Gesine Fuchs

2017 Macht und substantielle Repräsentation von Frauen

Agnes Blome, Gesine Fuchs (2017): Macht und substantielle Repräsentation von Frauen, Femina Politica, 26 (1), 55-69. https://doi.org/10.3224/feminapolitica.v26i1.04

Political representation aims at bringing about and implementing politically binding decisions. In doing so, elected parliamentarians consider the electorate’s interests. In most parliaments, however, women are underrepresented. Thus, the question is whether and how women’s interests are taken into account in politics. In our article, we ask how women’s substantive representation – i.e. when women act for women - translate into power in the sense of the adoption of policies that reflect women’s interests. We argue that it is necessary to focus on policy outputs in order to make claims about the scope and impact of women’s substantive representation. First, we discuss the literature on women’s interests. Then, we engage in the scholarship on women’s substantive representation in two political arenas: the legislative and the executive. We conclude by proposing several avenues for future research, pointing in particular to the need to advance the scholarship on women’s substantive representation in the executive.

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