Tools and Numbers: Movement Strategy and Gendered Political Institutions

• In Event: Gender and Executive Politics

Abstract

What numbers of women are necessary for women to achieve gender parity in political office? What claims do feminists want to make about women’s inclusion in positions of political power? What tools do we need to achieve women’s and men’s political parity? Numbers determine the most important components of political competition. At the outset, they establish how many positions are available; they influence how many persons contest for each position; and they shape how many potential office-holders are available from among whom selectors choose. Ultimately, numbers determine how many women are necessary to achieve parity inclusion in politics and “which institutions are most open to women’s participation” (Vickers 2011, 255). Numbers also help activists identify specific tools and strategies that organized women can employ to advance women’s inclusion across a range of political arenas.

This paper addresses four different political offices: 1) member of a national legislature; 2) cabinet minister; 3) party leader; and 4) head of government. For each position, the paper identifies the number of positions in each institution, the nature of the competition, and the final selection process, and analyzes the likely conditions under which women’s selection chances are greatest and the tools organized women might employ to increase their numbers. Employing examples from the major political parties in developed democracies in North America and West Europe, the paper links the variation in numbers of political positions (and hence the numbers necessary to achieve gender parity) with institution-specific tools that organized women could employ to increase their presence in political institutions.

Author

• Karen Beckwith, Case Western Reserve University