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Electoral System Effects on Gender Representation: The Case of Mixed Systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2001

Richard Vengroff
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Connecticut. Tel: 1-860-486-2613. E-mail: [email protected]
Lucy Creevey
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Connecticut. Tel: 1-860-486-5683. E-mail: [email protected]
Henry Krisch
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Univesity of Connecticut. Tel: 1-860-429-8552. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Electoral systems as endogenous re-distributive institutions (Tsebelis, 1990) help to define the rules of the game. In this manner they have an important impact among regional, class, ethnic, gender, and other sub-groups of the general population on the distribution and variation in outcome of who is nominated for, and elected to, national office. In particular, there is a well-established and growing literature on the impact of electoral systems and electoral system reform on the representation of women in national legislative bodies (Darcy, Welch, and Clarke 1994; Matland and Taylor 1997; Caul 1998; Rule 1987; Matland 1998). In general, these studies have concluded that more women are elected in proportional rather than in plurality or majority electoral systems. However, a major difficulty in interpreting these findings is created by the historical, cultural, economic, and institutional differences among cases chosen for comparison.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

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