the role of incumbency as an obstacle to womens
political progress (see, for example, Burrell 1994), most groups advancing women in politics either remained silent or expressed ambivalence
about the idea. A spokeswoman for the Womens Campaign Fund, for
example, noted at the time that mandatory election turnover opens the
system. Yet, she added, the slate is wiped clean and theres not a lot of
places for those (currently elected) women to go (Decker 1991). Gloria
Woods, then president of Michigan NOW (National Organization of
Women), recalled similar feelings among her membership: We did not
take a stand in part because our closest allies in the legislature were
Democrats, she noted, mostly women, all of whom would be termed
out if the legislation passed. Further, it was not at all clear that the
possible gains women might make with term limits would mean an overall
gain in allies . . . (Woods 2002). Gender, then, was not central to the
framing of this debate.
Policy outcome
Intermittent polls conducted through the summer and autumn of 1992
revealed strong majorities in favour of the adoption of term limits in
Michigan, and the measure ultimately won the approval of nearly
60 per cent of the voters. Two post-election legal challenges were
mounted, but the state forged ahead with state-level implementation in
1998, making it one of nineteen states to adopt term limits of some
variety, and one of several to see little change in its proportion of
women legislators (NCSL 1998; Schneider and Schaffer 1999). It is
ironic in light of the movements largely congressional origins that the
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sections of the numerous state provisions targeting national-level officials

were later struck by the US Supreme Court (US Term Limits, Inc. v.
Thornton, 1995). Thus, by the late 1990s members of numerous state
legislatures and many of their executive branch peers found themselves
subject to mandatory electoral turnover; this despite the fact that the
majority of state officials including those in Michigan had voluntarily,
and regularly, exited their posts for decades.
Evaluating the impact of the womens movement is especially difficult in
this case. While the female elites who were involved in the debate (e.g. the
heads of the League of Women Voters and Common Cause) largely
opposed the idea, women voters facilitated its super-majority approval
at rates equivalent to men. In neither case, however, was the advancement of women much articulated in the deliberations. After the dust had
settled, however, several womens movement actors publicly expressed
doubt that term limits would advantage women. Thus, if we consider
both the opposition of the female LWV and Common Cause activists
during the main debate period (though it was not based in gendered
thinking), the ambivalence of NOW, and the post-election scepticism of
many womens movement activists, the relationship between the
womens movement and official response in the Michigan case can best
be described as co-optation. Term limits were adopted over the albeit
barely articulated and/or belated objections of the Michigan womens
movement actors.
The current Michigan Womens Commission was established by statute
in 1968. With a staff of three, a budget of about $300,000 and a broad
mission, the unit was among the best resourced in the country at the time
of the term limits debate. Yet, many activists criticised Governor Englers
1991 decision to revoke the commissions independent status and move it
under the umbrella of the state Department of Civil Rights (Boyle 1994).
As a consequence of this reorganisation or, perhaps, in reaction to the
changed partisan balance in the governors appointees (from Democrat
to Republican) from commissions past, many in Michigans independent
womens movement were critical of the units 1990s record. NOW
president Gloria Woods praised the commissioners in 1994 for their
concern and caring, for example, but suggested they had failed to be
voices of leadership for women. They need to be out there speaking for
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us. Unfortunately, theyve been quiet, she said (Boyle 1994). A review of
the commissions publications especially its newsletter Michigan Women
over its forty-year history suggests that it was engaged in a narrower range
of policy advocacy activities in the 1990s than in the 1970s and 1980s. In
terms of the role of the commission in Michigans adoption of term limits,
there is a silent symmetry between the womens policy agency activities
and the womens movement. While a few members of the latter group
showed late awareness of the gender implications of such a policy, neither
much engaged the matter. Thus, the value of the intervening variable
is symbolic.
Michigan long has had a relatively rich relationship with the second wave
womens movement. In 1962 it became the first state to establish (under
gubernatorial prerogative) its own womens commission (Harrison
1988). The adopted home of a pivotal figure in the womens movement
nationally (Democratic US Representative Martha Griffiths who in 1972
steered the Equal Rights Amendment out of the House Judiciary
Committee), it also included a state-level sex equity provision in its
1963 constitution and ratified the national ERA. Signs of continued
vibrancy including consolidation and cohesion abound. The state
was home in the 1980s to a coalition of twenty-six womens groups
the Michigan Womens Assembly devoted to womens economic selfsufficiency, choice, and the success of the Equal Rights Amendment
(Moen 1991). Another coalition supplemented by an alliance with the
states formidable union presence emerged in the mid-1990s to combat,
successfully, attacks on affirmative action. The Michigan womens movement, like that in other states in recent decades, is close to the Democratic
Party, or at least allied with Democratic legislators with whom they share
common policy goals (Woods 2003). A counter-movement exists in
Michigan to be sure, but does not appear to have been particularly strong
during the debate period, perhaps because the ascendance of conservative
Republican John Engler to the governorship reduced the perception of a
feminist threat. Regardless, the fact that womens movement actors were
divided on the term limits issue (as noted above) make its absence from
the feminist agenda no surprise.
Policy environment
Michigans moralistic culture joined contemporary political conditions to
provide a nurturing environment for a policy of mandatory electoral
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Janine A. Parry
turnover (Browne and VerBurg 1995). A weakened economy, a series of

national political scandals, the perception of a governing class and, most
importantly, the availability of the initiative an enormous exception to an
otherwise closed policy sub-system as a means to circumvent the states
elected representatives facilitated the measures adoption. In addition,
after two decades of slim majorities or split control in the state legislature,
Michigan Democrats a party less enamoured of the idea were in the
minority during the debate period. Republicans held the majority in the
state Senate, and the state House was closely divided. And, though several
former Democratic governors were active in the anti campaign, Governor
Engler offered considerable support to the term limits cause.
Debate 3: National Voter Registration Act, 19881993

Voter turnout in the USA suffered a noticeable decline in the second half
of the twentieth century (Rosenstone and Hansen 1993; Cooper 2000).
While the reasons for this development are complex, state and national
policy-makers of the 1980s and 1990s zeroed in on relaxing the countrys
voter registration requirements as the cure for voter malaise. Because the
vast majority of adult Americans have a drivers licence, linking voter
registration to visits to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) provided a logical means to reduce some of the costs traditional to the
process, including tight controls on the place and time of registration.
The states first experimented with this type of reform in 1975 when
Michigan began training DMV employees to assist in voter registration;
Alaska, Arizona and Colorado followed suit in the early 1980s. By 1993,
two-thirds of the states had established some kind of motor-voter programme (Congressional Digest 1993).
Spurred by the earlier state actions and by good government groups
like the League of Women Voters, federal motor-voter legislation was
introduced in Congress in 1988. It required all states to supply registration forms at motor vehicle agencies as well as state offices serving welfare
recipients, the unemployed and the disabled. Though the House passed
the measure in 1990 and 1991, Republican members blocked floor consideration in the Senate. Republican President George Bush eventually
received a compromise measure in July 1992, but promptly vetoed it.
When an override effort failed in the Senate two months later, Democrat
Bill Clinton made the matter a campaign issue in his bid for the presidency that autumn. Indeed, when Clinton assumed office in January
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1993, congressional Democrats elevated national motor-voter legislation

to the top of the agenda.
This conflict emerged as a highly partisan one in which nearly all of the
arguments advanced were seen as thinly veiled references to the potential political advantage for Democrats in reaching out to unregistered
voters. The measures sponsors insisted this was not their aim. Al Swift
(D-WA) said he sought to reach the 92 per cent of the population that
had regular contact with the state DMV and the remaining 8 per cent
(largely the disabled and low-income and/or inner-city residents)
through other agencies only because it was a convenient way to interest
voters in elections. In answering the suggestion of angling for political
advantage for his party, Swift pointed to early twentieth-century voting
reforms that had indisputably targeted immigrants and minorities as
undesirables in the political process. Erasing this stain by making
registration easier, he maintained, was the measures only aim
(Sammon 1993a, 1993b).
Opponents were careful to applaud the bills objective of increased
voter turnout, and confined their objections to its presumed secondary
effects. The risk of election manipulation and burdensome administrative
costs were primary among these. By restricting states authority regularly
to purge voter rolls of inactive registrants, increasing the burden on state
election officers to verify and track the current addresses of mail-in
registrants, and presenting registration opportunities to potentially ineligible persons, they argued, the country would see duplications, triplications and quadruplications of voter registration forms and soaring state
election budgets. The opposition also raised the possibility that public
assistance recipients would feel coerced into registering and voting in a
particular way (Senate Report 1989). Finally, some Republicans openly
challenged the nature of the non-DMV registration venues Democrats
proposed. All of us are interested in extending the right to vote to all,
asserted one exasperated Representative. But at unemployment and
welfare offices only? . . . if you want to pick a party affiliation of these
people, take a guess. You wont pick ours (Sammon 1993a).
Participants in the debate took little note of its potential gender implications, at least explicitly. But implicit references to the impoverished, the
working poor and clients of social service agencies were abundant.
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Janine A. Parry
When the Senate temporarily stripped the measure of the registration

requirements at agencies other than the DMV, for example, the president
of the LWV said the move suggested that voting is a constitutionally
guaranteed right only for some Americans; low-income and jobless citizens, as well as citizens with disabilities, need not apply (Sammon
1993c). The job of making it explicit that these low-income, jobless
citizens were most likely to be women fell to political scientist and reform
activist Frances Fox Piven. In a 1996 write-up chastising some states
efforts to thwart NVRA implementation, Piven, and co-author Richard
Cloward, wrote:
The most contentious part of the [measure] is the requirement that public
assistance recipients be offered registration. The reason is obvious. Public assistance recipients are the most Democratic constituency in the electorate. They are
(1) not well educated, poor, young, unmarried black and Hispanic women, many
of whom could be registered in [social assistance] agencies, as well as working
women and men who receive Food Stamps or Medicaid to supplement their low
wages or lack of health benefits; and (2) not-well-off elderly, especially women,
many of whom could be registered in Food Stamp and Medicaid agencies. (Piven
and Cloward 1996: 40)
Similarly, in CQ Researchers later examination of low voter turnout,

Piven uses a gendered illustration to support her contention that workday election dates are the primary reason voting rates have remained low
despite national motor-voter reform. Work time has increased so much
among American adults, she notes. Think about a working mother who
has to take the kids to day care before she can go to work, and then pick
them up in the evening, and they may not even be in the same location. If
she doesnt have a car, going out and voting is not going to be high on her
list of priorities (Piven quoted in Cooper 2000). The issue frame in this
debate thus might be characterised as gender-subtle.
Policy outcome
Encouraged by the election of Democrat Bill Clinton, motor-voter backers moved quickly to push the measure forward in 1993. It passed easily
through the House Administration Committee in late January, then
through the House itself largely along partisan lines (259160) in a
matter of days (Sammon 1993a). After suffering somewhat more trouble
in Senate committee, the measure ultimately cleared the upper chamber,
6236, with six Republicans joining the Democrats to make it filibuster
proof (Sammon 1993b). The final measure, Public Law 10331,
required states to allow people to register to vote when applying for a
drivers licence and interacting with certain public agencies (though not
253
unemployment compensation sites); states also had to provide for mail

registration. Signed by the president on 20 May 1993, the National Voter
Registration Act (NVRA) took effect on 1 January 1995.
Of the actors involved in the conflict, only one Piven articulated an
expressly gendered frame of reference. Though numerous members of
the LWV played an active role (it was a League-backed ballot initiative in
fact that brought about Colorados 1984 motor-voter programme), their
participation was offered in a non-gendered way (Savage 1990). Yet, the
frequent references by League spokeswomen and others to the poor and
to public agency clientele indisputably suggest to any moderately savvy
political actor that women would be disproportionately advantaged by
this measure. Likewise, a 1996 resolution at the annual meeting of the
National Organization for Women reveals that the organisation later
realised NVRAs potential in combating the Republican gains of 1994
(NOW 1996). Together, such observations move this case toward dual
response. Women who were friends of the feminist movement were
involved in the policy process, and the state offered substantive policy
change in congruence with their wishes.
There has not been a full-fledged womens policy agency at the national
level in the United States since the demise of a series of short-lived
presidential commissions in the 1970s, though various advisory councils
and commissions of a specialised nature do exist. Most important among
them is the US Womens Bureau. Established within the Department of
Labor in 1920 to advance the interests of female labourers, its mandate
gradually has been broadened to encompass all manner of workplace
equality and anti-discrimination efforts. It does not include, however,
issues of elections or political representation and thus did not partake in
this debate; hence its role was symbolic.
A quasi-WPA, the Congressional Caucus for Womens Issues
(CCWI), would have been the most likely candidate for involvement on
an issue of this sort. It also was absent, however, also making its role
symbolic. Established in 1977, the CCWI was a legislative service organisation of Congress bringing together a group of office holders with
common interests. Guided over the years by a host of the most widely
recognised feminist members of Congress (e.g. co-chairs Patricia
Schroeder, D-CO and Olympia Snowe, R-ME), it served as a nexus
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Janine A. Parry
between congresswomen and womens groups, enjoying the support and

