The first women representatives in the United States were elected in 1894 when Colorado votes sent three women to the state legislature. Now, a century later, women almost everywhere are the majority of voters but a distinct minority of elected officials. This discrepancy is a puzzle for those who thought democratic institutions would incorporate newly enfranchised women, and a problem for those working to expand democratic representation. Darcy, Welch, and Clark examine women candidates and candidacies in the United States and several other democratic nations. Their careful analysis reveals that male voters and political elites are not the barriers to women's election that common wisdom suggests. Instead, they find that a party's ability to determine candidate selection, along with election procedures that benefit incumbents, produces slow turnover of elected officials and few opportunities for new women candidates. In addition, the authors analyze nomination procedures and election systems to document both the conditions that lead political parties to nominate more women and the mechanisms that yield more victories by women candidates. Women, Elections, and Representation is an extensively revised and expanded edition of a successful text that provides a thorough and up-to-date account of research on women and politics.

Gender equality is central to the protection of human rights and the functioning of democracy. It cannot be right that the experiences, skills and concerns of women are not fully represented or reflected in decision making about the laws and functioning of the societies in which they live. The regional study on women’s political representation in the Eastern Partnership countries was commissioned in response to the key objectives of the Council of Europe and the European Commission to address the lack of women’s political representation at national and local level in these countries. Researchers based in each of the countries have contributed qualitative information on both the situation of women and on the experiences of women who have stood for elected office. While the legal basis for equality of women and men exists in all the countries in question, the reality is quite different. Stereotypical views and assumptions about the roles of women in society affect how women step forward as candidates, and whether they are selected and elected. The Council of Europe is convinced that this study, by providing examples of good practice and evidence-based, practical recommendations, will help to address the current imbalance of women holding elected office and, by doing so, will enhance democracy and human rights in the countries of the Eastern Partnership.

The ability of a small elite of highly educated, upper-class Asian women to obtain the highest political positions in their country is unmatched elsewhere in the world and deserves study. But there is a marked lack of relevant research as well as of comprehensive and user-friendly texts. Aiming to fill the gap is this timely and important study of the various obstacles and opportunities for women's political participation and representation in Asia.

"The authors take a unique approach: they reject the view that women should accommodate themselves to the system and argue instead that the system has an inherent obligation to accommodate itself to women. Using data from local, state, and national levels they formulate a model of elections. The authors contend that as the number of qualified women increases, more will run for office-and more will be elected. As more women are elected, the incumbency factor will assist in their reelection until the number of elected women reaches parity with that of men." -- Book Cover.

Electoral gender quotas have emerged as one of the most critical political reforms of the last two decades, having now been introduced in more than 130 countries worldwide. The recent and global nature of these developments has sparked both scholarly and popular interest in the in which these quotas are designed, as well as their origins and effects. This volume seeks to expand these existing agendas to forge new directions in research on gender quotas and political representation. The topics considered include new paths to adoption, as well as – in the wake of quota introduction – changes in the dynamics of candidate selection, the status and role of women in legislative institutions, and the impact that women have on policy-making. Expanding the scope of quota studies, the contributions also address trends in different political parties and different levels of government, the effectiveness of quotas in democratic and non-democratic settings, and whether there might be non-quota mechanisms that could be pursued together with, or in lieu of, gender quotas in order to increase women’s political representation. This book was originally published as a special issue of Representation.

What role do men play in women's political representation? When and why do they support more inclusivity for women in office? Given that all political parties today have men in a majority of leadership positions, male gatekeepers play a key part in women's representation. So, how are they responding to the increasing numbers of women who are seeking leadership roles in politics? In The Inclusion Calculation, Melody E. Valdini examines women's inclusion from the perspective of men in power and offers a novel approach to understanding differences in women's descriptive representation. This book argues that men facilitate women's entry into politics when women's presence promises to benefit public perception of a party, and therefore benefit male party leaders. One particularly disturbing implication of this argument is that leaders can increase the number of women in office as a quick and simple substitute for addressing real systemic failures in party organization. Valdini tests her hypotheses by looking at several political contexts around the world: the degree to which parties run more women after a corruption scandal, the number of women who are actually elected at such times, the adoption of gender quotas, and the appointment of women legislators in authoritarian regimes. Her findings suggest that we cannot yet celebrate recent increases in the number of women in office as a sign that we are nearing broad acceptance of gender equality. Further, these findings also suggest that one should question the tendency of scholars and international organizations to use women's presence in office as a measurement of good governance, as well as the tendency to encourage women to simply "lean in" to advance their careers. While it is certainly valuable to encourage women to run for office, it is equally important to understand the motivations of male power-holders. To that end, this book examines how men strategically feminize their political parties or government to retain control, demonstrating that a woman's selection as a candidate often depends on a man's perception of her value.

Six areas of research of the subjects of women, gender and politics are debated: social movements, political parties, elections, political representation, public policy, and the state.

This comparative study of electoral procedures, trends, and key issues is the first to deal with the representation of women and minorities around the world. Wilma Rule and Joseph Zimmerman have brought together an international team of scholars who show why there is gross underrepresentation of women and minorities internationally and who analyze the cultural, socio-economic, and political barriers to their future electoral successes. The scholars describe the current situation in 20 countries in various regions and point to ways for women and minorities to enhance positions politically. This text is intended for courses in comparative politics, political parties and elections, women in politics, and minority politics.

This book seeks to identify the factors that influence the percentage of female parliamentarians, paying particular attention to the electoral system. The author seeks to understand the third wave of democratization of political systems, through the particular perspective of female representation in parliaments.

In the century since women were first eligible to stand and vote in British general elections, they have relied on news media to represent their political perspectives in the public realm. This book provides a systematic analysis of electoral coverage by charting how women candidates, voters, politicians' spouses, and party leaders have been portrayed in newspapers since 1918. The result is a fascinating account of both continuity and change in the position of women in British politics. The book demonstrates that for women to be effectively represented in the political domain, they must also be effectively represented in the public discussion of politics that takes place in the media.