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

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1163/2667078X-bja10009

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