Women representatives, left-right ideology and gendered pathways to parliament in Asia and Europe
Publication Type
Journal Article
Publication Date
11-2021
Abstract
This article explores whether women political representatives from right-leaning and left-leaning parties differ significantly in their professional backgrounds. Using data collected from parliamentary websites on the demographics of individual members of parliament (MPs) in Germany, Austria, South Korea, and Japan, we compare partisan differences in background characteristics (education, occupation, ages, and legislative committee appointments) of recently elected women MPs. We find that compared to parties on the left, (1) right-leaning parties have fewer women MPs as consistent with previous findings in the literature, (2) women MPs from certain right-wing parties (especially populist parties) entered parliament at an older age than women MPs from their left-wing competitors, (3) rightist women did not have more feminized educational and occupational backgrounds than women on the left and (4) rightist women were more likely to sit on social affairs committees in parliament but not by a statistically significant margin.
Keywords
Asia, Europe, left, right, parliaments, representation, women
Discipline
Asian Studies | Political Science
Research Areas
Political Science
Publication
Asian International Studies Review
Volume
22
Issue
2
First Page
171
Last Page
188
ISSN
2667-0836
Identifier
10.1163/2667078X-bja10009
Citation
OCH, Malliga, & JOSHI, Devin K..(2021). Women representatives, left-right ideology and gendered pathways to parliament in Asia and Europe. Asian International Studies Review, 22(2), 171-188.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3509
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1163/2667078X-bja10009