advancing the policy demands of feminist organisations including NOW
(making it a quasi-WPA). Membership dues ($1,800 for congresswomen
and $900 for congressmen in the early 1990s) had long allowed the
caucus to hire staff, produce publications, and host media and advocacy
events, but a surge in affiliations after the 1992 elections (in which a
record number of women were elected) led to an unprecedented degree of
institutionalisation during the 103rd Congress. According to Gertzog
(1995), this surge in size and capacity enabled the caucus to play an
instrumental role in several key policy debates of the 1990s, especially
on health equity, family and medical leave, and domestic violence and
sexual assault. A close connection to the White House after Clintons
election facilitated its success. Yet, while members also took up the
banners of, among other issues, financial aid for college students with
children, childcare for participants in national job training programmes,
tax code reform and reproductive choice (marking a fundamental shift in
the caucuss past voice on the issue), there is no evidence that the CCWI
weighed in on expanded voter rights.
With respect to the womens movement, some have suggested that
various developments of the 1980s resulted in a diminished womens
movement in the 1990s (Costain 1992). Yet, the adoption of the 1993
motor-voter act in some ways coincided with a rejuvenation of feminist
policy activism in the USA. Not only did both popular and scholarly
interest in the gender gap and womens candidacies burgeon, but female
activists demonstrated increased levels of political sophistication that
enabled them to counter the decline in mass membership among movement organisations. From the massive expansion of womens political
action committees, or PACs, dedicated to making campaign contributors to
female candidates (e.g. EMILYs List2), to the establishment and growth
of women-oriented think tanks (e.g. the Institute for Womens Policy
Research), to the lobbying alliances crafted by direct service providers
(e.g. the national Coalition against Domestic Violence), by the early
1990s the national network of womens policy organisations had mastered insider tactics (McGlen and OConnor 1998; Spalter-Roth and
Schreiber 1995). Thanks to a continued alliance with the Democratic
2
EMILY is an acronym for Early Money is Like Yeast. Founded in 1985 EMILYS list is
the largest and best known of the womens PACs in the USA. Its contributors seek to elect
pro-choice Democratic women to national, state and local office.
255
Party and the election of its first president in twelve years, too, the movement also experienced several key policy victories. Among these were the
rescission of the gag rule in family planning policy, the adoption of the
Family and Medical Leave Act, and executive and judicial rejection of a
partial birth abortion ban. Policy setbacks including attacks on abortion rights and a controversial welfare reform package certainly
occurred as well, a fact that speaks to the strong and cohesive countermovement which yet retained much of its 1980s influence in Congress
and the courts. Nowhere in this flurry of activity, however, was mention
made of loosened voter registration rules.
Policy environment
The fact that both chambers of Congress were Democratically controlled during precisely the same years as the voter registration debate,
and that Democrats had regained control of the White House by the
time of its resolution, was extremely significant to NVRAs passage. It
also impacted the dominant discourse of the early 1990s. The loss of the
White House after twelve years, and the loss of the one congressional
chamber they had managed to dominate only briefly since the Second
World War, set Republicans on edge. And with good reason. NVRA was
one of a trio of political reform bills that Democrats pressed for in the
early months of the Clinton administration. Many Republicans fought
all three (the others involved campaign finance reform and loosened
rules on political activism by federal employees), fearing a formula for
permanent Democratic control should they be adopted (Alston 1993).
Finally, in terms of the penetrability of the debate arena, decision subsystems in the USA are rarely more open than congressional debates,
especially those as widely publicised and easily graspable as the motorvoter proposal. The conflict which occurred in committee, on the
chamber floors and in the media consequently attracted a plethora of
policy experts, party activists, lower-level elected officials, government
reformers and others.
Conclusion
These debates on political representation in the USA suggest a limited state
response to the womens movement. Only in the case of eased voter registration did feminists see dual response. In the other two debates ERA
ratification in Arkansas and term limitations in Michigan the policies
adopted ran counter to movement goals. This may not come as any great
surprise in light of the absence of state feminism in these cases. Only the
256
Janine A. Parry
Arkansas womens commission made an effort if an unsuccessful one to

gender the debate in a manner congruent with womens movement goals. In
the case of Michigan term limits and the national move to ease voter
registration, the WPAs were conspicuously absent.
Such a spotty record for the womens movement is primarily attributable to the policy environment, especially the party in power. In each
case, though it is less clear in the largely voter-driven situation in
Michigan, the majority party (or faction) achieved policy victory. Even
the strength of the counter-movement in the battle over the Arkansas
ERA would not have triumphed without the assistance of conservative
Democrats in the legislature. That womens movement characteristics
were not essential to shaping these debates is not to suggest, however, that
feminists were in decline, lacked cohesion or failed to align themselves
with friendly power players. It is more likely the case that many of the
major late-twentieth-century debates over political representation were
not priority issues for second wave feminists in the USA. In fact, if the
Michigan Womens Commission and the Congressional Womens
Caucus failed to inject gendered language into political representation
debates (making them merely symbolic), we see here that it was largely
because the womens movement did too. Why?
There are two possibilities. The first is that in their fervour to effect
substantive policy change in womens issues (e.g. reproductive health,
childcare, sex equity in education and the workplace, etc.), activists overlooked the potential for the kind of procedural policy change that debates
over political representation necessarily engender (see Rochon and
Mazmanian 1993). Why bother with voter registration when abortion
rights are under attack? Whether over-committed or simply negligent,
womens movement activists may have admonished those in the seats of
power to remember women, but underestimated the potential of mandatory electoral turnover and eased voter registration actually to place
women in those seats of power.
The second possibility is that many advocates for womens rights
considered the thorough gendering and regendering of the Equal
Rights Amendment to have been the very cause of its demise, and therefore a tactic to be avoided in future struggles. Recall that the ratification
debate occurred at the beginning of the period under study, leaving the
remaining conflicts to occur after this crushing disappointment. One
lesson to extract from such a defeat is that if you want to win, make the
issue about anything except women, particularly substantive changes in
their status (see Mansbridge 1986). Several of the Arkansas actors in fact
raised this point about their later activities on behalf of womens rights,
suggesting that it led many of them to engage in a kind of stealth
257
feminism (Blair 1998). But, if the absence of gendered elements in the

debates explored here does indeed represent an intentional post-ERA
strategy, activists of the new century may want to proceed with caution.
They may have been defeated in the most significant gendered debate of
our time, but this chapter reveals that the sex-neutral language of good
governance offers no guarantee.
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13
Conclusions: state feminism and political

representation
Joni Lovenduski, Claudie Baudino, Marila Guadagnini,
Petra Meier and Diane Sainsbury
Womens movements and state feminism
The main purposes of this study of the politics of political representation

decisions are, first, to determine and explain variations in the success of
womens movements in opening democratic processes to womens participation and concerns, and, second, to explore whether the state, as a
result of effective WPA activities, has intervened to achieve such success.1
Let us now return to our original questions, the questions that framed this
comparative study. Do womens policy agencies matter? And if so, why?
Have WPAs made democracies more representative and democratic?
Have WPAs advanced the demands of the womens movements in a
way that has indeed improved representation in both descriptive and
substantive terms?
In this chapter we combine the evidence from the eleven countries to
answer our core research questions. We make a comparative analysis of
the results of the country studies that have been presented in a more
detailed and discursive manner in the individual chapters by applying the
model presented in chapter 1. There are costs and benefits to this
approach. Inevitably and regrettably our comparative analysis loses
much of the wealth of detail and insight provided by the authors of the
country chapters. But with comparison we gain the ability to detect trends
in the capacity of womens policy agencies to help womens movements
and women in general to participate in and influence decisions about
policy on political representation.
Debates about political representation may differ from those on other
policy areas for a number of reasons. First, debates about who may be
1
This chapter was written by Joni Lovenduski using summary and analytical materials
supplied by the other editors. The final version benefited from extensive comments by
Diane Sainsbury. We are also grateful to Amy Mazur and Dorothy Stetson for offering an
exemplary map of the terrain of debate analysis in their earlier books for the project and to
Joyce Outshoorn for letting us see advance chapters from her book on prostitution
debates.
260
Conclusions: state feminism and representation
261
representatives are often constitutional debates, subject to special procedures in addition to or instead of normal legislative processes. Thus we
find that such institutions as constitutional courts may be involved, or
referenda may be held or enhanced legislative majorities may be necessary
to make decisions. Second, many of the debates about political representation of the past thirty years have been debates specifically about the presence
of women in decision-making institutions. They are gendered at the outset
at least insofar as they draw attention to the presence of men and the
absence of women from political decision-making. Therefore the central
research question shifts to one of how the debate frames of womens movement and WPAs affect an already gendered discourse. In many cases,
especially in the 1990s and later, we are looking at the extent to which
gendering alters in debates that were explicitly gendered at the outset.
Third, major divisions in movements between integrated and autonomous
feminists may take on a different significance as, for the most part, integrated feminists mobilise their political skills to engage political institutions
while autonomous feminists, although often supportive of claims for presence, in practice remain preoccupied with other concerns. Fourth, the role
of the political parties comes to the fore and may be more important than
the state in decision-making. As stated in the introduction to this volume, in
European systems of party democracy it is political parties that make the
crucial decisions about who our representatives should be. There is considerable institutional variation here. One such variation is the extent to
which political parties are constitutionalised, otherwise regulated and therefore subject to legal intervention in their decision-making. However,
although decisions about political representation may eventually play out
in state institutions, their formulation and development tends to be a party
matter. Political parties decide whether to take action on the issue and also
determine such procedural matters as whether political representation
should be part of the mandate of state womens policy agencies. Thus in
many debates not only are the internal party institutions established to
promote women in the party more important actors than WPAs, but they
also have similar characteristics and mandates to state WPAs. In this
research such institutions are called quasi-womens policy agencies
(QWPAs) and are considered separately from WPAs.
Womens movements and political representation: variations and
trends
In our comparative analysis we use country-based definitions of feminism as
our benchmark. In the preceding eleven chapters each author employs the
definitions of feminism that are current in the country under consideration at
262
Joni Lovenduski et al.
the time of the debate. Thus we are able to keep in view the diversity of
womens movements and feminisms that characterise each country, while at
the same time having the benefit of a definition that is comparative. On the
whole the womens movements described in this collection did well. Most
were in a period of growth or consolidation. Although our coverage is not
comprehensive, the debates cover a considerable time span; hence our sketch
of the movement is more than a collection of scattered images. Only in
Germany did womens movements decline over the long term. The movements have not resisted the impact of time. In many countries they were in a
period of re-emergence or growth during one or more debates, suggesting a
cyclical evolution. The movements were generally close to the left, with the
exception of parts of the movement in the Finnish and Swedish debates,
where in some cases they were both close to the left and pan-partisan.
Womens political representation was often not an immediate demand
of the new womens movements. Other issues, such as economic rights
and reproductive rights, had higher priority. There were also differences in
the timing of raising womens representation issues. In the Netherlands,
Sweden and Finland equality of womens representation was raised in the
1960s. In the 1970s it arrived on the agenda in Austria, Germany, the UK
and the USA. In the 1980s quotas of female representatives became a topic
in many countries. By the end of the decade womens political representation was an issue in all of the countries discussed in this volume, an effect
not only of womens movement activity but also of opportunities afforded
by extensions of mandate brought to womens policy offices by the
Amsterdam Treaty in EU countries. The late 1980s and 1990s also witnessed debates on womens access to administrative positions and posts on
appointed bodies. Electoral and constitutional reforms were increasingly
the subject of debate in the 1980s and 1990s.
The scope of the debates
The debates deal with several facets of political representation. A central
concern was the presence of women in decision-making positions, that
is the equal access of women and men to various sites of decisionmaking in the policy process, with some considerable emphasis on
equal representation in elected assemblies and cabinet positions.
Womens movements also attempted to secure womens presence in
public administration and in the public bodies charged with preparing
legislation. Internal party positions were a target for mobilisations.
Debates dealt with both the mechanisms of and preconditions for political representation and the nature of representation itself. Among the
mechanisms discussed, most attention was paid to electoral systems and
263
their impact on which people are represented and to formal quotas and
their effects. Debates on the preconditions of political representation
focused on citizenship and constitutional amendments to guarantee the
equal rights of men and women or to promote equal access to political
office.
The debates occurred in diverse policy arenas and reflected an impressive
array of strategies to achieve equal representation between the sexes.
Strategies ranged between the two extremes of recommended guidelines
(voluntary) and constitutional reform (compulsory). They included the
introduction of formal party quotas and legislated quotas, the launching
of the zipper system (alternating candidates of each sex on the party ballot)
and a system of all-women shortlists, attempts to tie public party funding to
the nomination of female candidates, special subsidies to encourage women
to enter politics, threats to create a womens party or to present all-women
lists of candidates as alternatives to the regular party lists, affirmative action
and the establishment of gender equality or womens policy machinery in
parties and in government.
The policy settings of debates on political representation have varied.
Political party guidelines and regulations are normally the prerogatives of
the parties, with decisions confined to party organisations and members.
The first step to winning elected office is nomination and the political
parties are the nominators. In nearly a quarter of the debates the parties
were the major decisional arena (Table 13.1). In this respect the issue of
political representation differs from previous issues explored by the
RNGS network job training (Mazur 2001), abortion (Stetson 2001)
and prostitution (Outshoorn 2004). In those debates on representation
where the outcome was a law or a constitutional reform, the executive and
the legislature were the key arenas of decision-making. The special
arrangements typically required for constitutional amendments, however, often increases the number of veto sites. For example, constitutional
courts may affirm or reverse the policy decision as they did in France in
the 1980s and Italy in the 1990s.
The issue of womens representation came to the public agenda via a
number of routes. A common route was the general discourse on democracy. A closely related pathway was discussion on renewal or modernisation of a party or another major institution. A further catalyst was
disappointments regarding the lack of progress in the numbers of
women in office or the way previous reforms to improve womens representation were implemented. In most debates on womens representation
it was women who brought the issue to the public arena, but several
debates also reveal the importance of male allies and cross-gender
alliances.
264
Table 13.1 Content and outcome of policy debates

Outcome
Austria
AU1 Access to the cabinet, 19751979
AU2 Civil service reform, 19811993
AU3 Public party subsidies, 19941999
Belgium
BE1 Quotas for electoral lists, 19801994
BE2 Quotas for advisory committees,

19901997
BE3 Quotas for federal government,
19911999
25% women in cabinet, accept integration of

women in policy process.
Equal treatment law with most of womens
movement objectives incorporated.
Womens quota not linked to party finance.
Government adopts law mandating at least
25% women on lists to 1999, at least 33%
after 1999.
Women to make up at least one-third of
advisory bodies.
Articles allowing insertion of minimum quota
of women/men not opened for revision.
Finland
FI1 Independent electoral associations to
Government accepts independent electoral
nominate candidates, 19721975
commissions.
FI2 Quotas for party executive in the Finnish Party adopts internal quotas of 40% women/
Peoples Democratic League (SKDL),
men in all executive structures.
19861987 Party debate
FI3 Quotas in the Equality Act of 1995,
Quota of 40% women/men for all indirectly
19911995
elected public bodies.
France
FR1 Change in voting system for local
elections, 1982
FR2 Change in voting system for
parliamentary elections, 1985
FR3 The parity reform, 19992000
Germany
GR1 Quota rules in the Social Democratic
Party (SPD), 19771988 Party debate
GR2 Second Federal Equal Rights Law,
19891994
GR3 Reform of Nationality Law,

19981999
National Assembly agrees to 25% women/

men quota. Constitutional Court over
throws, thus constitutionalising issue.
Voting system changes, womens presence
does not.
Law establishes various obligations and
provisions mandating parties to make 50%
nominations of women at various levels of
election. Most effective provisions for
sub-national or EU elections.
Party agrees to quotas of women candidates
and internal positions.
Basic Law amended to acknowledge the
states commitment to realising gender equality. Equal rights law mandates nominations of
1 man/1 woman for each position on decisionmaking bodies until parity is reached.
Nationality law allows dual citizenship
until age 23 for those born to non-German
parents in FRG.
265
Table 13.1 (cont.)

