Dataset Information

Do parliaments underrepresent women's policy preferences? Exploring gender equality in policy congruence in 21 European democracies.

ABSTRACT: Although there are considerably more men than women in most parliaments around the world, we know little about whether male-dominated legislatures neglect women's policy preferences. Our article addresses this gap by analysing the congruence of policy preferences between women, men and their elected representatives. We endeavour to answer two questions. Are women's policy preferences underrepresented in modern democracies? If so, which factors explain the size of the gender gaps in policy preference congruence? Comparing 21 European countries, we show that women's preferences actually tend to be more accurately represented in parliaments than those of men. Moreover, our analyses reveal that this unanticipated finding is not driven by the share of female office-holders, but rather by levels of women's turnout, which leads us to conclude that who votes is more important than who represents for policy preference congruence.

SUBMITTER: Dingler SC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6253787 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Do parliaments underrepresent women's policy preferences? Exploring gender equality in policy congruence in 21 European democracies.

Dingler Sarah C SC Kroeber Corinna C Fortin-Rittberger Jessica J

Journal of European public policy 20180131 2

Although there are considerably more men than women in most parliaments around the world, we know little about whether male-dominated legislatures neglect women's policy preferences. Our article addresses this gap by analysing the congruence of policy preferences between women, men and their elected representatives. We endeavour to answer two questions. Are women's policy preferences underrepresented in modern democracies? If so, which factors explain the size of the gender gaps in policy prefer ...[more]

PMID: 30532654

Similar Datasets

Project description:Social psychologists have not fully investigated the role of leadership in mobilizing widespread support for social change, particularly gender equality. The burden of achieving gender equality is typically placed on women (particularly female leaders) - the main targets of such inequality. Traditional approaches frame workplace gender equality as either a women's issue, which limits men's (non-target's) involvement in the movement, or a meritocratic non-issue that exists due to women's (target's) tendency to pursue less intensive careers. In contrast to such work focusing on women's experiences as targets of discrimination or men's role in preserving inequality, we propose a solidarity-based approach that positions men and women as agents of change. This approach relies on two processes: leadership processes - particularly leadership as a form of influence based on shared identities among leaders and followers (e.g., their gender group); and political solidarity as a way to mobilize the silent majority (men) to work as allies beside a minority (women) and embrace equality as a common cause for both groups. In two experiments (Ns = 338, 336) we studied how leader gender and message framing affect men's and women's support for equality by contrasting a solidarity-based framing of gender equality as a common cause for men and women, with a women's issue frame (Experiment 1) or a meritocratic frame (Experiment 2). The statement was attributed to a male or female leader (Experiments 1-2) or, additionally, to a government agency (Experiment 1). Women reported higher sense of common cause (Experiment 2) and collective action intentions than men (Experiments 1-2), and higher intentions under common cause compared to meritocracy frames (Experiment 2). Interestingly, male leaders invoked higher sense of common cause and collective action intentions for both men and women regardless of framing (Experiment 2). Irrespective of leader gender however, as predicted common cause framing boosted perceived leader prototypicality, legitimacy, and influence across the board (Experiments 1-2). Yet this was qualified by women (compared to men) rating leaders as more legitimate and influential under common cause compared to meritocracy framing (Experiment 2). Women's reactions to equality messages, and the intersection of leadership and solidarity toward equality are discussed.

Project description:BackgroundEffective measurement of Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment (GEWE) is challenging in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), and even more so in humanitarian settings. Conflict, natural disasters, and epidemics may increase gender inequities, but also present an opportunity to address them. This scoping review describes and identifies gaps in the measurement tools, methods, and indicators used to measure GEWE in humanitarian settings, and presents a dashboard that can be used by researchers, organizations and governments to identify GEWE measurement tools.MethodsScientific articles published between January 2004 and November 2019 were identified using Embase, Medline, PsycInfo, CINAHL, Scopus, and PAIS index. Relevant non peer-reviewed literature was downloaded from the websites of humanitarian organizations. Publications on women and/or girls impacted by a humanitarian crisis in a LMIC, within 5 years of data collection, were included. Publications were double-screened in the title/abstract and full-text stages. We used a machine learning software during the title/abstract screening to increase the efficiency of the process. Measurement tools, sampling and data collection methods, gap areas (geographical, topical and contextual), and indicators were catalogued for easy access in an interactive Tableau dashboard.ResultsOur search yielded 27,197 publications and 2396 non peer-reviewed literature reports. One hundred and seventy publications were included in the final review. Extracted indicators were categorized into seven domains: economic, health, human development, leadership, psychological, security and justice, and sociocultural. The vast majority of studies were observational, and over 70% utilized a cross-sectional study design. Thirty-eight toolkits and questionnaires were identified in this review, of which 19 (50%) were designed specifically for humanitarian settings. Sociocultural was the largest domain in number of studies and indicators in this review, with gender-based violence indicators reported in 66% of studies. Indicators of economic, human development and leadership were uncommon in the peer-reviewed literature.DiscussionWhile there has been some effort to measure GEWE in conflict-affected and other humanitarian settings, measurement has largely focused on violence and security issues. A more comprehensive framework for measuring GEWE in these settings is needed; objective measurement of women's empowerment and gender equality should be prioritized by organizations providing humanitarian aid.

Project description:Transgender rights and discrimination against transgender people are growing public policy issues. Theorizing from social, cognitive, and evolutionary psychology suggests that beyond attitudes, discrimination against transgender people may derive from folk theories about what gender is and where it comes from. Transgender identity is met with hostility, in part, because it poses a challenge to the lay view that gender is determined at birth, and based on observable physical and behavioral characteristics. Here, in two pre-registered studies (N = 1323), we asked American adults to indicate the gender of a transgender target who either altered their biology through surgical interventions or altered their outward appearance: to what extent is it their birth-assigned gender or their self-identified gender? Responses correlate strongly with affect toward transgender people, measured by feeling thermometers, yet predict views on transgender people's right to use their preferred bathrooms above and beyond feelings. Compared to male participants, female participants judge the person's gender more in line with the self-identified gender than the birth-assigned gender. This is consistent with social and psychological theories that posit high status (e.g., men) and low status (e.g., women) members of social classification systems view group hierarchies in more and less essentialist ways respectively. Gender differences in gender category beliefs decrease with religiosity and conservatism, and are smaller in higher age groups. These results suggest that folk theories of gender, or beliefs about what gender is and how it is determined have a unique role in how transgender people are viewed and treated. Moreover, as evident by the demographic variability of gender category beliefs, folk theories are shaped by social and cultural forces and are amenable to interventions. They offer an alternative pathway to measure policy support and possibly change attitude toward transgender people.

Dataset Information

Do parliaments underrepresent women's policy preferences? Exploring gender equality in policy congruence in 21 European democracies.

Publications

Do parliaments underrepresent women's policy preferences? Exploring gender equality in policy congruence in 21 European democracies.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets