The Complementarity Advantage: Parties, Representativeness and Newcomers’ Access to Power

Celis, Karen; Erzeel, Silvia

doi:10.1093/pa/gsv043

Cited by 53 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Hence, nominators might be very selective about the type of under‐represented group or newcomer candidate they nominate. When theorising about these processes, Celis and Erzeel (: 58) suggest that candidates with multiple outgroup identities may face an advantage: ‘[W]hen parties seek to further representativeness, those newcomers will be selected who because of their intersectional identities are most complementary to the incumbents.’ According to this argument, a gatekeeper that faces the choice between promoting either a candidate with several outgroup characteristics or one belonging to only one such group will have reasons for choosing the one with multiple outgroup features. It would make sense for the party gatekeepers to push for the ‘most diverse’ candidates as they are a ‘two for one’ bargain.…”

Section: Age Groups Gender and Political Recruitmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…) see a potentially beneficial effect of double minority status for representation. For example, Celis and Ezreel (), suggest that being a member of two excluded groups may in fact be a ‘complementary advantage’, as a political party can potentially cater to votes from various social groups by promoting one candidate with various outgroup features.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Do young female candidates face double barriers or an outgroup advantage? The case of the European Parliament

Stockemer

Sundström

2018

European J Political Res

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While intersectionality is a recurrent theme in the literature on women's political representation, few studies empirically disentangle who are the women who get elected to parliaments. An argument on biases in recruitment practices suggests that those who are members of more than one outgroup, such as young women, benefit from an ‘outgroup advantage’. In elections, a candidate with two outgroup features might attract more voter support than a candidate with just one outgroup feature. Hence, nominating a candidate that is both young and female could be a rational move by (male) elites in political parties that allows them to open fewer seats to newcomers. These expectations are tested on data for all members of the European Parliament since 1979. Not only is it found that women's presence increased steadily throughout the parliament's history, but also that women's representation is consistently highest among the group of young representatives, lower among middle‐aged Members of the European Parliament and lowest among older representatives.

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Section: Age Groups Gender and Political Recruitmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do young female candidates face double barriers or an outgroup advantage? The case of the European Parliament

Stockemer

Sundström

2018

European J Political Res

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“…In the national parliaments of Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, women with immigrant backgrounds are better represented than their male counterparts, although this is not the case in France, Germany, Greece and Italy Fernandes et al 2016;Freidenvall 2016;M€ ugge and Damstra 2013). Ethnic minority women in the former countries apparently enjoy a 'multiple identity advantage' (Fraga et al 2008), a 'Latina advantage' (Bejarano 2013) or a 'complementarity advantage' (Celis and Erzeel 2017;Celis et al 2014), facing with their doubly assigned identities less discrimination than individuals who belong to only one under-represented group (M€ ugge and Erzeel 2016). Through existing feminist infrastructures, ethnic minority women have more opportunities to enter the political process than ethnic minority men.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Representing their own? Ethnic minority women in the Dutch Parliament

Mügge

Pas

Wardt

2019

West European Politics

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Ethnic minority women tend to be better represented in parliaments than ethnic minority men. What does this mean for their substantive representation? This article makes use of intersectional analysis to study how the relationship between descriptive and substantive representation differs within and between gender and ethnic groups. Drawing on written parliamentary questions and the committee memberships of MPs in seven parliamentary sessions (1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012) in the Netherlands, a strong link is found between descriptive and substantive representation. Female ethnic minority MPs more often sit on committees and table questions that address ethnic minority women's interests than male ethnic minority and female ethnic majority MPs. The link, however, is fragile as it is based on a small number of active MPs. This demonstrates the importance of an intersectional approach to understanding how representation works in increasingly diverse parliaments, which cannot be captured by focusing on gender or ethnicity alone.The under-representation of women and ethnic minorities in elected office is an almost universal phenomenon. But perhaps counter-intuitively, the combination of these seemingly marginal political identities can become an advantage for ethnic minority women. In the United States, more female than male elected officials have Latino and African-American backgrounds (Hardy-Fanta 2013;Orey and Brown 2014;Smooth 2006). Similarly, women in New Zealand are better represented among ethnic minority MPs, particularly M aori, than among ethnic CONTACT Liza M. M€ ugge

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“…That is to say, intersectionality is rarely incorporated (but see Stockemer and Sundström 2019). An important exception is research on ethnicity and women's political participation (Cooper 2015;Severs, Celis, and Erzeel 2016;Celis and Erzeel 2017). The intersectionality approach is often related to an outgroup perspective, concerned with representation inequalities and whether intersectional identities create double barriers or complementarity advantage (Celis and Erzeel 2017).…”

Section: Gender Inequality: Age Party and Municipal Sizementioning

confidence: 99%

A gender-generation gap in political representation? The contingent impact of preference voting in Norwegian municipal elections

Segaard

Saglie

2020

Local Government Studies

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The article analyses the impact of preference votes on the gender balance in municipal councils in Norway, and to what extent this impact varies with candidates' age, party and local context. We compare actual representation with a hypothetical closed-list outcome. The analyses show that both local political representation and the impact of preference votes are characterised by a gender-generation gap. Older women are underrepresented, while young women are represented on equal terms with young men. Young female candidates benefit from preference voting in larger municipalities, whereas the older generation of women loses out in both large and small municipalities. In conclusion, we argue that an intersectionality approach should pay more attention to variables other than ethnicity, including age and local context. Moreover, research on gender and political representation should take into account a gender-generation perspective.

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The Complementarity Advantage: Parties, Representativeness and Newcomers’ Access to Power

Cited by 53 publications

References 35 publications

Do young female candidates face double barriers or an outgroup advantage? The case of the European Parliament

Do young female candidates face double barriers or an outgroup advantage? The case of the European Parliament

Representing their own? Ethnic minority women in the Dutch Parliament

A gender-generation gap in political representation? The contingent impact of preference voting in Norwegian municipal elections

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