New Research on Gendered Political Institutions

Kenney, Sally J.

doi:10.1177/106591299604900211

Cited by 145 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…In seeking an answer this question, we argue that it is imperative to take the parliamentary working environment into consideration -including not only formal regulations and procedures, but also informal practices, norms, and expectations. Previous research has revealed that political organizations, including legislative bodies, are often characterized by a culture of traditional masculinity, or institutional sexism, that empowers male legislators while placing female legislators at a disadvantage (Lovenduski, 2005, Kenney, 1996. That is to say that although formal rules and regulations no longer discriminate against women, power hierarchies, informal norms, practices, and expectations may still be gendered, thereby privileging men and masculine behavior.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The legislature as a gendered workplace: Exploring members of parliament’s experiences of working in the Swedish parliament

Erikson

Josefsson

2018

International Political Science Review

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Do men and women legislators have equal opportunities to carry out their parliamentary duties? An important first step to uncover the parliament's inner life is to evaluate MPs' experiences of their work environment. In this article, we explore the Swedish parliament where women have held over 40 percent of the seats for two decades to test the persistence of gendered norms and practices. Using an originally-collected survey dataset of 279 Swedish MPs (82 percent response rate), we find that women MPs experience greater pressure, higher levels of anxiety, and are subject to more negative treatment than men MPs. Yet, while men and women report participating in the debate and influencing their political party's agenda to the same degree, we conclude that the Parliament's working environment remains gendered in that women pay a higher personal cost for their political engagement.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The legislature as a gendered workplace: Exploring members of parliament’s experiences of working in the Swedish parliament

Erikson

Josefsson

2018

International Political Science Review

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“…As Sapiro (1991) and Kenney (1996) explain, because American political institutions developed as male domains, these institutions are gendered, with men in the preferred position. ".…”

Section: Power Gender and Gatekeepingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender and Power in American Legislative Discourse

Mattei

1998

The Journal of Politics

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In a modern democracy, all citizens theoretically are guaranteed an equal opportunity at political representation. This paper shows that democratic theory does not always hold in practice in the United States. Discourse analysis is applied to the language used in the 1990 hearings conducted by the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary on the nomination of Judge David H. Souter to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Results show that while women are noticeably present as witnesses in hearings, they are not treated on an equal footing with men. Women's access to the political debate is limited because they are given proportionally less time to speak than male witnesses. Further, empirical measures indicate that the effectiveness of women's testimony is undermined by senators' responses. Although women utilize what is defined as masculine language to compete within a male-dominated institution, gendered expectations can prevent them from being treated as authoritative witnesses.Studies of representation have documented the frequency with which women have begun to enter male-dominated arenas of American politics. Over time, the number of women elected to state legislatures has increased from about 8% in 1975, to 21% of all legislators by 1993. Women have moved up the political ladder to seats in Congress, as well; Congress was 4% female in 1975 and has been 11% female since the elections of 1994 (CAWP 1996). Numerous theorists expect female legislators to differ as a group from their male counterparts because of the effects of gender, or social constructions of what is feminine and masculine. The increasing diversity of legislative bodies thus has allowed scholars an opportunity to better explore the relevance of gender to legislative policy (e.g., Ford and Dolan 1996;Thomas 1994).While the presence and policy priorities of women in public office are important components of gender-related research, effective representation of interests is a complex process that requires additional and varied analyses. In state legislatures that are at least 20% female, for example, women members are more likely to form distinct interests, giving higher priority to bills dealing with women, children, and families than do their male peers (Thomas 1994, 94). Such strategic concerns suggest the need to look further at gendered institutional prac-

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“…Grasping the ways in which institutions reflect, reinforce, and structure unequal gendered power relations in wider society, in turn, offers insights into the dynamics of continuity and change -and the means for interrupting them to promote or undermine feminist goals. For FPS scholars, gender provides a central structuring dynamic of institutions, such that gender relations and gender norms are key legacies with which to contend in feminist analysis and strategies for political change (Mackay 2004: 112-113; see also Annesley and Gains forthcoming;Chappell 2002a;Duerst-Lahti 2002;Duerst-Lahti and Kelly 1995;Hawkesworth 2003;Kenney 1996;Kenny 2007;Lovenduski 1998Lovenduski , 2005bMackay and Meier 2003;Mackay 2008).…”

Section: See Also the Recent 'Critical Perspectives On Feminist Instimentioning

confidence: 97%

Gender, Politics and Institutions

Krook¹,

Mackay²

2011

227

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Series editors: Johanna Kantola, University of Helsinki, Finland and Judith Squires, University of Bristol, UKThis timely new series publishes leading monographs and edited collections from scholars working in the disciplinary areas of politics, international relations and public policy with specific reference to questions of gender. The series showcases cutting-edge research in Gender and Politics, publishing topical and innovative approaches to gender politics. It will include exciting work from new authors and well-known academics and will also publish high-impact writings by practitioners working in issues relating to gender and politics.The series covers politics, international relations, and public policy, including gendered engagement with mainstream political science issues, such as political systems and policymaking, representation and participation, citizenship and identity, equality, and women's movements; gender and international relations, including feminist approaches to international institutions, political economy, and global politics; and interdisciplinary and emergent areas of study, such as masculinities studies, gender and multiculturalism, and intersectionality.Potential contributors are encouraged to contact the series editors: Johanna Kantola, (johanna.kantola@helsinki.fi) and Judith Squires

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New Research on Gendered Political Institutions

Cited by 145 publications

References 13 publications

The legislature as a gendered workplace: Exploring members of parliament’s experiences of working in the Swedish parliament

The legislature as a gendered workplace: Exploring members of parliament’s experiences of working in the Swedish parliament

Gender and Power in American Legislative Discourse

Gender, Politics and Institutions

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