Party Feminization: A Multi-Level Approach

• In Event: Political Parties

Abstract

Political parties are fundamental to the operation of modern democratic politics, but are also under increasing challenge. One of the most significant changes that political parties have adapted to in recent decades is the feminization of politics – that is, the ‘re-gendering’ and renovation of parties through the political integration of women and women’s policy concerns. Feminist political scientists points to gender as an important source of party change, whilst also highlighting the complex dynamics of party feminization, which are shaped by external pressures and factors (including electoral and party system dynamics) as well as intra-party rules and norms (including party organization and ideology).

This paper reviews existing studies on party feminization and argues that they are imbued by a methodological nationalism, generally focusing on parties as unified actors at the level of the nation-state. It contends that this unitary view of party politics is unable to capture the complexities of multi-level party dynamics, as well as the different factors that might explain party continuity, change and innovation both in general and gendered terms. These dynamics are increasingly important in a wider context of political decentralization and regionalization around the world – with decentralizing reforms often intended to enhance democratic participation and accountability. In arguing for a multi-level approach, the paper makes both a theoretical and methodological case for investigating dynamics of party feminization not only across party systems, but also within parties across multiple political levels.

The paper applies this framework to a case study of party feminization in Scottish politics, which has undergone considerable constitutional and institutional restructuring in recent decades. Focusing in particular on the main ‘state-wide’ parties – that is, parties that have wide territorial coverage and gain representation in a majority of regions in the state – it draws on candidate and party manifesto data at Scottish and UK level to identify and assess both inter-party and intra-party variation in women’s descriptive and substantive representation over time (2010-2024). While overall, the paper finds increasing evidence of descriptive and substantive party feminization over time, it also finds that progress has been uneven across and within parties, pointing to a complex and contingent relationship between political and party (de)centralization and gender equality. The paper concludes by evaluating the opportunities and barriers for promoting women’s descriptive and substantive representation in multi-level systems, and points to future directions for researching the multi-level dynamics of party organization, continuity and change.

Author

• Meryl Kenny, University of Edinburgh