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 Electoral Systems and Women’s Representation: A Long-Term  Perspective (continued - Page 2)

Ian McAllister and Donley T. Studlar

Patterns of Women’s Representation

Some historical facets of women’s representation which may affect current patterns in the 20 countries are shown in Table 1. The countries vary considerably in terms of relevant characteristics, including type of electoral system, the timing of women’s right to vote and stand for the legislature, the date of the first woman elected, and the date of the first woman to become presiding officer over the legislature. Although Northern European and other heavily Protestant democracies usually enfranchised women in the first two decades of the twentieth century, Southern European and largely non- Protestant countries were either non-democratic (Japan) or, if they were, often did not allow women to vote and stand until after World War II (France, Belgium). Having women even in the symbolic position of head of a legislative body (the equivalent of Speaker of the House) is, in almost all instances, a recent phenomenon stemming from the 1970s.

Figure 1 shows the overall patterns of women’s representation for the 20 countries, and Table 2 shows the results for each country by decade since 1950. Figure 1 indicates that there was a period of relative stability (or even slight declines in the 1950s and 1960s) when women’s representation in legislatures was around 5% overall, extending from the beginning of the period in 1950 until 1969. Thereafter, the increase is linear. These findings confirm that the ‘second wave feminist movement’ (the first wave being the suffrage movement), stemming from developments in the 1960s, manifested itself in increased numbers of women parliamentarians from the early 1970s. Since 1970, the rate of increase of women’s representation has been relatively constant across the countries under examination.

While women legislators were rare in the 1950s and 1960s, Table 2 shows that even then a few countries, all with PR electoral systems, had above-average shares (especially Finland and Sweden). For example, for the last half century, the level of women’s representation in the Swedish and Finnish parliaments averaged just over 23%, compared to less than 10% among half of the 20 countries under consideration. Moreover, over the past three decades, the five leading countries, in terms of average women’s representation for each decade and overall, remained the same: Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands. Only one country – Israel – has not improved its position with regards to women, with 0.3% fewer women representatives in the 1990s than in the 1950s.

The modern literature on the relationship between electoral systems and women’s representation is largely based upon findings first evident in the 1970s (Rule, 1981, 1987; Norris, 1987). The increase in women legislators was greater in PR systems, while their numbers in SMD systems such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, France, Canada and New Zealand remained relatively low and stable. Observers drew a clear link between the proportionality of the electoral system and the chances of women gaining greater representation.

The 1980s saw more increases in women’s representation, even in some SMD systems such as New Zealand and Canada, but proportionately greater rises occurred in PR systems, especially those with party lists and containing parties which adopted some form of quota for women candidates in their ranks (Darcy et al., 1994; Matland and Studlar, 1996; Caul, 2001). Even as quotas were introduced, the increase in West Germany, then the only mixed system, came almost exclusively from the party list (Kolinksy, 1993).

Even more women MPs were elected in the 1990s, including substantial increases in SMD countries such as Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, but PR systems continued to lead overall, even as their ranks reached a ceiling, perhaps a temporary one, at the highest levels (Siaroff, 2000). The development of more mixed systems generally coincided with increases in women’s representation, especially in formerly exclusively SMD countries. The move from party list PR to a mixed system in Italy was initially associated with increases in previously low levels of women in parliament, although these higher levels were not subsequently sustained.

Back - Continue: Factors Influencing Women’s Representation

Taken From - Representation, Vol. 39, No. 1, 2002, pp. 3-14