Outcome
Italy
IT1 Creation of the Democratic Party of the New party forms committed to sex equality
Left (PDS), 19891991 Party debate
with quotas of 40% women/men in all
internal bodies, congress delegations and
candidate lists. Establishes womens committee and sections.
IT2 Reform of electoral law for the lower
Mixed electoral system 25/75 adopted.
chamber of parliament, 19911995
Zipping for list candidates, outlawed by
Constitutional Court in 1995.
IT3 Constitutional amendment to promote Amendment permits equal opportunities
equal opportunities for access to political
policies for access to political office.
office, 19972003
Netherlands
NL1 Reform of the Social Democratic Party Party adopts new programme that includes
(PvdA), 19661977 Party debate
women/men quotas on lists.
NL2 Equality Policy Plan, 19811985
Subsidies for parties to hire femocrats.
NL3 Corporatism, 19891997
Various measures to increase womens
presence on advisory bodies. (But equality
advisory bodies weakened.)
Spain
SP1 Womens quota of 25% in the Socialist
Party (PSOE), 19871988 Party debate
SP2 Womens quota of 40% in the PSOE,
19921997 Party debate
SP3 Mandatory quotas for all parties,
19982003
Agrees women/men quota of 25% for

internal party positions and electoral lists.
Agrees to increase above quotas to 40%.
Mandatory quotas for all parties rejected.
Sweden
SW1 Greater democracy and more women in Parties adopt guidelines for womens pre
politics, 19671972
sence in elected and party office. Advisory
Council on Equality between Women and
Men established.
SW2 Quotas for appointed positions,
Commission establishes targets for women in
19851987
elected office, threatens mandatory quotas
if not achieved.
SW3 The establishment of a womens party, Parties increased numbers of women
19911994
deputies, SD changed rules to provide for
equal distribution of women on party lists.
Women 48% of legislators and 50% of
government.
United Kingdom
UK1 Reform of public bodies, 19791981
UK2 Candidate selection in the Labour
Party, 1993 Party debate
Public bodies audited and culled.

One member one vote agreed with clause
mandating all-women shortlists. Record
number of women elected 1997.
266
Table 13.1 (cont.)

Outcome
UK3 Parliamentary working hours,
20012002
Working hours reformed to more familyfriendly times.
United States
US1 Equal rights amendment ratification in
Arkansas, 19721977
US2 Term limits in Michigan, 19911992
US3 National Voter Registration Act,
19881993
Legislature did not vote on ERA, killing

issue in the state.
Term limits adopted.
Voter registration made easier.
Gendering the debates: political representation and the research

question
Presence is not the only dimension of political representation that we
consider. Answering the central question of whether or not WPAs make
democracies more democratic involves determining whether WPAs play a
crucial role in increasing the influence of the womens movement on policy
outcome (substantive representation) and/or in increasing the physical
presence of women or representatives of the womens movement in policy
debates (descriptive representation). The question of whether womens
movements gender debates about increasing womens presence in political
office suggests an absolute answer. But in representation policy, because so
many debates are gendered from the outset, the answer may be a matter of
degree. In this volume twenty-one of the thirty-three selected debates were
debates specifically about womens representation and twelve debates in
seven countries were about other aspects of representation. Hence we are
in a position to compare initially gendered and non-gendered debates. In
addition, nine of the debates take place inside a political party, allowing an
inspection of the effects of party arrangements for making representation
decisions and for accommodating womens demands.
As in the cases of job training, abortion and prostitution (Mazur 2001;
Stetson 2001; Outshoorn 2004), the frames, or problem definitions, of
political representation debates as they develop are crucial to understanding
the influence of womens advocates, both inside and outside government.
Strategically, womens movements try to insert their definition of political
representation into the dominant discourse about the issue. As for other
issues the womens movement frame is likely to be that the policy is central
to womens rights, which must also have the highest priority. However, on
this issue, as we have already noted, the strategic options may differ.
267
We have so far identified two particular problems in assessing political

representation debates. First, we risk circularity because we are here
using debates about womens political representation to test propositions
about womens political representation. Second, as we have seen, because
so many contemporary debates about political representation are explicitly about womens representation, many of the debates we are examining are gendered at the outset, a phenomenon also encountered in other
RNGS debates. The sensible way of treating the first problem is to pay
careful attention to process and sequence of events to avoid circularity in
our arguments. To address the second problem we can assess whether the
gendering changes in accordance with feminist interventions in the
course of a debate. To make such arguments we can imagine a parameter
based on careful definitions of sex and gender. Sex, defined as a biological
division, is situated at one end of the parameter while gender, defined as
the social constructions of biological sex, is at the other. Whilst sex is a
dichotomous variable, gender is a continuum of feminine/masculine
differences. The sex variable is a basis for claims from justice for equal
descriptive representation in democratic states. The gender variable also
illuminates claims for substantive representation; hence a range of policies that affect womens concerns or affect women and men differently
may be discussed as the debate unfolds (Lovenduski 2005).
Accordingly we can assess changes in the gendering of debates in terms
of whether claims are made for procedural (descriptive) or substantive
representation or both. Claims for womens descriptive representation are
cast in terms of numbers (or proportions) and invoke arguments from
justice. Claims for substantive representation are cast in terms of policy
effects and invoke arguments about the consideration of gender differences
in policy-making. This distinction is helpful when we think about the
dominant frame of the debates. Strategically, womens movements seek
to gender policy debates about political representation, that is, they seek to
establish that the debate is about women. They may also wish to establish
that women are a diverse category. However, the rationale is that, once it is
established that the debate is about women, then women will be included in
the policy process. This assumption informs the framework of our study.
Hence for each debate we ask the following question: Did womens movement actors succeed in gendering the dominant frame of the debate and did
they gain access to the policy process during the debate?
There are two categories of debate to consider here: first, debates that
were mainly and explicitly about women, that is, debates initially framed in
terms of womens representation; and second, debates that were not explicitly about women. The logic of our comparative model suggests we start
with debates that were not explicitly about women. Of the thirty-three
268
Table 13.2 Gendering of debates

Not explicitly
about women
FI1, FR2, GR3,
IT1, IT2, NL1,
NL3, UK1, UK2,
UK3, USA2, USA3
12 debates
Substantive
womens concerns
Quotas debates
Presence debates
AU3, BE1, BE2,

BE3, FI2, FI3,
FR1, FR3, GR1,
IT3, SP1, SP2,
SP3, SW2
14 debates
AU1, NL3, SW1,

SW3
AU2, GR2, USA1
4 debates
3 debates
debates, twelve were not explicitly and mainly about womens representation (Table 13.2). However, in three of these debates, IT1, IT2 and UK2,
womens representation was a consideration from the outset. Of the
remaining nine debates, seven (FR2, IT2, NL1, NL3, UK1, UK3 and in
a very minimal way USA3) became gendered in that issues of womens
representation were inserted by womens movement actors and were considered at least partly in terms of womens interests. In IT2, NL1 and NL3
interventions by womens movement actors led to the adoption of quotas to
ensure womens presence. In the cases of USA2 and GR3 no claims for
womens representation were made even though the terms of the debate
were compatible with feminist goals to increase womens representation.
In the case of USA1 it seems that the gendering of the debate reversed as a
strong counter-movement was able to (re)establish traditional gender roles
as central to the dominant discourse. In the case of FI1, the debate about
independent electoral associations to nominate candidates, the womens
movement did not attempt to gender the debate because electoral laws were
perceived to be part of high politics and a gender-neutral issue. We return
to these debates below.
The remaining twenty-one debates focused explicitly on women, and
hence were framed in gendered terms from the outset. Fourteen of these
debates were about quotas, defined as measures to permit or require
minimum presences of women (or maximum presences of men) in
decision-making arenas. Thus, including the second Italian and the first
and third Dutch debates, we have considered a total of seventeen debates
about quotas of women. Quotas to ensure the presence of women are very
much on the political agenda. (For a full rundown of measures to adopt
quotas of women worldwide see www.quotaproject.org.) They are a
procedural or numerical strategy, which is believed by many womens
movement actors to lead to substantive effects. In the debates analysed
269
here, proposals to have quotas of women in representative and other

decision-making arenas offered womens movement actors opportunities
to frame debates in both descriptive and substantive terms. The favoured
argument was that it takes a certain minimum presence of women to
ensure that womens concerns are considered.
In general, in the debates that from the outset were about women,
womens movement actors sought both descriptive and substantive
representation. For example, in the Austrian debate about womens
access to the cabinet and the German debate about quota rules in the
Social Democratic Party, an initial discussion around womens rights to
have the same presence as men developed to include considerations of the
nature of gender differences.
Table 13.2 also shows that in eight countries all three debates were
or became gendered and in the other three, two of the debates were
gendered. On the whole this suggests that once gendered, political representation debates thereafter tend to include womens concerns. However,
the difficult cases of USA1, USA2 and GR3 are indicators that this
cannot be taken for granted. Womens movement intervention continues
to be necessary to the maintenance of a gendered frame in discussions of
Comparing debates: the model applied
Chapter 1 describes the RNGS model of state feminism and explains the
relationships that are hypothesised to exist between WPAs and womens
movements. In this chapter we consider whether or not the WPAs were,
in the thirty-three debates, the most important factor behind the success
or failure of the womens movement to influence the debates on political
representation. According to the RNGS model, the impact of the
womens movement and the response of the state are considered as
dependent variables potentially influenced by two independent variables:
the characteristics of the womens movement and the various dynamics of
the policy environment. The impact of WPA activities and characteristics
are conceptualised as intervening variables. The model therefore suggests
that the extent to which the womens movements are able to influence the
state in terms of political representation is linked to the activities and
characteristics of the WPAs. Accordingly if these independent variables
influence the womens movements impact on the state, their influence
partly depends on the activities of WPAs (see figure 1.2).
We now turn to the sorting and classification of the qualitative data
presented in the country chapters to enable a cross-national comparison.
We therefore return to the hypotheses set out in chapter 1.
270
H.1 Womens movement activists in democratic states have tended to be

successful in increasing both substantive representation as demonstrated by
policy content and procedural/descriptive representation as demonstrated
by womens participation.
The first proposition examines variations in the success of womens
movements in thirty-three political representation debates. The movement
impact typology that is used here sorts impact according to the effect on the
descriptive representation or presence of women in the debate and the
substantive representation, that is the incorporation of womens movement
concerns in the debate outcome. The coding of outcomes is as follows: dual
responses occur when women have achieved both descriptive and substantive representation. Co-optation is descriptive representation only,
pre-emption is substantive representation only and no response indicates
neither substantive nor descriptive representation were achieved.
Broadly speaking the data in Table 13.3 confirm the first hypothesis.
Overall womens movements were successful in gaining access to the
policy process or at both gaining access to the policy process and securing
outcomes that corresponded with womens movement goals (see
Table 13.3). In particular womens participation in the policy process
stands out: they participated in twenty-seven debates. Moreover, in
seventeen debates the movement made both a procedural and a substantive impact and therefore achieved a dual response. This means that
feminists participated in the debate and all, or more usually some, of
their demands were met. In a further ten debates womens movements
were participants but did not achieve a substantive effect. In one debate
Table 13.3 Womens movement impact in thirty-three political representation
debates
Country
Dual response
Co-optation
Austria
Belgium
Finland
France
Germany
Italy
Netherlands
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom
USA
Total
AU1, AU2
AU3
BE1, BE2, BE3
Pre-emption
No response
FR1
FI1
FR2
GR3
FI2, FI3
GR1
IT1, IT3
NL1, NL2, NL3
SP1, SP2
SW1, SW2, SW3
UK3
USA3
17
FR3
GR2
IT2
SP3
UK1, UK2
USA1, USA2
10
271
feminist demands were pre-empted. Researchers have classified only five

of the debates as no response, that is totally unsuccessful for the movement as they neither participated in nor influenced the debate. However,
in two of these debates the movement viewed the debate as not especially
relevant to the goal of increasing womens representation, and therefore
kept a very low profile. In only two countries, Belgium and France, did
the movement fail to achieve a dual response on any debate.
H.2 Womens movement activists in democratic states have tended to be more
successful where womens policy agencies have acted as insiders in the policymaking process, that is, have gendered policy debates in ways that coincide with
womens movement goals.
To measure their role in achieving movement success we classify WPAs
in terms of whether or not their position on the debate coincided with
womens movement goals and their ability to insert gendered perspectives
into the dominant frame of the debate. Gendering the debate in terms
that are congruent with movement definitions is an important step in
gaining representation in policy content. So, agencies that both agree
with movement goals and are successful in gendering or re-gendering the
debate in accordance with movement definitions are classified as insider.
Agencies that take a womens movement position but do not affect the
debate are marginal, agencies that gender the debate in ways that do not
coincide with movement goals are non-feminist, while agencies that do
neither are symbolic.
Table 13.4 classifies the thirty debates for which a WPA was present
from the start of the debate. Three debates, AU1, NL1 and SW1, are
therefore excluded. They will be picked up again towards the end of this
chapter. In this part of the analysis debates that took place in political
parties but in the presence of a state WPA are analysed in terms of the
activities of the WPA. Thus the findings presented in Tables 13.4 to 13.12
result from a strict interpretation of the model. We address the part played
by party QWPAs towards the end of the chapter when we consider what
another possible interpretation of the debates may indicate. According to
Table 13.4 WPAs supported womens movement positions in fifteen
debates and successfully inserted womens movement definitions in
twelve. In thirteen cases WPAs did not attempt to intervene in the debate
on behalf of the womens movement, and in two cases agencies intervened
in ways that did not coincide with womens movement goals.
Womens policy agencies were most likely to be either insider or symbolic actors in political representation debates. Whilst insider activities
tended to be associated with a dual response, symbolic activities were
evenly distributed across the categories of response. Table 13.5 shows
that insider WPA activities enhanced womens movement impact. WPA
272
Table 13.4 WPA activity by country and debate

Country
Insider
Austria
Belgium
Finland
France
Germany
Italy
Netherlands
Spain
Sweden
United Kingdom
USA
Total
AU2
BE1
FI3
FR3
GR2
IT3
NL2, NL3
SP1, SP2
SW2
UK3
12
Marginal
Symbolic
IT2
AU3
BE3
FI1, FI2
FR1, FR2
GR1, GR3
IT1
UK1
USA1
3
SW3
UK2
USA2, USA3
13
Non-feminist
BE2
SP3
Note: AU1, NL1 and SW1 are not included because WPAs were not in existence
at the time the debates began.
Table 13.5 Womens policy agency activity and movement impact

