Women's Representation across Different Generations: A Longitudinal Analysis of the European Parliament

Abstract

In this article, we focus on generational differences in women's representation and hypothesize that younger generations of women should be more highly represented than older generations, both in general and within the same parliament. We tested this hypothesis with data on all members who have ever served in the European Parliament since 1979. Of the four generations who have ever served in Brussels and Strasbourg – the World War II generation, the 1968 generation, the post‐1968 generation and the post‐materialist generation – we found both that women's representation increased with every generation and that their representation differs between generations within the same parliament. Finally, our results indicate that while these processes occurred roughly one generation later in eastern and southern Europe, yet, they happened faster in these parts of the European Union.

Environmental Governance and Gender Inclusivity: Analyzing the Interplay of PM2.5 and Women’s Representation in Political Leadership in the European Union

“…There are now more women in political leadership at both national [22] and European levels, and this trend has persisted across generations [23,24]. Moreover, these women are substantively representing the voice of women [22].…”

Youth without Representation

“…For one, they assert that the presence of young women in today's legislatures is even smaller than that of young men (see Belschner and Garcia de Paredes 2020; Joshi and Och 2021). Yet this finding comes with the caveat that the gender gap in representation might actually be the smallest among young parliamentarians aged 35 years or under (see Stockemer and Sundström 2019b, 2019c, 2019d.…”

Youth Advantage Versus Gender Penalty: Selecting and Electing Young Candidates

“…On the other hand, youth quotas do not contribute to higher levels of young deputies, and countries with younger populations even have systematically lower levels of political youth representation (Belschner and Paredes 2021; Stockemer and Sundström 2020). In general, young women are particularly under-represented, even if the gender gap among the youngest generation of politicians tends to be smaller than among older generations (Joshi and Och 2014; Stockemer and Sundström 2019b).…”

“…While gendered patterns of political over- and under-representation have been extensively studied, research on youth representation is only emerging (Joshi 2012; Joshi and Och 2014; Sundström and Stockemer 2021; Stockemer and Sundström 2019a). Existing studies have, so far, focused on describing and explaining cross-national differences in the descriptive representation of youth (Belschner 2021; IPU 2018), emphasizing the intersection of gender- and age-based representational inequalities (Belschner and Paredes 2021; Stockemer and Sundström 2019a, 2019b). These studies confirm that youth are under-represented in politics worldwide—young women in particular—and that the degree of under-representation varies by electoral system, voting age, and party factors.…”