Beyond Bodies: Institutional Sources of Representation for Women in Democratic Policymaking

Abstract

The idea that individual members of marginalized groups provide substantive representation for the wider group rests on a problematic understanding of the relationship between individual experience and group perspective. I propose understanding group perspectives as collective products. In this view, institutional structures and social movements, not just bodies, can be more or less representative of groups. Comparing the impact of various modes of women's representation on policies to address violence against women in 36 democratic countries in 1994, I find that women's movements and women's policy agencies may provide more effective avenues of expression for women's perspective than the presence of women in the legislatures. Thus, studies of representation for marginalized groups should consider institutional changes and increased political mobilization as potential sources of improved political representation.I thank Iris Young,

Intérêts spécifiques et formation de l'opinion politique des Suissesses (1999‐2005)

“…A l'inverse, d'autres chercheur-e-s ont critiqué cette approche, à leurs yeux trop essentialiste, en démontrant que les intérêts des femmes étaient socialement construits par le mouvement des femmes/féministes. Ainsi, pour Weldon les intérêts des femmes ne peuvent dériver spontanément d'une expérience sociale partagée par toutes les femmes individuellement, mais résultent plutôt d'une élaboration collective débouchant sur une perspective de groupe (Weldon 2002;Carroll 2006). Goss et Skocpol adoptent une perspective similaire en montrant que les organisations de femmes/féministes se sont spécialisées depuis les années 1960 en restreignant leurs revendications à des sujets touchant le statut/rôle des femmes dans la sphère politique et la sphère professionnelle, délaissant, parallèlement, les intérêts plus traditionnels des femmes, comme la maternité, l'enfance, la santé (Goss et Skocpol 2006).…”

The Rise and Decline of Women's Policy Machinery in British Columbia and New South Wales: A Cautionary Tale

“…For some, the continued presence of violence as an issue on the policy agenda could be taken as a positive sign -an indication of the ongoing infl uence of feminists on policy-making (Ball and Charles, 2006: 179;Rankin and Vickers, 2001;Weldon, 2002Weldon, : 1162. However, in both BC and NSW such a view would be overly optimistic.…”

The Complicated Relationship between Sex, Gender and the Substantive Representation of Women

“…(Weldon, 2002(Weldon, : 1156 8 Accordingly, women's differences mean that there can be no set of women's policy positions or recommendations, only an 'agenda of topics for discussion or list of problem areas' (Weldon, 2002(Weldon, : 1157. Neither do women's perspectives reside 'completely in any individual' woman but are created when women interact with other women 'to define their priorities' (Weldon, 2002(Weldon, : 1154. 9 Yet Weldon's ideas do not seem to be so distant from other theorists.…”

“…While women may be divided over the issue of childcare -with those seeking paid childcare desirous of lower wages and those women providing the care seeking higher wages -Weldon recognizes that both groups of women 'confront the issue of the relationship between motherhood and work' (Weldon, 2002(Weldon, : 1157. Furthermore, although she argues that women's perspectives come from women interacting with one another, she admits that an individual woman representative can 'articulate a truncated version of the group perspective' 'without interacting' with other women 'if she is so inclined' (Weldon, 2002(Weldon, : 1158emphasis added). Although this 'truncated version' is inadequate, Weldon's statement implies that there is some kind of relationship between women's descriptive and substantive representation.…”