( N cases)
Dual response
Co-optation
Pre-emption
No response
Total
Insider
Marginal
Symbolic
Non-feminist
Total
9
3
12
1
3
5
4
1
3
13
14
11
1
4
30
activities were insider in twelve debates, of which nine resulted in a dual

response. However, not all insider WPA activities are associated with
movement success and not all movement success is associated with
insider status.
Of the fifteen cases of policy failure (eleven co-optations and four no
response), eight were linked to symbolic WPA activities, while the
remainder were distributed across the categories. Overall the findings
indicate that insider WPA activities tend to be linked to successful outcomes and that symbolic WPA activities may be linked to unsuccessful
outcomes. These findings raise the question of what kinds of agencies are
able successfully to act on womens movements behalf.
H.3 Womens policy agencies with institutional capacity as defined by type,
proximity, administrative capacity and mandate have been more effective than
273
agencies with fewer resources and less capacity in providing linkages between
womens movements and policy-makers.
We predicted that agencies with greater resources and administrative
capacity will be more successful. The capacity of a WPA classifies its
scope and type of organisation (political, administrative or bureaucratic),
its proximity to political power, its administrative capacity in terms of
resources, the inclusion of political representation in its mandate, and its
leadership (feminist or not).
The thirty debates yield up to thirty-six observations of WPAs because
there are, as mentioned above, a number of debates in which more than
one WPA was present. The scope of all of the WPAs is characterised by
the authors as cross-sectional; hence we can eliminate this factor as an
explanation of variations. In twenty-seven observations they are political,
mainly in the sense that they are headed by political appointees chosen by
the government. In twenty-seven observations the WPAs were near to the
centre of power, usually the prime-minister or the cabinet. Most agencies
had limited or moderate administrative capacity or resources. In twenty-six
observations leaderships are classified as feminists for all or part of the
debate. Only in twelve WPAs are leaderships described as non-feminist for
all or part of a debate. A similar variation is evident in WPA mandates; in
twenty-four cases the issue was close to the mandate, in eleven it was not.
How do these characteristics map onto WPA activities?
Table 13.6 shows that insider agencies are likely to be political, to be
located in close proximity to power, to have feminist leadership and to
include political representation policies in their mandate. A comparison
of the characteristics of insider and symbolic agencies reveals considerable similarity: both types are likely to be political, have feminist leaders
and to be located close to centres of power. However, symbolic agencies
are less likely to include political representation in their mandate. Thus, a
major difference between symbolic and insider agencies is the inclusion of
political representation in their mandate. Marginal agencies contrast with
insider agencies in terms of type. In summary, the WPA characteristics
that stand out are type, proximity, leadership and mandate. However,
only mandate distinguishes between insider and symbolic WPA activities.
To support or reject hypothesis 3 it is necessary to examine the role of the
agencies both in relation to the characteristics of the womens movements
and in relation to the policy environments, the subject of hypothesis 4.
H.4 Variations in womens movement characteristics and/or policy environments explain variations in both womens policy agency effectiveness and movement activists success in increasing womens representation.
To examine linkages between womens movement characteristics, policy
environments, agency effectiveness and movement success, we first relate
3
2
2
1
8
14
1
11
1
27
Political
1
Judicial
12
2
12
1
27
Close
5
1
1
1
8
Distant
Proximity
2
2
6
High
6
Medium
6
3
5
1
15
Low
Administrative capacity
Note: No WPA in AU1, NL1, SW1.

*
Change of leadership type during debate.
Two observations FI3, IT1, IT3, UK3. Four observations FR3.
NL3: leadership change from feminist to non-feminist in 1994.
SP2: leadership change from feminist to non-feminist in 1996.
Missing observations: proximity BE1,2; administrative capacity FR1,2,3.
Insider
Marginal
Symbolic
Non-feminist
Total
Administrative
Type
Table 13.6 Characteristics of WPA and WPA activities
Non-feminist
5 2*
2
2
1
10 2
Feminist
14 2*
2
11
1
26 2
Leadership
15
2
5
2
24
Close
2
1
8
11
Not close
Mandate
275
movement characteristics and policy environment to agency effectiveness,

then to movement success. The Belgian and Italian authors distinguish
between integrated and autonomous feminists, and other authors make
analogous distinctions in some debates. Integrated feminists are those who
had or sought purchase in the political system, mainly via parties of the left,
whilst autonomous feminists may have been interested in the issue but were
not organised in political institutions. We report the observations of integrated womens movements because integrated movements sought to
engage the political system in debates.
The research design proposes that the stage of the womens movement
at the time of the debate (whether emerging, growing, in consolidation or
decline), its closeness to the left, the priority of the issue and cohesion on
the issue, and the strength of the counter-movement explain differences
in WPA effectiveness. Specifically we expected agencies to be most
effective in assisting movements at stages of growth or consolidation,
close to the left, unified on the issue to which they gave a high priority
and acting against a weak counter-movement. It seems that on this issue
all of the womens movements were close to the left. Only in one case
(FI3) was part of the movement not classified as close to the left, and in
this case the part close to the left was so substantial that we have entered it
as close to the left. We can therefore discard proximity to the left from
the analysis of political representation debates and it does not appear in
Table 13.7. Stage of growth, issue priority and movement cohesion are
the characteristics most associated with insider agency activities. As
expected, symbolic and non-feminist WPA activities were less associated
with high issue priority and more with low movement cohesion on the
issue. However, their pattern of movement stage was similar for both
insider and symbolic agencies, leaving us with issue priority and cohesion
as the major variables that differed between insider and symbolic agency
activities. Perversely a strong or moderately strong counter-movement
appears to be associated both with insider and symbolic WPAs, a point to
which we return below. Overall the case studies do not permit us to draw
strong conclusions about the impact of other womens movement characteristics on womens policy agency activities.
Similarly the fourteen cases of movement success are associated with
movement cohesion and the priority given to the issue (Table 13.8).
Co-optation is associated with low movement cohesion, but not with
low issue priority, a finding that requires some more unpacking. Most
authors underline the priority attached by the movement to the issue as a
potential explanation of movement success (or its absence as an explanation of lack of success). The Austrian, Finnish, German and Swedish
cases all suggest that high or moderate issue priority is associated with
Total
17
Nonfeminist
2 cases
BE2, SP3
3 cases
FR1, FR2,
GR3
Symbolic 3 cases
7 cases
GR1,
AU3, BE3,
SW3, UK2 FI1, FI2,
IT1, USA2,
USA3
1 case
GR2
1 case
UK1
3 cases
8 cases
FR3, NL2, AU2, BE1,
IT3
FI3, NL3,
SP1, SP2,
SW2, UK3
Abeyance/
Consolidation decline
Marginal 2 cases
IT2, USA1
Insider
Emerging/
growth
Stage
21
2 cases
IT2,
UK1
7 cases
AU3,
FI1,
FR1,
FR2,
GR3,
USA2,
USA3
Low
2 cases
BE2, SP3
6 cases
BE3, FI2,
GR1, IT1,
SW3, UK2
1 case
USA1
12 cases
AU2, BE1,
FI3, FR3,
GR2,
IT3, NL2,
NL3, SP1, SP2,
SW2, UK3
High/moderate
Priority
2 cases
BE2,
SP3
20
6 cases
BE3,
FI2,
IT1,
UK2,
USA3,
SW3
11 cases
AU2,
BE1,
FI3,
FR3,
GR2,
IT3,
NL3,
SP1,
SP2,
SW2,
UK3
1 case
USA1
10
7 cases
AU3, FI1, FR1,
FR2, GR1
GR3, USA2
2 cases
IT2, UK1
1 case
NL2
Cohesive Not cohesive
Cohesion
Table 13.7 Womens movement characteristics and womens policy agency activity
5 cases
FR3,
GR2,
SP1,
SP2,
SW2
1 case
SP3
10
1 case 4 cases
USA3 FI2,
GR1,
SW3,
UK2
1 case
USA1
1 case
FI3
17
2 cases
IT2,
UK1
8 cases
AU3,
BE3,
FR1,
FR2,
FI1,
GR3,
IT1,
USA2
1 case
BE2
6 cases
AU2,
BE1,
IT3,
NL2,
NL3,
UK3
Weak/
Strong Moderate none
Counter-movement
6
3
1
10
8
7
1
16
Consolidation
1
1
2
4
Decline
13
9
22
High
1
2
1
4
8
Not high
Priority
Note: Includes observations for integrated movements in Belgium and Italy 1, 2, 3.
Dual response
Co-optation
Pre-emption
No response
Total
Emerging/growth
Stage
Table 13.8 Womens movement characteristics and impact
11
5
1
17
Cohesive
3
6
1
3
13
Not cohesive
Cohesion
3
2
Strong
5
3
1
9
Moderate
6
6
1
3
16
Weak/none
Counter-movement
278
success. In thirteen of the fourteen successful results for the movement,

the issue was of high priority. Feminists were at least moderately cohesive
on the issue in eleven of the fourteen cases. However, high issue priority
and movement cohesion do not guarantee policy success. In the two cases
where high issue priority and movement cohesion led to co-optation the
movement faced a strong counter-movement on the issue, although the
movements were in stages of consolidation in one case (SP3) and growth
in the other (USA3). Otherwise the perverse counter-movement effect
described above continues in Table 13.8 which shows that in eight of the
cases of dual response a strong or moderately strong counter-movement
was active in the debate. In summary, the most striking associations with
success are high movement issue priority and cohesiveness.
The type of WPA activities may also be affected by the policy environment. The distinction between moderately closed and closed policy
environments appears to have explanatory value. The relationship
between WPA activities and policy environment is presented in Table 13.9.
Insider WPAs faced moderately closed policy environments in nine
debates and closed environments in three.
Symbolic WPA activities took place in moderately closed policy environments in four debates, in closed environments in six and in open policy
environments in three cases.
The presence of the left in power may enhance WPA capacity to
represent womens movements. The left was in or shared power during
nineteen debates. The absence of the left from government was more
likely to be associated with symbolic agency activities. Compatible issue
frame fit, on the other hand, did not distinguish between insider and
symbolic WPA activities, while incompatible issue frame fit was associated with marginal WPA.
How does the policy environment affect movement impact?
Mapped onto the policy environment, movement impact is most affected
by the presence of the left in power and by the issue frame fit of the debate
(Table 13.10). In nine of the fourteen observations of dual response the
left was in power. The dual responses gained under centre or right-wing
control are not a refutation of the hypothesis. In the Swedish case, the
third debate was the creation of a womens party and, although this
debate took place under a right-wing government, its effects were most
felt in the Social Democratic Party. A similar argument may be made
about the debates over the transformation of the Italian Communist
Party, in the German Social Democratic and British Labour parties.
However, the left was in or sharing power in ten of sixteen instances in
13
4 cases
FI1, GR1,
GR3, SW3
9 cases
FI3, FR3, GR2, IT3, NL3, SP1,
SP2, SW2, UK3
Moderately
closed
3 cases
IT2,
UK1,
USA1
6 cases
FI2,
AU3,
BE3,
FR1,
FR2,
UK2
2 cases
BE2,
SP3
14
3 cases
AU2,
BE1,
NL2
Closed
19
1 case
BE2
7 cases
AU2, BE3,
FI1, FR1,
FR2, GR3,
USA3
9 cases
AU2, BE1,
FR3, NL2,
NL3, SP1,
SP2, SW3,
UK3
2 cases
IT2,
USA1
Left in/shares
power
Left in power?
Note: NL2: described as right with left window; AU1, NL1, SW1 NA: no WPA.
Total
Nonfeminist
Symbolic 3 cases
IT1, USA2,
USA3
Marginal
Insider
Open/moderately open
Open?
Table 13.9 Policy environment and womens policy agency activities
11
6 cases
GR1,
IT1,
SW3,
UK2,
USA2,
FI2
1 case
SP3
1 case
UK1
3 cases
FI3,
GR2,
IT3
4 cases
AU3,
FI1,
FR2,
USA3
3 cases
AU2,
IT3,
SW2
17
1 case
SP3
5
8 cases
1 case
BE3, FI2,
FR1
GR1, GR3,
IT1, UK2,
USA2,
SW3
3 cases
IT2, UK1,
USA1
8 cases
1 case
BE1, FR3, NL2
GR2, NL3,
SP1, SP2,
FI3, UK3
Left not
in
power
Matching Compatible Incompatible
Frame fit
2
1
Note: NL2: Left window.
Dual response
Co-optation
Pre-emption
No response
Total
Open/moderately
open
9
3
1
13
Moderately
closed
3
7
1
3
14
9
2
1
2
14
1
5
5
5
1
11
4
1
2
7
9
8
1
18
Left in Left shares Left not in Frame fit Frame fit

Closed power power
power
matching compatible
Table 13.10 Policy environments and movement impact
1
2
1
1
5
Frame fit
incompatible
281
which a dual response was not achieved. That is, six of eleven instances of
co-optation, the only instance of pre-emption and three of the four
instances of no response. In two of the instances of no response (FR1
and GR3) the womens movements were not interested in the issue. It
may be that the theory that womens movement impact is enhanced by
the presence of the left in government should be revisited. The discourse
frame fit was matching or compatible in thirteen of the fourteen cases of
dual response, as it was in nine of the eleven cases of co-optation and
three of the four no responses, suggesting that appropriate wider discourse on an issue may be necessary but is not a sufficient condition of
feminist policy success.
To summarise so far, in fifteen debates WPA activities were classified
as insider or marginal and in fifteen as symbolic or non-feminist. In nine
of the debates in which WPA activities were insider or marginal a dual
response was achieved from the state. Our final research question is to
assess whether the agencies are necessary and effective links between the
movements and the state. This question is expressed as three related
hypotheses.
H.5 Womens policy offices have tended to provide necessary and effective
linkages between womens movement activism and substantive and procedural
responses by democratic states.
H.5A If womens policy offices are necessary and effective linkages between
movement activism and state substantive and procedural responses, then variations in movement resources and policy environments will have no independent
relation to state responses.
H.5B If womens policy offices are not necessary and effective linkages
between movement activism and state substantive and procedural responses,
then variations in womens movement resources and policy environments will be
directly related to variations in state responses, regardless of womens policy
office activities.
The relationships set out in H.5 are described in Tables 13.11 and
13.12. Table 13.11 classifies the characteristics of womens movements
and policy environments that suggest a relationship with the dependent
variable, movement impact. Table 13.12 shows the same variables
controlling for the potential intervening variable of WPA activities. If
agency activities are unnecessary to or impede womens movement
success, then the direction of the relationships between independent
and dependent variables displayed in Table 13.11 will diminish. If
agency activities assist or enhance womens movement activities, then
the direction will increase. The sorting and classification process left six
variables in play: movement issue priority and cohesion, the openness of
the policy sub-system (environment), the presence of the left in power,
282
Table 13.11 Womens movement characteristics and policy

environments by womens movement success dual response
Dual response
Priority high
not high
Cohesive yes
no
Policy system open
moderately closed
closed
Left in/sharing power yes
no
Frame fit matching
compatible
incompatible
Counter-movement strong/moderate
weak/none
Yes (%)
No (%)
59
13
65
23
67
69
21
47
45
57
50
20
57
38
41
87
35
77
33
31
79
53
55
43
50
80
43
62
22
8
17
13
3
13
14
19
11
7
18
5
14
16
Table 13.12 Effects of womens movement characteristics and policy

