Intersectional institutions

Abstract

The political representation of women and ethnic minorities has received growing attention among political parties around the world. Focusing on the British case, we map data and debates concerning the selection of female and minority candidates, highlighting the simultaneous and interactive role of gender and race in shaping citizens' opportunities to stand for and win election. Utilizing data from the Labour Party, our analysis illustrates the implications of distinct strategies to include members of politically marginalized groups-as well as provides evidence for the potential of ''tandem quotas'' to result in positive outcomes for minority women. Taken together, these findings suggest the need for stronger measures on the part of Labour to encourage the selection of minority candidates; a shift from ''single-axis'' to ''multiple-axis'' thinking when devising strategies to enhance group representation; and rejection of a ''zero-sum'' mentality regarding the nomination of female and minority candidates. KeywordsBritish politics, candidate selection, gender and politics, gender quotas, race and politicsIn recent elections, the political representation of women and black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) communities has received growing attention among the three major British political parties. Both groups won a record number of seats in the House of Commons in 2010, resulting in 22.8% female members of parliament (MPs) and 4.2% BAME MPs. These numbers grew again in 2015 to 29.4% women and 6.3% BAME parliamentarians. However, these figures remain far from proportional to these groups' share of the population, standing at 50.9% and 12.9%, respectively.

Dear British politics—where is the race and racism?

“…There is a longstanding body of work addressing the relationship between race, ethnicity, voting behaviour and elections (Anwar 2001;Heath et al 2011;Geddes 2001;Hill et al 2017). A further dominant trend in the literature on race and politics is the not insignificant branch of literature on race and the Labour party (Purdam 2001;Sobolewska 2013;Krook and Nugent 2016). Further to this, there is the research on British political parties that mobilise on issues of race, such as the British National Party (BNP), Britain First and the English Defence League (Clark et al 2008;Rhodes 2009;Allchorn 2020).…”

Gender Is Not a Proxy: Race and Intersectionality in Legislative Recruitment

“…Although racialized minorities are present in the aspirant pool, their presence declines at each stage of legislative recruitment. Strategies to increase political inclusion, therefore, should focus not only on women's electoral prospects, but also on the racialized distribution of these electoral advantages (see also Krook and Nugent 2016). Racialized men come forward for party nomination in proportions that exceed their share of the population, suggesting that political ambition is not the barrier confronting these aspirants.…”

“…Research on race, while growing, remains on the margin, and gendered subjects are often racially unmarked or implicitly white (Brown 2014). To date, the call for “multiple axis thinking” and intersectional political institutions has not yet been fully realized (Krook and Nugent 2016).…”

“…Scholars began to produce more multiple axis research (Reingold, Haynie, and Widner 2021) and to collect data on identities other than gender. Even so, studies of race and intersectionality in candidate emergence and selection still focus primarily on the United States and, to a lesser extent, Europe and Britain (e.g., Brown 2014;Celis and Erzeel 2015;Freidenvall 2016;Holman and Schneider 2018;Janssen, Erzeel, and Celis 2020;Jenichen 2020;Krook and Nugent 2016;Mügge 2016;Shah 2014Shah , 2015Shah, Scott, and Juenke 2018;Shames 2015;Silva and Skulley 2019;Van Trappen 2021). In many other contexts, there have been almost no intersectional studies of candidate emergence and selection.…”

Ethnicity, Race and Inequality in the UK

“…However, the picture seems less convincing for all minorities at the national level. Allegations that all-women shortlists, instituted by the Labour party to increase female representation, have been predominantly white (Krook and Nugent, 2016) are undermined by the fact that they are in fact a lot less 'white' than normal shortlists, with 17% ethnic minority candidates on all-women shortlists as opposed to 5% on regular Labour shortlists (Krook and Nugent, 2016: 626). Also, looking at the gender profile of ethnic minority MPs, we find little evidence of a larger gender imbalance than among white MPs.…”