Variables That Influence Women in Parliament
VARIABLES THAT INFLUENCE WOMEN IN PARLIAMENT
Abstract: Women are consistently underrepresented in political systems around the world. In this research, I examine factors such as the gender equality scale, education, ratio of female to male income and cultural diversity and their impact on the percentage of women in government. My findings reinforce my hypotheses; all four independent variables have statistically significant effects on women in parliament, with the ratio of female to male income as the largest.
Introduction:
The percentage of women in Canadian parliament has stagnated to 21% in recent decades, and 17% for the rest of the world. Which variables impact the representation of women? I want to know if the income gap between men and women, years of education, the cultural diversity of a country, and gender equality scale affects the percentage of women in parliament. I would expect when controlling for political knowledge, the more equal in opportunity a country is, the more women there are in parliament. My regression analysis propounds my hypotheses. While there are some shortcomings to my research, for example, I would have liked to the use age as an independent variable but it was not available in the dataset. Furthermore, my dependent variable only measures women’s representation in parliamentary regimes, thus it cannot be applied to countries with presidential regimes.
Literature Review:
Is it necessary for women to obtain mirror representation in parliament? Liberal feminists believe that only trustee representation is necessary in democratic countries because just because an MP is a female, does not mean she will address women’s issues. Especially since party discipline is so strict in parliamentary regimes, female MPs will almost always conform to party cohesiveness than her constituency interests (Young, 2000). But on the other hand socialist feminists argue that democracy cannot achieve legitimacy if formerly oppressed groups such as
Abstract: Women are consistently underrepresented in political systems around the world. In this research, I examine factors such as the gender equality scale, education, ratio of female to male income and cultural diversity and their impact on the percentage of women in government. My findings reinforce my hypotheses; all four independent variables have statistically significant effects on women in parliament, with the ratio of female to male income as the largest.
Introduction:
The percentage of women in Canadian parliament has stagnated to 21% in recent decades, and 17% for the rest of the world. Which variables impact the representation of women? I want to know if the income gap between men and women, years of education, the cultural diversity of a country, and gender equality scale affects the percentage of women in parliament. I would expect when controlling for political knowledge, the more equal in opportunity a country is, the more women there are in parliament. My regression analysis propounds my hypotheses. While there are some shortcomings to my research, for example, I would have liked to the use age as an independent variable but it was not available in the dataset. Furthermore, my dependent variable only measures women’s representation in parliamentary regimes, thus it cannot be applied to countries with presidential regimes.
Literature Review:
Is it necessary for women to obtain mirror representation in parliament? Liberal feminists believe that only trustee representation is necessary in democratic countries because just because an MP is a female, does not mean she will address women’s issues. Especially since party discipline is so strict in parliamentary regimes, female MPs will almost always conform to party cohesiveness than her constituency interests (Young, 2000). But on the other hand socialist feminists argue that democracy cannot achieve legitimacy if formerly oppressed groups such as