environments on womens movement success by policy agency activities
Insider/marginal dual
response
Yes(%)
Priority high
64
not high
Cohesion yes
73
no
25
Policy sub-system open
moderately closed
78
closed
33
Left in /sharing power yes
70
no
40
Frame fit matching
100
compatible
56
incompatible
33
Counter-movement strong/moderate 42
weak/none
63
Symbolic/non-feminist
dual response
No(%)
Yes(%)
No(%)
36
100
27
75
22
67
30
60
44
67
58
37
14
1
11
4
9
6
10
5
3
9
3
7
8
50
14
67
11
67
40
14
22
50
33
40
50
67
11
50
86
33
89
33
60
86
78
50
67
60
50
33
89
8
7
6
9
3
5
7
9
6
3
10
2
6
9
283
the extent of the discourse frame fit, and strength or presence of the
counter-movement. When compared with Table 13.11 results show
that insider and marginal WPA activities assist womens movements in
reaching goals, as most of the relationships become stronger when
controlled for WPA activities. Table 13.11 suggests a strong link
between the relative openness of the policy environment and movement
policy success. Where the policy environment was open or moderately
closed the movement was more likely to achieve a dual response. For
debates during which the policy sub-system was classified as closed, the
movement was seldom successful.
Do the results support the proposition that activist WPAs assist movement success in achieving their demands on political representation? We
have shown in Table 13.11 an association between movement success
and cohesion, issue priority and an open or moderately closed policy subsystem and a strong or moderately strong counter-movement, but little or
no association with matching or compatible frame fit, left in power or
sharing power. Let us consider these associations in more detail.
Issue priority and cohesion
In terms of issue priority Table 13.11 shows that when the movement
attached a high priority to political representation issues a dual response
was more likely. The, also stronger, association between policy failure
and low movement priority for the issue mirrors this finding. Both the
associations between high issue priority and policy success and between
low issue priority and policy failure increase in Table 13.12 for insider/
marginal agencies. Hence insider/marginal WPA activities may boost
movement success where issue priority is high. However, they are not
able to overcome the disadvantages of ascribing low priority to the issue.
Where movements gave the issue being debated low priority they were
unlikely to be successful, whatever the type of agency activity. In half of
the cases in which WPAs did not support womens movement goals and
issue priority was high, the outcome was a dual response. Hence WPA
activities on womens behalf may not be necessary to successful policy
outcomes if issue priority and movement cohesion are high.
The strong association between movement cohesion and success
apparent in Table 13.11 is mirrored by a strong link between policy
failure and low movement cohesion. The impact of movement cohesion
increases for insider/marginal agencies as shown in Table 13.12, suggesting that activist WPAs may boost the success rates of cohesive
movements. The findings for symbolic and non-feminist agencies just
about support this proposition. The table shows that cohesive
284
movements may be less likely to be successful in the absence of activist

WPAs. Finally, movement cohesion is strongly associated with high
issue priority. When the issue priority is high, the movement tends to
be cohesive. Overall analysis of the two womens movement characteristics of issue priority and cohesion offer a modest amount of support for
the proposition that WPAs assist the achievement of policy success by
womens movements.
Policy environment
How did variation in WPA activities associate with variation in the policy
environment? Table 13.12 shows that where the policy sub-system was
moderately closed or closed, activist WPAs boosted success rates while
symbolic and non-feminist agency activities were less likely to be associated with movement success and more likely to be associated with
policy failure.
The left in power
All of the movements were classified as close to the left, hence we
expected to find an association between movement success and the left
in power or sharing power. This association is absent in Table 13.11, but
appears in Table 13.12 for insider and marginal agency activities, mirrored by an association between policy failure and the left not being in
power for symbolic and non-feminist agency activities. When the left is in
power activist agencies are more likely to be successful than when the left
is not in power. In contrast non-activist agencies are likely to be unsuccessful when the left is in power and equally successful or unsuccessful
when the left is not in power.
Finally the data in Table 13.12 show that when the left was not in
power movements were successful in fewer than half of the debates
where WPAs were insider. Hence there is some support for the prediction that insider or marginal agency activities may boost any positive
effects that result from the presence of the left in government. In one
debate, USA1, variable indicators require a classification of the very
right-wing Southern Democrats in Arkansas in the 1970s as part of the
left; hence the boost is stronger than it appears to be. When the left is in
government, activist WPAs are more persuasive while non-activist agencies may impede movement effectiveness. To summarise, WPA activities could not overcome the disadvantages of the absence of the left
from power but boosted the success of movement actors when the left
was in or sharing power.
285
Discourse frame fit

Matching or compatible debate discourse was associated with dual
responses in eight of fifteen cases where WPAs were insider or marginal.
Where WPAs were symbolic or non-feminist only five of fifteen debates
led to dual responses. However, insider WPAs were associated with
movement success in only one of the three cases in which frame fit was
incompatible, while WPAs classified as symbolic or non-feminist were
associated with failure in one of the two cases in which frame fit was
incompatible. Therefore a matching or compatible discourse frame was
more likely to be associated with policy success when insider WPAs were
present than when they were not. Overall the frame fit findings indicate
that insider or marginal WPAs are able to capitalise on favourable discourse frames but not to overcome unfavourable frames, whilst symbolic
and non-feminist WPAs can do neither.
Counter-movement strength
Table 13.11 suggests that the presence of a strong or moderately strong
counter-movement is associated with movement policy success and that a
weak counter-movement is associated with policy failure. Table 13.12
reverses that relationship for activist agencies but retains it for non-activist
WPAs. Insider/marginal agency activities and strong counter-movements
are less likely to be associated with movement policy success, while weak
counter-movements are more likely to be so associated. For symbolic/
non-feminist agency activities the association between strong and weak
counter-movements and movement policy success is shown to be stronger
in Table 13.12 than in Table 13.11. This perverse association invites discussion. Table 13.7 showed that strong and moderate counter-movements
are associated with movement cohesion. In twelve of the twenty instances
of a strong or moderate counter-movement, the womens movement
actors are classified as cohesive. Conversely weak counter-movements
are associated with low movement cohesion. In eight of the seventeen
debates where counter-movements were weak, movement actors were
classified as not cohesive. These associations (small) suggest that a strong
or moderately strong counter-movement may enhance movement cohesion, a possibility that merits further research.
The patterns described so far confirm that activist WPAs provided
effective linkages between movement and state, particularly where the
left was in or sharing power, the policy environment was not closed,
discourse frame fit was matching or compatible with womens movement
actor goals, and womens movement actors were cohesive on and gave
286
high priority to the issue. Under these conditions WPAs provided a boost
to movement chances of policy success in debates about political representation. Activist WPAs were apparently unable to compensate when
womens movement actors did not give the issue high priority and/or were
not cohesive, and issue frame fit was incompatible.
Exceptions
Having explored the majority of cases, we can now turn to the exceptions
in order to describe fully the patterns of state feminism presented in this
study and to fill out our analysis. There are two patterns that run against
the overall direction of the findings: five dual response/symbolic cases and
three co-optation/insider cases. The first cluster of exceptions suggests
that WPA activity makes no difference. However, in three of these cases
GR1, FI2 and IT1 the WPA had no mandate to intervene in the
debates. These cases are discussed in more detail in the next section.
The remaining two debates in the category are the Swedish womens
party debate and the USA National Voter Registration Act debate. In the
Swedish debate the movement threatened to establish a womens party if
steps were not taken to improve the number of female deputies at the next
election. It was addressed to the parties and was especially felt in the
Social Democratic Party, hence was in many respects a party debate. In
the USA3 case the dual response classification is a very close call as the
gendering of the debate was minimal, amounting to only two interventions. Thus the first cluster of exceptions may be explained in terms of the
model.
Insider activities were not associated with a dual response in only three
cases: BE1, GR2 and FR3. In both the Belgian and the German debates,
although the frame fit was compatible, neither movement was cohesive
and the left was not in power. Moreover in the case of GR2 the debate was
not a top priority for the movement, and hence the obstacles to success
were almost insurmountable. However, in the French case the movement
was cohesive, the frame fit was compatible, issue priority was high and
there was a strong counter-movement, but the right was in power. The
impact was classified as co-optation because womens movement actors,
though initially influential, lost control over the implementation provisions for the policy. Inevitably party priorities were reasserted and women
were not nominated for winnable seats in the following election to the
national legislature. This exception underlines the importance of political
parties to debates about political representation.
Overall the exceptions point to the importance of political parties
where insider agencies are more likely to have purchase. Political parties
287
must want or be required to promote sex equality if women are to take up

their rightful share of places in elected assemblies.
So far we have discussed debates in terms of their major characteristics
as political representation debates and their impact on the state. The
debates presented here offer the opportunity to explore two further
dimensions of political representation policy debates. As mentioned
above we have a set of debates in which decisions were reached inside
political parties and a set of debates that were not explicitly about
womens representation. Both warrant additional exploration.
Party debates
The close relationship between womens movements and political parties
of the left affects the outcome of policy debates on womens political
representation. Our debates enable us to explore this relationship further.
Seven of the thirty debates analysed in Tables 13.4 to 13.12 took place
inside political parties: FI2, GR1, IT1, SP1, SP2, SW3 and UK 2. In
addition AU1 and NL1 also took place inside political parties, a total of
nine party debates. For such debates we should consider the role of quasiwomens policy agencies, that is, agencies that perform WPA functions
but are not formally mandated by the state. QWPAs are most likely to be
found in political parties and major interest and professional associations,
but we also present in other institutions such as trade unions or legislatives (see USA3). Party QWPAs were in existence in eight of the party
debates (all but FI2).2 In six cases the QWPA activities were insider and
the result was a dual response. Were we to classify results of internal party
debates on the basis of QWPA activities rather than state WPA activities,
we would have more cases of dual response/insider and fewer cases of
dual response/symbolic. It should be noted, however, that in the two
Spanish debates the overlap between party control of the WPA and the
PSOE QWPA obscures the effectiveness of the QWPA, although there is
no doubt that its role was insider. In the Italian case the party was in
transition from the PCI to the PDS. The previous QWPA activities in the
PCI ensured the gendering of the debate about creating a new political
party. In the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, party QWPAs gendered
the debates and assisted feminists to achieve a dual response within the
party. All the party debates took place in parties of the left and are further
2
Finnish political parties have womens sections that perform similar tasks to QWPAs in
other parties. They are relatively independent, receive directly a special portion of the
party subsidy and are a form of institutionalised feminism within the political parties. They
are therefore classified as womens movement actors.
288
evidence of the close relationship between womens movements active on

the issue of political representation and the left.
The interactive process appears to be one in which feminists active in
the parties operate both to empower the QWPAs and to bring the issue to
the agenda, thus providing opportunities for QWPAs to act. Moreover
party QWPAs appear to be important to the establishment of WPAs as
illustrated in the cases of AU1, NL1, UK2 (for the Ministry for Women
and Equality) and SW1.
This does not mean that there are no right or centre parties that take up
issues of womens representation. We have shown that, increasingly, such
parties do seek to increase womens political representation (see chapters
on Belgium, Germany, Italy and Spain). It is striking that QWPAs facilitated policy success on this issue in all cases where they acted. The
findings support the proposition that the location of womens movements
inside political parties is strongly associated with movement success.
Debates not initially about womens political representation
Twelve of the debates in seven countries were not specifically about
womens political representation: FI1, FR2, GR3, IT1, IT2, NL1,
NL3, UK1, UK2, UK3, USA2 and USA3. They therefore offer the
opportunity for an especially robust test of the impact of womens movements on the state. In this discussion, where debates took place inside an
institution in which a QWPA was present, we use the observations of
QWPA activities in the tables (IT1, UK2 and USA3).
The debates cover a range of issues about political representation,
including candidate selection, the acquisition of citizenship, the nature
of the electoral system, voter registration procedures, the arrangements
for appointments to corporate bodies, parliamentary working arrangements and term limits. These debates support the majority findings. The
majority of the cases resulted in policy success; four of the five cases of
dual response were associated with insider or marginal WPA or QWPA
activities, moderate to high issue priority, cohesion on the issue for the
movement and either the left was in power or the debate took place inside
a party of the left. The direction of the associations generally increased
between Tables 13.13 and 13.14, indicating that agencies enhanced
womens movement policy success under favourable conditions. By contrast co-optation and no response results were generally associated with
symbolic WPA activities. Similarly the results for symbolic/non-feminist
WPA activities highlight that high issue priority, movement cohesion and
left in power were necessary for movement success. Symbolic agencies
were associated with movement failure even when the other predictors of
289
Table 13.13 Debates not explicitly about womens political

representation by priority, movement cohesion, left in power, policy
environment and issue frame fit
Dual response
Priority high moderate

not high
Cohesive yes
no
Left in/sharing power, or
inside left party yes
no
Policy environment open
moderately closed
closed
Frame fit matching
Compatible
Incompatible
Yes(%)
No(%)
71
0
75
0
60
29
100
25
100
40
7
5
8
4
10
0
75
75
0
67
57
0
100
25
25
100
33
43
100
2
4
4
4
3
7
2
Note: Party debates classified by QWPA.
Table 13.14 Debates not explicitly about womens political representation by

priority, cohesion, left in power and QWPA/WPA activities
Insider/marginal
Dual response
Priority high
not high
Cohesion yes
no
Left in /sharing power or
inside left party yes
no
Policy environment open
moderately closed
closed
Frame fit matching
compatible
incompatible
Symbolic/non-feminist Dual
response
Yes(%) No(%) N Yes(%)
No(%)
100
50
100
100
50
100
4
2
5
1
3
100
100
0
17
100
100
83
1
5
1
5
6
100
100
50
100
100
100
50
100
1
2
2
2
2
3
1
50
50
33
50
50
100
100
100
67
100
2
2
2
2
1
3
2
290
success were present. These findings support the proposition that activist
WPAs and QWPAs assisted but may not have been essential to movement success on this type of issue. In common with the majority findings
they suggest that activist agencies boosted positive effects of association
with the left, while non-active agencies appeared to be associated with
negative effects. Overall the ambiguous results of this association suggest
that womens movement friendships with the left are not necessarily
beneficial. This is an area in which more research is needed.
Nation-state patterns
The methodological decision to take policy debates on political representation as our unit of analysis means that researchers were able to examine
patterns of movement activism and state response on the issue over time,
within countries and cross-nationally. Thus nation-state trends are findings of the study. If strong nation-state patterns emerge then the benefits
of studying policy debates instead of nation-states are limited.
Accordingly, having discussed patterns of womens movement success
and WPA activities, we turn finally to a consideration of national patterns.
Some evidence that the national context has an effect is to be found in the
content of the debates. For example, debates about quotas in electoral
laws took place in Belgium, France and Italy where there were particularly low levels of elected womens representation in the 1980s and early
1990s (see Appendix 1).
But when we look at national patterns in terms of movement impact we
find substantial variation. In only three countries is the impact of womens
movements consistent over the three debates: Belgium, the Netherlands
and Sweden (Table 13.3). In Sweden and the Netherlands policy-makers
met womens movement demands for substantive and procedural representation in all three debates. In two of these debates (SW1 and NL1) there
were no WPAs in existence at the time the debates began. By contrast the
Belgian state consistently incorporated women as participants in the
debates but did not meet substantive demands. Whilst the Belgian debates
took place over a relatively short period of time, both the Swedish and the
Dutch debates were spaced over the whole thirty-year period. Overall,
however, consideration of the national context does not appear to be
decisive. There is variation in the ability of WPAs to increase the access
of women to the state in eight of the eleven countries discussed in this
volume. In four countries the response was the same in two debates. In two
countries, Austria and Spain, the debates followed the same sequence of
success in the first two debates and failure in the third. In Finland the
movement failed in the first debate, in which it was not interested, but
291
succeeded in the second and third. In the UK the movement achieved

