Nog niet voltooid of gewoon discriminerend?: groepsvertegenwoordiging in termen van taal en sekse

Abstract

The Belgian political and institutional system recognises since long a Citizen with several faces, for instance by explicitly taking into account the social groups defined along the lines of the traditional cleavages cross-cutting the Belgian society. This conceptualisation of the notion of citizenship is also reflected in the dominant interpretation of representation as representativeness. The very proportional electoral system is one example of this; the explicit forms of group representation are another one. The present article studies the Belgian practice of group representation for different social groups, more specifically those defined in terms of language and those defined in terms of sex. A comparative analysis of the existing techniques and the debates on their behalf allows us to get more grip on the mechanisms of discrimination with regards to women.