neither descriptive nor substantive political representation in the first
debate, it was present in the second debate and achieved political representation in the third debate. In Austria and Spain the movement achieved
a dual response in the first two debates but a co-optation in the third. The
explanations, however, differ. In Austria the first two debates saw a cohesive womens movement that gave the issue a high priority. While the third
debate undoubtedly affected womens interests, the womens movement
was not cohesive and issue priority was low. In Spain the first two debates
were party debates that took place while the left was in power for all or part
of the time, but the third debate occurred under a right-wing government.
The data offer some evidence that EU policy is important in debates
about womens political representation. During the 1990s the experience
of EU policy gradually accustomed policy actors to the significance of
gender gaps. Policies to correct such gaps in representation gradually
became more legitimate, a process that accelerated after 1997 when the
Amsterdam Treaty included provision for positive action to bring about
equality between women and men in decision-making. Claims for
balanced representation that were initiated by the left in the 1980s were
taken up by the right in the 1990s when corrective policies were passed
and implemented under some right-wing governments.
Overall the case is not so much of nation-state patterns but of party
patterns, and, as we have shown, analysis of party debates enhances the
findings drawn from analysis of state debates.
The relative unimportance of the national context is surprising. When
we examine the data on actual levels of womens political representation
across the countries and the time period we find massive variations
(Appendix 1). At the beginning of the twenty-first century womens
share of elected national positions was four times as high in Sweden as
it was in Italy. In most countries womens descriptive representation rose
over the period under study, but between 1970 and 2000 WPA effectiveness did not appear to increase. In the 1970s WPAs were successful in two
of five cases, in the 1980s they were successful in three of seven cases, in
the 1990s they were successful in six of fourteen cases. Although in the
early 2000s they were successful in three of four cases, overall, increases
in womens presence in elected assemblies are not, on the face of it,
associated with increases in WPA success. However, we have seen that
womens movement characteristics have an effect on WPA success especially when the political circumstances are favourable, that is when the left
is in power.
We might expect that, as womens movements are institutionalised,
measured in terms of the presence of women in decision-making
292
positions, WPA roles are both mediated and enhanced. The movement
has access to institutions through the women who have been elected.
Cohesion among elected women is increased not least because there is a
higher percentage of women elected in most of the parties. Over time
party differences on issues of womens presence decrease as their numbers become more equal across parties. Many of the chapters in this
volume emphasise the importance of a consistent presence of feminist
policy-makers and many of the successes occurred when the parties
associated with feminists were in power and the capacities and/or mandates of WPAs expanded.
State feminism
Are womens policy agencies state feminist in the context of political
representation debates? More broadly, does the establishment of state
feminism create feminist elites who substitute for womens movements?
For western Europe the answer to the first question appears to be yes.
Experts classified the activities of twelve state agencies as insider and
three as marginal. In every country except the United States examples
of insider WPAs supporting womens movement goals on the issue of
increasing womens political representation were identified. Our findings
suggest a state feminist presence in ten of the countries under consideration. Overall the findings support a theory of state feminism. However,
the results also show that state feminism alone is not enough. Womens
movement characteristics provide much of the explanation for policy
success. Thus state feminism must be supported by cohesive movements
united around an issue to which they give high or at least moderate
priority. The long-standing and widespread feminist concern that state
feminism functions properly only when associated with effective womens
movements is borne out by the results of this study and illustrates the
importance of the second question. The preoccupation of feminists with
establishing state agencies to promote womens equality and to bring
movement concerns into the state is justified as a strategy that brings
benefit to women by enhancing their success in policy debates about
Finally the results also support the decision to select the policy debate
as a unit of analysis to allow longitudinal and cross-national patterns to
emerge. The assumptions of the research design are supported by the
data. The sorting and classification of observations to test core hypotheses of the RNGS model has produced meaningful results. These results
show that, by establishing WPAs, states offer institutional resources that
act to support goals defined by womens movements. The definition of
293
feminism in local terms during each debate has prevented concept

stretching but enabled generalisation about movements across countries.
References
Lovenduski, Joni 2005, Feminizing Politics, Cambridge: Polity Press
Mazur, Amy (ed.) 2001, State Feminism, Womens Movements and Job Training:
Making Democracies Work in a Global Economy, New York and London:
Routledge
Outshoorn, Joyce (ed.) 2004, The Politics of Prostitution: Womens Movements,
Democratic States and the Globalisation of Sex Commerce, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Stetson, Dorothy McBride (ed.) 2001, Abortion Politics, Womens Movements and
the Democratic State: a Comparative Study of State Feminism, Oxford: Oxford
University Press
Appendix 1 Tables of womens

representation in eleven countries
Table 1 Women in the Austrian parliament since 1949

Number of women
Year
194953
19536
19569
195962
19626
196670
19701
19715
19759
197983
19836
198690
19904
19946
19969
19992002
2002
minimum
maximum
Percentage of women
minimum
10
11
10
11
11
11
8
11
14
18
17
21
36
39
47
47
61
maximum
6.3
6.7
6.3
6.7
6.7
6.7
4.8
6.0
7.7
9.8
18
28
46
46
52
53
63
9.3
11.5
19.7
21.3
25.7
25.7
33.3
10.9
15.3
25.1
25.1
28.4
29.0
34.4
Note: Due to the fluctuations in the number of female MPs during legislative
periods since 1983, the minimum and maximum number of female MPs for each
subsequent period is provided. For example, there were eighteen changes to the
number of women in parliament for the period 19906. The reason for these
frequent changes is that, since the 1980s, there has been a clandestine rule that
MPs resign their seats upon appointment to the government. The resulting
fluctuations in the composition of parliament have generally worked to womens
advantage.
294
Womens representation in eleven countries
295
Table 2 Women in the Belgian federal parliament since 1945

Year of
election
1946
1949
1950
1954
1958
1961
1965
1968
1971
1974
1977
1978
1981
1985
1987
1991
1995
1999
2003
Women in the House

of Representatives %
Women in the
Senate %
Women in the (federal)

parliament %
1.4
2.8
3.3
4.2
4.2
5.1
3.3
3.7
2.8
6.6
7.0
7.5
5.6
7.5
8.4
9.4
12.0
23.3
35.3
5.9
4.0
4.0
3.4
3.4
1.7
1.1
0.0
2.8
6.6
8.8
10.4
11.6
11.4
8.1
10.8
23.9
28.2
31.0
2.1
3.3
3.6
3.8
3.8
3.6
2.3
2.0
2.8
6.6
7.8
8.9
8.3
9.3
8.3
10.1
15.8
24.9
33.9
Note: All data represent the percentage of women in the respective assembly at the
beginning of the legislature.
Source: Leen Van Molle and Ehaie Gubin 1998, Vrouw en politiek in Belgie, Tielt:
Lannoo; Valeric Verzele and Carine Joly 1999, La representation des femmes en
politique apre`s les elections du 13 Juin 1999, Brussels: CRISP; www.senate.be;
www.dekamer.be
296
Appendix 1
Table 3 Women in the Finnish parliament since 1945

Year of election
1945
1948
1951
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1972
1975
1979
1983
1987
1991
1995
1999
2003
Number of women
Percentage of women
17
24
29
30
28
27
33
43
43
46
52
62
63
77
67
74
75
8.5
12.0
14.5
15.0
14.0
13.5
16.5
21.5
21.5
23.0
26.0
31.0
31.5
38.5
33.5
36.5
37.0
297
Table 4 Women in the French parliament since 1945
Date of election
Total number
of seats
Number of
women elected
Percentage of
women elected
National Assembly
October 1945
June 1946
November 1946
June 1951
January 1956
November 1958
November 1962
March 1967
June 1968
March 1973
March 1978
June 1981
March 1986
June 1988
March 1993
June 1997
June 2002
586
586
619
627
627
579
482
487
487
490
491
491
577
577
577
577
577
32
30
42
22
19
8
8
11
8
8
20
26
34
33
35
63
71
5.5
5.1
6.8
3.5
3.0
1.4
1.7
2.3
1.6
1.6
4.1
5.3
5.9
5.7
6.1
10.9
12.3
Senate
June 1947
May 1949
July 1952
July 1954
November 1956
July 1958
October 1960
December 1962
October 1964
October 1966
September 1968
September 1971
September 1974
September 1977
September 1980
September 1983
September 1986
September 1989
September 1992
September 1995
September 2001
314
317
317
317
317
314
307
271
273
274
283
282
283
295
304
317
319
321
321
321
321
22
12
9
9
9
6
5
5
5
5
5
4
7
5
7
9
9
10
16
18
35
7.0
3.8
2.8
2.8
2.8
1.9
1.6
1.8
1.8
1.8
1.8
1.4
2.5
1.7
2.3
2.8
2.8
3.1
5.0
5.6
10.9
298
Appendix 1
Table 5 Women in the German parliament (Bundestag) since 1949
Year
Number of
seats
Number of women
elected
Percentage of women
elected
1949
1953
1957
1961
1965
1969
1972
1976
1980
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002
410
509
519
521
518
518
518
518
519
520
519
662
672
669
603
28
45
48
43
36
34
30
38
44
51
80
135
177
207
198
6.8
8.8
9.2
8.3
6.9
6.6
5.8
7.3
8.5
9.8
15.4
20.4
26.3
30.9
32.8
Source: Kolinsky, Eva 1988 Women and Politics in Western Germany, in

Marilyn Rueschemeyer (ed.) Women in the Politics of Postcommunist Eastern
Europe, New York: M.E. Sharpe; Election Resources on the Internet,
www.ElectionResources.org.de; Federal Statistical Office of Germany,
www.destatis.ed/e_home.htm; Bundestag web page, www.bundestag.de.
299
Table 6 Women in the Italian parliament since 1945

Year of election
1948
1953
1958
1963
1968
1972
1976
1979
1983
1987
1992
1994
1996
2001
Number of women
Percentage of women
41
34
22
29
18
25
53
52
50
81
51
95
70
71
6.9
5.6
3.6
4.6
2.8
3.9
8.4
8.2
7.9
12.8
8.1
15.1
11.1
11.2
300
Appendix 1
Table 7 Women in the Dutch parliament since 1945

Year of
election
1948
1950
1955
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2003
First
chamber
Second
chamber
Community
councils
Cabinet
2
2
4
5
7
5
5
9
21
27
23
24
24
5
5
8
9
10
8
9
14
17
20
33
36
37
2
2
3
4
4
7
10
13
16
19
22
23
23
0
0
0
8
0
7
7
7
15
21
27
27
31
301
Table 8 Women in the Spanish parliament since 1977

Year of
election
Total number of
seats
Number of women
elected
Percentage of women
elected
Chamber of
Deputies
1977
1979
1982
1986
1989
1993
1996
2000
2004
350
350
350
350
350
350
350
350
350
22
21
22
23
51
55
77
99
126
6.3
6.0
6.3
6.6
14.6
15.7
22.0
28.3
36.0
Senate
1977
1979
1982
1986
1989
1993
1996
2000
2004
248
208
253
251
255
256
208
259
259
6
6
11
14
33
32
31
63
65
2.4
2.9
4.3
5.6
12.9
12.9
14.9
24.3
25.0
Source: Instituto de la Mujer 1994, La mujer en cifras, una decada, 19821992

[Women in Numbers, a Decade, 19821992], Madrid: Instituto de la Mujer,
pp. 7982 (19771989 data); Instituto de la Mujer 1997, Las mujeres en cifras
1997 [Women in Numbers, 1997], Madrid: Instituto de la Mujer, pp. 989
(19931996 data); Instituto de la Mujer 2003, Mujeres en cifras [Women in
Numbers], Madrid: Instituto de la Mujer (2000 data); retrieved 29 October 2003
from www.mtas.es.
302
Appendix 1
Table 9 Women in the Swedish parliament since 1945

Year of election
1945
1949
1953
1957
1959
1961
1965
1969
1971
1974
1977
1980
1983
1986
1989
1992
1994
1998
2002
Number of women
Percentage of women
18
22
28
29
31
32
31
36
49
74
75
92
96
108
131
115
141
149
158
7.8
9.6
12.2
12.6
13.4
13.7
13.3
15.4
14.0
21.1
22.6
27.8
29.5
30.9
37.5
32.9
40.4
42.7
45.3
Note: In 1971 the bicameral parliament was transformed into a unicameral body.
The data before 1971 refer to the lower chamber of the Riksdag.
303
Table 10 Women in the UK parliament since 1945

Year of election
Number of women
Percentage of women
1945
1950
1951
1955
1959
1964
1966
1970
1974 (February)
1974 (October)
1979
1983
1987
1992
1997
2001
23
21
17
24
25
29
26
26
23
27
19
23
41
60
120
118
3.8
3.4
2.7
3.8
4.0
4.6
4.1
4.1
3.6
4.3
3.0
3.5
6.3
9.2
18.2
17.9
Note: Figures are for the lower chamber (the House of Commons).
304
Appendix 1
Table 11 Women in the US Congress and state legislatures since 1945

US Congress % 1
Year of election
1945
1947
1949
1951
1953
1955
1957
1959
1961
1963
1965
1967
1969
1971
1973
1975
1977
1979
1981
1983
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
State legislatures % 2
Senate
House
Total
Total (both chambers)
0
1
1
1
2
1
1
2
2
2
2
1
1
2
0
0
2
1
2
2
2
2
2
4
7
9
9
9
13
14
3
2
2
2
3
4
3
4
4
3
3
3
2
3
4
4
4
4
5
5
5
5
7
6
11
11
12
13
14
14
2
1
2
2
2
3
3
4
4
3
2
2
2
3
3
4
4
3
4
4
5
5
6
6
10
11
12
12
14
14
5
6
8
9
10
12
13
15
16
17
18
21
21
22
22
22
22.4
Notes: 1 All figures exclude women delegates to US territories. 2 Data are not
available for the period pre-1971.
Source: Center for American Women in Politics, Rutgers University.
Appendix 2 The RNGS model: summary

of variable descriptors
Cluster One: Characteristics of womens

movement actors
Stage
1 Emerging/re-emerging: formation of new organisations; rehabilitation
of older organisations toward new goals.
2 Growth: expansion in numbers of organisations, activities.
3 Consolidation: organisations have structure, endurance and regular
support; institutionalised in community and government arenas.
4 Decline/abeyance: decrease in organisations, members and activities
over the period; latent organisational activity primarily by individuals.
Closeness to left
1 Very close: groups formally ally with or work with political parties and/
or trade unions of the left. Ideas from the movement are taken up by
left-wing parties in party platforms. Activists have internal power positions in the left-wing parties.
2 Close: groups formally ally with or work with political parties and/or
trade unions of the left. They do not have internal power positions in
the parties or unions and if the left takes up the ideas of movements
they do so without stating so and bring these ideas to fit the party line.
3 Not close: movement and the left are remote or hostile to each other.
Priority of issue
1 High: issue is one of the top priorities of the womens movement activists
and serves to forge alliances among the various wings and tendencies.
2 Moderate: not a uniting issue, but is a priority for some activists and
organisations.
3 Low: not a priority for any organisation, but mentioned by some. Not
on the agenda. Not present at all on agendas of individuals and organisations in the movement.
305
306
Appendix 2
Cohesion
1 Cohesive: movement organisations active on the issue agree on the
frame and/or policy proposals.
2 Divided: movement organisations active on the issue disagree on the
frame and/or policy proposals.
Counter-movement
1 Strong: prevalent and proactive movement aimed at issue or issues
taken up by different parts of the womens movement.
2 Moderate: counter-movement less active against womens movement
issues.
3 Weak: nearly moribund or non-existent.
Cluster Two: Policy environment

Policy sub-system level
Structure
1 Open: organisation is amorphous, no common rules or conventions;
participation is wide and changing with a variety of interest group
representatives and free agents. Power balance shows no clear chain
of command.
2 Moderately closed: organisation is more clearly defined but changing
over time. Participation shows some regular actors but some free
agents around. Power balance shows several actors trying to dominate
the group but no single line of command.
3 Closed: codification of system through regular meetings and rules.
Participation is limited with few free agents. Power balance shows
one major actor controls policy space and parameters of the arena. A
single policy community mobilises around the issue.
Issue frame fit
1 Matching: issue frame that initially shapes the debate is expressed in
terms that are similar to movement goals as expressed by activists.
2 Compatible: issue frame that initially shapes the debate is not
expressed in terms that are similar to movement goals as expressed
by activists.
3 Incompatible: issue frame that initially shapes the debate is expressed
in terms that are in conflict with (oppose) movement goals as expressed
by activists.
The RNGS model
307
Party or coalition in power

1 Strong left-wing control: left-wing parties may have majority in popularly elected legislative chambers and the presidency/executive.
2 Moderate left-wing control: left-wing parties may have the popularly
elected chambers only and not the president. In the USA the left may
have majority in only one elected chamber of the legislature.
Index
affirmative action 131 see also quotas

Agacinski, Sylviane 98
Aho, Esko 79
Alberdi, Cristina 186
Almunia, Joaqun 187
Amato, Guilliano 149
Ameline, Nicole 103
Amsterdam Treaty 22, 216, 234, 262,
291
Anselmi, Tina 3, 140, 142
Are the Social Democrats a Womens Party?
209
Association 9 68
Au pouvoir citoyennes! Liberte, Egalite, Parite
98
Austria, consociational democracy 20
Constitutional Court 27
corporatism 20
social partner organisations 21
Austria, debates
equal treatment in the civil service,
19811993 2632
public party subsidies, 19941999 327
womens access to the cabinet 19751979
226
Austria, employment associations
Employers Association 21
Trade Union Federation 30
Wage Earners Association 21
Austria, legislation
1979 Law on Equal Treatment 26
1992 Law on Equal Treatment of Men
and Women in the Civil Service 21,
2632
Austria, ministers/ministries
Secretary of State for Womens Affairs
27, 28, 29, 30, 31
Austria, political parties
) 24, 28,
Austrian Freedom Party (FPO
32, 34, 35, 37, 39
VP) 24, 28,
Austrian Peoples Party (O
30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37
Green Alternative Party (GAL) 33, 36

Liberales Forum (LIF) 34, 35, 36, 37, 39
) 21, 223,
Social Democratic Party (SPO
24, 25, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37,
38, 39
256,
Bundefrauenorganisation der SPO
38, 39
authorised representation 3
autonomous feminists 47, 148, 149, 224
Avice, Edwige 93
Bacchi, Carol 7
Bachelot, Roselyne 98, 99
lisabeth 98
Badinter, E
Badinter, Robert 99
Barzach, Miche`le 99
Becket, Margaret 231
Belgium, autonomous feminists 478
consociationalism 41
Council of Ministers 44
Council of State 44
integrated feminists 478, 54, 57
political representation in 334, 412
Walloon Region 42, 43
Belgium, debates
quota for advisory committees,
19901997 504
quota for electoral lists, 19801994
4350
quota for the federal government,
19911999 545
Belgium, minister/ministries
Minister of Equal Opportunities 48, 49,
51, 54, 58
Minister of Labour and Employment 49
State Secretary of Social Emancipation
48, 54
Belgium, parliamentary bodies
Advisory Committee on Equal
Opportunities 56
Advisory Committee on Social
Emancipation (Lower House) 53
Index
Advisory Committee on Social
Emancipation (Upper House) 54,
55, 56, 578
Committee on Institutional Affairs of the
Upper House 55
Council of Equal Opportunities for Men
and Women 49
Emancipation Council 48
Flemish Womens Council 47
Francophone Womens Council 47
Unit of Equal Opportunities 49
Womens Consultation Committee 47
Belgium, political parties
Christian Democrats 42, 43, 50
Far Right Party 45, 52
Flemish Christian Democrats 44
womens organisation 48
Flemish Social Democrats 44
Green Party 45, 53
Green Womens political organisation 48
Liberal Party 45
Social Democrats 50
Berlusconi, Silvio 145
Bethune, Sabine de 55
Boethuis, Maria-Pia 208
Brussels 42
Council of Brussels Capital Region 42
Bumpers, Dale 241
Bush, George 250
Bustelo, Carlota 181
Danielmeier, Inge Wettig 111

DAncona 156, 158, 160, 163, 164, 169
Davila del Cerro, Pilar 190
debates, scope of 2623
De Miguel y Garca, Carmen 190
Declaration des droits de lHomme et du
Citoyen 89
Dehaene, Jean-Luc 44
democratic representation 17
Den Uyl 158, 159
descriptive representation 3, 15, 30, 43,
134, 165, 166, 167, 169, 227, 236,
2667
Dhondt, Paula 43
difference feminists 137
Dingell, John 246
Dini, Lambertini 144
Dohnal, Johanna 30
dominant frame of debate 23, 26, 278,
334, 412, 512, 556, 656, 701,
75, 878, 92, 111, 11617, 1223, 134,
13940, 145, 1556, 160, 1656, 178,
184, 1889, 204, 2078, 222, 227,
232, 241, 2467, 251
dual presence 138
dual response 14, 77, 113, 147, 158, 160,
163, 164, 168, 170, 1812, 185, 201,
205, 209, 211, 213, 230, 234, 253
Duhamel, Olivier 99
Dunwoody, Gwyneth 232
Campbell, Anne 231

case selection 12, 64, 867, 1079, 1323,
1545, 176, 1968, 220, 2401
case studies 6
Chirac, Jacques 86, 95
Ciampi, Carlo Azeglio 140, 143
Clinton, Bill 250
Cloward, Richard 252
Codaccioni, Colette 101
Coleman, Peter 227
Colen, Alexandra 52
Cook, Robin 231, 232, 234
co-optation 14, 48, 534, 57, 101, 119, 190,
243
Council of Europe 96, 145, 216
counter-movement strength 2856
CQ Researcher 252
Craxi, Bettino 133
dith 93, 99
Cresson, E
Eagle, Angela 229

Electoral College (UK Labour Party) 227
Enestam, Jan-Erik 79
Engler, John 248
European Convention on Human Rights 218
European Union (EU) 145, 216, 218, 262,
2912
exceptions 2867
Daily Mail 236

DAlema, Massimo 140, 1434, 149
Dales, Ien 169
Dancausa, Concepcion 186
Fawcett Society 233, 234

feminism, definition of 5, 1617n
Feminisme en politieke macht 161
femocrats 206
Fernandez, Matilde 181, 186
Fernandez de la Vega, Mara Teresa 189
Finkielkraut, Alain 99
Finland, debates
change in electoral law, 19721975 658
gender quotas in the Equality Act,
19911995 749
gender quotas in the SKDL 68, 6974
Finland, legislation
Equality Act 69, 77
Finland, ministers/ministries
Index
Finland, ministers/ministries (cont.)
Minister for Gender Equality Affairs 74
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health 64,
72, 77, 79
Finland, parliamentary bodies
Council for Equality between Men and
Women 68, 72, 77
Equality Ombudsman 74, 77
Finland, political associations
Network of Women MPs in parliament
79
Finland, political parties
Christian Democrats 64, 67
Democratic Alternative 73
Finnish Peoples Democratic League
(SKDL) 64, 66, 67
Finnish Womens Democratic League
68, 69, 70
Finnish Social Democratic Party (SPD)
64, 67
Green League 64, 66, 74
Swedish Peoples Party 64, 678
Finland, public bodies 74
Flint, Caroline, MP 233
Follett, Barbara, MP 229, 233
Fouque, Antoinette 98, 99
Fraisse, Genevie`ve 99, 102
frame fit 16, 26, 31, 74, 213, 285
framing 2, 78, 112, 157, 158, 15964, 187
France, debates
change of the voting system for the local
council elections, 1982 8791
change of the electoral system for parliamentary elections, 1985 914
parity reform, 19992000 94103
France, ministers/ministries
ministe`re des droits de la femme 87
ministre deleguee a` la parite et a` legalite
professionelle 103
Secretariat dEtat a` la condition feminine 87
France, National Assembly 95
France, parliamentary bodies
Comite de pilotage pour legal acce`s des
femmes et des hommes aux employs
superieurs des functions publiques 103
Conseil constitutionnel 88, 90, 91
Conseil national des femmes 95
Delegation interministerielle aux droits des
femmes 102, 103
France, political associations
Demain la Parite 95, 99
Elles aussi 95
Femme-Avenir 93
Femmes pour la Parite 95, 98
Parite 95, 99
Parite 2000 95, 99

Parite Infos 99
RPR 93
Union des femmes francaises 99
France, political parties
Front National 86
Fumagalli, Ombretta 140, 143
Gaspard, Francoise 98, 99
gender 67
gender mainstreaming 148
gendered divisions of political labour 23
gendering 7, 8, 345, 46, 52, 56,
667, 712, 756, 87, 88, 92, 967,
11112, 117, 1234, 1345, 1401,
1456, 1567, 160, 161, 165, 1667,
1789, 184, 199, 2045, 208, 2223,
2278, 2323, 2423, 247, 2512,
2667
German Democratic Republic (GDR) 115
Germany, Bundesrat 107, 121
Bundestag 107, 115, 116, 118, 121
Federal Constitutional Court 108, 122
unification 108
Germany, debates
quota rules in the Social Democratic
Party of Germany, 19771988
10915
reform of German Nationality Law,
19981999 1215
Second Federal Equal Rights Law,
19891994 11521
Germany, political parties
Alliance 90/Greens 109, 116, 122, 123
Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
107, 110, 116, 123
CDU/CSU 116, 118, 121
Free Democratic Party (FDP) 107, 108,
110, 116, 121, 122
Greens 107, 108, 110, 116, 123
Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS)
107, 110, 116
Social Democratic Party (SPD) 107, 116,
122, 123
Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialdemokratischer
Frauen (ASF) 110, 112
Gertzog, Irwin 254
Gibson, Anne 229
Giroud, Francoise 98
Goldet, Hele`ne 93
governance 217
Gradin, Anita 204
Griffiths, Martha 249
lisabeth 99
Guigou, E
Gutierrez, Purificacion 185, 186
Index
Haider, Jorg 32, 39
Halimi, Gise`le 88, 89, 93, 98, 99, 101
Helle, Esko 71
Heritier, Francoise 98
Hewitt, Patricia, MP 235
Institute for Public Policy Research, UK 235
Institute for Womens Policy Research,
USA 254
integrated feminists 478, 54, 57, 137, 140,
143, 149, 150, 224
issue cohesion 283
issue priority 283
Italy, Chamber of Deputies 132, 133, 139
Constitutional Court 1323, 140, 142,
1439, 150
National Assembly 139, 142, 144, 147,
149
pentapartito 138
Womens Charter (Carta delle donne) 135
Italy, debates
change of the voting system for the
members of the Lower Chamber
quotas in the electoral law,
19911995 13844
creation of the Democratic Party of the
Left, 19891991 1338
Italy, minister/ministries
Minister for Equal Opportunities 145,
147, 148
Ministry for Equal Opportunities 148
Italy, parliamentary bodies
Comitato per le riforme elettorali (COREL)
138
Commissione bicamerale per le riforme 138,
144
Consulta delle elette 148
Equal Opportunities Commission (Prime
Ministers Office) 140, 141
National Commission for Equality and
Equal Opportunities between Men
and Women (Commissione Nazionale
per la Parita` e le Pari Opportunita` tra
uomini e donne) (CNPPO) 137, 140,
142, 144, 147, 148
National Commission for Womens
Emancipation and Liberation
(Commissione nazionale per lemancipazione e la liberazione delle donne)
(NCWEL) 136
National Committee for the
Implementation of the Principles of
Equal Treatment and Opportunity
between Workers of Both Sexes
1367
Parliamentary Committee on
Constitutional Affairs 140, 142
Italy, political associations
Conferenza nazionale delle donne comuniste
136
Italy, political parties
Christian Democratic Party 138, 143,
149
Communist Party of Italy (PCI) 132,
133, 149
Communist Refoundation (RC) 134,
140, 142
Democratic Party of the Left (Partito
Democratico della Sinistra) (PDS)
132, 140, 142, 144, 149
Democrats of the Left (Democratici di
Sinistra) (DS) 133
Coordinamento delle donne DS 136
Forza Italia 145, 146, 148, 149
Lega Nord 140, 142, 145
Liberal Party 138
Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI)
140, 142
National Alliance Party (Alleanza
Nazionale) (AN) 146, 149
Republican Party 138, 140, 142
Social Democratic Party 143
Socialist Party (PSI) 133, 143
Jenson, Jane 88
Jospin, Lionel 85, 95, 98
Judge, David 217
Juppe, Alain 101
Kalavainen, Meeri 67
Kalela, Reijo 69
Kandolin, Salme 723
Kansan Uutiset 71, 72
Kekkonen, Urho 66
King, Oona, MP 233
Kingham, Tess, MP 233
Kohl, Helmut 119
Kohnstamm 169, 170
Kortesalmi, J. Juhani 66
Kreisky, Bruno 21, 22, 24, 2632
Kuuittinen, Tuula 78
Kuuskoski-Vikatmaa, Eeva 72
Le Gall, Anne 98
Leijon, Anna-Greta 200, 21619
Le Monde 90, 93, 98, 102
Lembruch 165, 166
Le Pen, Jean Marie 85
Lincoln, Deborah 227, 229
Louekoski, Matti 64, 66
Index
MacTaggart, Fiona 229, 231
Mancina, Claudia 145
Mani Pulite 130, 143
Manifesto of the 7, 103, 1223
Martnez-Ten, Carmen 186
Mazur, Amy 5, 12
Melkert, Ad 169
Merckx, Trees 44, 54, 55
Merkel, Angela 117, 11920
method 1214
Michigan Women 249
Mitterand, Francois 87, 91
Morgan, Sally 235
Mussolini, Alessandra 140, 143, 146
Mustakallio, Sinkka 69
Navarro, Micaela 189
Naytit 69, 70, 73
neo-corporatism 106
Netherlands 3, 153, 155, 157, 158, 15964,
165, 169
Atkie m/v 50/50 162
Beleidsplan Emancipatie 167
Concept Beleidsplan 162
corporatism 16570
Desert Law 167
Netherlands, debates
equality policy plan, 19811985 157,
158, 15964
Netherlands, parliamentary bodies
Commissie-Bisheuvel 154
Commissie Corporatism 154
Commissie-De Jong 154, 165, 166,
167
Commissie-De Koning 154
Commissie-Deetman 154, 165
Directie Coordinatie Emancipatiebeleid
(DCE) 160, 161, 167, 169
Emancipation Council (ER) 166, 167
Emancipation Kommissie (EK) 158, 160,
165, 166
National Womens Council (NVR) 166
Tijdelijke Expertise Commissie voor
Emancipatie in het nieuwe Adviestelsel
(TECENA) 168
Netherlands, political associations
Federation of Women for Economic
Independence 161
Kamerbreed Vrouwenoverleg 158, 160
Man-Vrouw-Maatschappij (ManWoman-Society) (MVM) 153,
1567, 158, 160, 163
Red Women (Rooie Vrouwen) 157
Vereniging voor Vrouwenbelangen 162
Vereniging voor Vrouwenkiesrecht 162
Womens Contact (Vrouwencontact)

1567, 158, 160, 170
Netherlands, political parties
Christian Democrats (ARP) 158, 160,
162, 163, 164, 166
Communistische Partij Nederland (CPN)
154
Green Left (Groen Links) 154
Liberal Party 158, 163, 164, 169
New Left 155
Pacifist Socialist Party (PSP) 154
Social Democratic Party (PvdA) 154,
1559, 160, 163, 164,
169, 171
Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij (SGP)
164
Nikula, Paavo 74, 778
no response 14, 64, 67, 93, 124
NYTKIS 79
Occhetto, Achille 133,
134, 136
Ojala, Outi 70
Olympe de Gouges 99
Onkelinx, Laurette 58, 59
Outshoorn, Joyce 12
Palme, Olof 202
Papon, Christiane 93
parity 94, 144, 188
parity democracy 423, 55, 56, 183, 185,
186, 190
Parker, Fran 247
party debates 2878
Pelletier, Monique 87, 88
Perrot, Michelle 98, 99
Petajanieli, Tuulikki 78
Peterson, Thage G. 200
Phillips, Anne 2
Piazza, Marina 148
Pitkin, Hannah 3
Piven, Frances Fox 252, 253
Pliatzky, Leo 221
policy environment 1617, 26, 312, 37,
4950, 68, 69, 734, 79, 87, 91, 103,
115, 121, 125, 138, 140, 1434, 149,
158, 159, 16970, 1837, 191, 2023,
207, 211, 2245, 230, 235, 245,
24950, 255, 278, 284
policy outcome 24, 29, 35, 46, 53, 567, 64,
67, 71, 72, 77, 889, 92, 97, 11213,
11718, 124, 1356, 140, 141, 1467,
1578, 162, 1678, 179, 184, 189,
200, 205, 2089, 2212, 2267, 234,
243, 2478, 2523
Index
political representation 3, 2612
Austria 201
debates about 3, 212
Finland 623
France 856
Germany 94, 1067
Italy 1302
Netherlands 1534
Spain 1746, 187
Sweden 1956
UK 200, 21619
USA 23940
pre-emption 14, 90, 200
Prestigiacomo, Stefania 145, 147, 148
Prodi, Romano 148, 149
quasi-WPA (QWPA) 15, 25, 38, 136, 158,
160, 170, 201, 210, 212, 220, 2289,
236, 253
quotas 4355, 56, 94, 108, 109, 116, 137,
1401, 1756, 177, 1847, 2037,
2689
Rasanen, Leila 67
Rehn, Elizabeth 74, 79
Richard, Alain 90
Richardson, Jo, MP 222
RNGS 5, 17
Roudy, Yvette 87, 90, 93,
94, 99
Ruddock, Joan, MP 233
Sahlin, Mona 209
Schalafy, Phyllis 242, 244
Schmidder, Philippe 165, 1667
Schroeder, Gerhard 109
Schroeder, Patricia 253
Segni, Mario 138
Servan-Schreiber, Claude 98
Short, Clare, MP 227
Sicard, Odile 88
Sineau, Mariette 88
lisabeth 96
Sledziewski, E
Smet, Miet 44, 48, 49, 50, 51,
53, 58, 59
Smit, Joke 156, 158, 160
Smith, John 226, 227, 228
Snowe, Olympia 253
Spain, Balearic Islands 175, 177
Castile-La Mancha 175, 177
Congress of Deputies 178
Constitutional Court (Tribunal
Constitucional) 177
Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) 175
Spain, debates
2001 Socialist bill on mandatory quotas

for all parties, 19982003
18892
endorsement of a 25 per cent womens
quota in the Socialist Party,
19871988 17883
endorsement of a 40 per cent womens
quota in the Socialist Party,
19921997 1837
Spain, legislation
Fourth Gender Equality Plan 190
General Electoral Act of 19 June 176, 188
Third Gender Equality Plan 186
Spain, political associations
Convergence and Union (CiU) 187
Delores Ibarruri Foundation 185
Federation of Progressive Women 185
Forum of Feminist Politics 185
Women for Democracy 187
Womens Institute (Instituto de la Mujer)
(WI) 24, 1856
Womens Liberation Front 181
Spain, political parties
Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) 187
Canary Coalition 187
Peoples Party (Partido Popular) (PP) 174,
186, 189, 190
Spanish Socialist Workers Party (Partido
Socialista Obrero Espanol) (PSOE)
174, 175, 17883
United Left (Izquierda Unida) (IU) 175,
177
state feminism 4, 1012, 26093
Step by Step 203
Stetson, Dorothy 5, 12
Subirats, Marina 185
substantive representation 3, 134, 165, 166,
167, 169, 171, 227, 236, 2667
Sussmuth, Rita 118
Sweden, corporatism 196, 203
Sweden, debates
establishment of a womens party,
19911994 20711
greater democracy and more women in
politics, 19671972 198203
quotas for elected positions 2037
Sweden, ministers/ministries
Minister of Gender Equality 206
Sweden, parliamentary bodies
Advisory Council to the Prime Minister
206
Sweden, political associations
Fredrika Bremer Association 198, 202, 203
Support Stockings 207, 208, 211
Towards Equality 198, 199
Index
Sweden, political associations (cont.)
Womens Equality 198
Sweden, political parties
Agrarian Party 202
Centre Party 195, 198, 202, 211
Christian Democrats 211, 216
Conservative Party 195, 202
Group 8 202, 206
Left Party-Communist (VPK) 198, 206
Liberal Party 202, 211
Moderates 211
New Democrats 211
Social Democratic Party 195, 202, 207,
208
Social Democratic Womens
Federation (SSKF) 198, 200, 201,
209, 210
Swift, Al 251
symbolic representation 3
Taina, Anneli 78
Taylor, Anne 231
Ter Veld, Elske 169
Tey de Salvador, Miriam 190
Thalin, Ingela 209
Thatcher, Margaret, MP 221
The Times 222, 232, 234
Tobback, Louis 44
trade unions (UK) 219, 22530, 235
Tuominen, Eeva-Liisa 72
Tuominen, Terttu 64, 66
Turco, Livia 135, 140, 141
UK, all-women shortlists (AWS) 226
Assembly for Wales 218
Greater London Assembly (GLA) 218
House of Commons 211, 216, 218, 231
Leader of the House 231
quasi-autonomous non-government
organisations (QUANGOS) 2215,
236
Scottish parliament 218
UK, debates
modernisation of the House of
Commons: parliamentary sitting
hours, 20012002 2315
reform of public bodies, 19791981
2215
role of the trade unions in the selection of
parliamentary candidates for the
Labour Party, 1993 22530
UK, legislation
Human Rights Bill 1998 218
Sex Discrimination Act 1975
28, 230
Sex Discrimination Electoral Candidates

Bill 219
UK Manufacturing Science and Finance
(MSF) 227, 229
UK, ministers/ministries
Home Office 220
Ministry for Women 220
UK, parliamentary bodies
Equal Opportunities Commission 219,
222, 223, 225, 229, 230, 234
Manpower Services Commission 223
Women and Equality Committee 220
Women and Equality Unit 225, 234
Womens National Commission (WNC)
219, 223, 229, 2345
UK, political associations
Bow Group 235
Charter 88 217, 235
EMILYs List 233
Hansard Society 232
Scottish Constitutional Convention 218
Scottish Womens Co-ordinating Group
218
UK, political parties
Conservative Party 236
Labour Party 219
Labour Womens Action Committee
228
Labour Womens Network 228
National Executive Committee (NEC)
225
one member one vote (OMOV)
22630, 236
Parliamentary Labour Party 231
Womens Budget Group 235
Womens Committee of the NEC 227
United Nations 145, 203, 206, 216
United Nations Womens Conference,
Nairobi 1985 203
USA, debates
ERA Ratification in Arkansas,
19721977
National Voter Registration Act (NVRA),
19881993 240, 2505
term limits in Michigan, 19911992
24550
USA, federal bodies
Congressional Caucus for Womens
Issues (CCWI) 253, 256
Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)
250, 252
Governors Commission on the Status of
Women (GCSW) 241,
243, 244
House Administration Committee 252
Index
USA, legislation
Civil Rights Act 1964 242
Equal Pay Act 1963 242
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) 239,
240, 2415, 256
Family and Medical Leave Act 255
USA, political associations
American Association of University
Women 244
Arkansas Womens Political Caucus 244
Common Cause 246, 248
Federation of Business and Professional
Women 241, 244
League of Women Voters (LWV) 241,
244, 246, 248, 250, 252
Michigan Womens Assembly 249
Michigan Womens Commission 248,
256
National Coalition Against Domestic
Violence 254
National Organization for Women
(NOW) 247, 253
Womens Campaign Fund 247
Womens Political Caucus 241
USA, Supreme Court 242
Van de Coppello, Kappeyne 158, 160, 163,
170
Van Dalsem, Paul 245
Van den Heuvel, Ien 157
Van Thijn 169
Varis, Tuula-Liina 72
Vedel, Georges 88
Veil, Simone 99
Vogel, Hans Jochen 111
Vranitzky, Chancellor 32
Wallstrom, Margot 209
Winberg, Margareta 209
women and policy-making 5
women in elected office 2

Women into Public Life 225
Womens Liberation Movement 224
womens movements 2602
characteristics 16, 25, 301, 367, 478,
68, 73, 789, 91, 94, 1023, 114,
1201, 125, 1378, 140, 1423,
1489, 158, 159, 1823, 187, 191,
2012, 21011, 22930, 234, 2345,
2445, 249, 2545
impact 14, 25, 2930, 36, 478, 534, 57,
64, 67, 72, 77, 8990, 923, 113,
11819, 124, 1367, 140, 142, 147,
158, 163, 168, 180, 185, 18990,
2001, 2056, 20910, 225, 230,
235, 243, 248, 278
womens policy agencies (WPAs) 4, 15,
256, 36, 64, 678, 778, 901, 140,
142, 1812, 1856, 1901, 21920,
2234, 2289, 234
activities 1516, 30, 489, 54, 578,
723, 934, 113, 11920, 1245,
148, 1589, 1689, 201, 210, 2434,
2489, 2534
insider 15, 77, 78, 102, 113, 120,
136, 148, 158, 163, 164, 169,
182, 186, 205, 210, 212, 223,
228, 234, 244
marginal 244
non-feminist 16, 54, 78, 190
symbolic 16, 58, 68, 6974, 90, 113,
125, 186, 210
capacity 15
proximity 15
scope 15
type 15
womens representation, assessment 2, 45
Woods, Gloria 247, 248
zipping 140, 141

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State Feminism and Political Representation

State Feminism and Political

cambridge university press

978-0-511-12910-0 eBook (EBL)

Introduction: state feminism and the political

Gendering the debate on political representation in Italy:

WPAs and political representation in Germany

Gendering the republican system: debates on womens

A politics for presence: state feminism, womens movements

The Belgian paradox: inclusion and exclusion of gender issues

Gendering political representation: debates and controversies

High tides in a low country: gendering political

The womens movement, gender equality agencies and

Party feminism, state feminism and womens representation

Party government and womens representation debates:

Womens policy agencies, the womens movement and

Conclusions: state feminism and political representation

Appendix 1 Tables of womens representation in eleven countries

The elements of the research problem

Political representation debates by country

received her Ph.D. in Political Science from Paris

received her Ph.D. in political science from the

is Associate Professor of Political Science at the

Europa (Edizioni Fondazione Olivetti, 1999) and editor of Da elettrici a

ANNE MARIA HOLLI

K A M E N I T S A is Associate Professor of Political Science and

obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Bristol

is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University

is Professor of Politics at Birkbeck College. Her most

is a research fellow at the Politics Department of the Vrije

politique en Belgique et en Francophonie (Academia-Bruylant 2005) and

is Assistant Professor of Political Science and Director

(Oxford University Press, 1999). Her recent publications include

funded the first meeting in Leiden in 1995. CREDEP of the University of

quasi-womens policy agency

Austrian Freedom Party

Finnish Peoples Democratic League

Rassemblement pour la republique

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialdemokratischer Frauen

National Alliance Party (Alleanza Nazionale)

Communistische Partij Nederland

Constitutional Court (Tribunal Constitucional)

Social Democratic Womens Federation

Equal Opportunities Commission

Congressional Caucus for Womens Issues

Introduction: state feminism and the

The representation of women in a political system is a good test of its

Assessing womens political representation

Introduction: state feminism and representation

Introduction: state feminism and representation

attempted to address (Hernes 1987; Franzway et al. 1989; Watson 1990;

women and womens concerns. We address the question of the roles of

Introduction: state feminism and representation

Introduction: state feminism and representation

Policy debates will vary by

Figure 1.1 The elements of the research problem

an assessment of the impact of the womens movement on the decision and

Figure 1.2 The RNGS framework

are political representation policy debates. We use the language of