Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vvkck Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T00:43:42.477Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Gendered Division of Labor in Assignments to Political Committees: Discrimination or Self-Selection in Danish Local Politics?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 December 2012

Martin Baekgaard  and
Ulrik Kjaer
Martin Baekgaard
Affiliation:
Aarhus University
Ulrik Kjaer
Affiliation:
University of Southern Denmark
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The literature on the descriptive representation of women in parliaments is voluminous, and most studies focus on different levels of women's representation across legislatures (e.g., Krook 2010; Matland 1998; Paxton 1997; Reynolds 1999; Siaroff 2000). The number of women in parliaments is counted across the globe, and explanations as to what facilitates and hinders the election of female politicians are sought. At a macro level, PR systems, high district magnitudes, and, of course, gender quotas are some of the institutional mechanisms that have been identified as advantageous for women's ambitions to conquer seats in legislatures. These aspects of the electoral system have also drawn widespread attention among electoral engineers, since they can be manipulated, far more so than can socioeconomic factors (such as women's educational level or participation in the labor market) or cultural factors (such as dominant religion or the cultural perception of women's societal role), both of which have also been identified as important to women's descriptive representation at the parliamentary level (see, e.g., Christmas-Best and Kjaer 2007).

Type
Research Article
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 8 , Issue 4 , December 2012 , pp. 465 - 482
Copyright
Copyright © The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Baekgaard, Martin. 2009. “Organizational Change in Local Governments: The Impact of the Danish Local Government Reform.” World Political Science Review 5 (1): 1–21.Google Scholar
Baekgaard, Martin. 2010. Undersøgelse af byrådskandidater ved kommunalvalget 2009 med fokus på motiver bag opstillingen, lokal tilknytning og ønskede udvalgsposter. Design og svarfordelinger. Aarhus: Department of Political Science, Aarhus University.Google Scholar
Carroll, Susan. 2008. “Committee Assignments: Discrimination or Choice?” In Legislative Women: Getting Elected Getting Ahead, ed. Reingold, Beth. Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 135–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christmas-Best, Verona, and Kjaer, Ulrik. 2007. “Why so Few and Why so Slow? Women as Parliamentary Representatives in Europe from a Longitudinal Perspective.” In Democratic Representation in Europe—Diversity, Change and Convergence, eds. Cotta, Maurizio and Best, Heinrich. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 77–105.Google Scholar
Cox, Gary W., and McCubbins, Mathew D.. 1993. Legislative Leviathan: Party Government in the House. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Dahlerup, Drude. 1988. “From a Small to a Large Minority: Women in Scandinavian Politics.” Scandinavian Political Studies 11 (4): 275–98.Google Scholar
Dahlerup, Drude. 2011. “Women in Nordic Politics—A Continuing Success Story?” In Gender and Power in the Nordic Countries, ed. Niskanen, Kirsti. Oslo: Nordic Gender Institute, 59–86.Google Scholar
Diaz, Mercedes Mateo. 2005. Representing Women? Female Legislators in West European Parliaments. Colchester: ECPR Press.Google Scholar
Elklit, Jørgen. 2005. Danske valgsystemer. Aarhus: Department of Political Science, Aarhus University.Google Scholar
Friedman, Sally. 1996. “House Committee Assignments of Women and Minority Newcomers, 1965–1994.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 21 (1): 73–81.Google Scholar
Frisch, Scott A., and Kelly, Sean Q.. 2003. “A Place at the Table: Women's Committee Preferences and Committee Assignments in the U.S. House.” Women and Politics 25 (3): 1–26.Google Scholar
Frisch, Scott A., and Kelly, Sean Q.. 2004. “Self-selection Reconsidered: House Committee Assignment Requests and Constituency Characteristics.” Political Research Quarterly 57 (2): 325–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gertzog, Irwin N. 1995. Congressional Women: Their Recruitment, Integration, and Behavior, 2nd ed.Westport, CT: Praeger.Google Scholar
Gilligan, Thomas W., and Krehbiel, Keith. 1987. “Collective Decision-Making and Standing Committees: An Informational Rationale for Restrictive Amendment Procedures.” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 3 (2): 337–45.Google Scholar
Heath, Roseanna Michelle, Schwindt-Bayer, Leslie, and Robinson, Michelle M. Taylor. 2005. “Women on the Sidelines: Women's Representation on Committees in Latin American Legislatures.” American Journal of Political Science 49 (2): 420–36.Google Scholar
John, Peter. (2006). “Methodologies and Research Methods in Urban Political Science.” In The Comparative Study of Local Government and Politics: Overview and Synthesis, ed. Baldersheim, Harald and Wollmann, Hellmut. Opladen: Barbara Budrich, 67–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, Carole. 2003. “Gender Differences in Committee Decision-Making.” Women and Politics 25 (3): 27–45.Google Scholar
Kiewiet, D. Roderick, and McCubbins, Mathew D.. 1991. The Logic of Delegation: Congressional Parties and the Appropriations Process. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kjaer, Ulrik. 1999. “Saturation Without Parity: The Stagnating Number of Female Councillors in Denmark.” In Elites, Parties and Democracy, ed. Beukel, Erik, Klausen, Kurt Klaudi, and Mouritzen, Poul Erik. Odense: University of Southern Denmark Press, 149–68.Google Scholar
Krehbiel, Keith. 1992. Information and Legislative Organization, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Krook, Mona Lena. 2010. Quotas for Women in Politics—Gender and Candidate Selection Reform Worldwide. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Local Government Statute. 2006. Law no. 1060, 24/10 2006.Google Scholar
Mansbridge, Jane. 1999. “Should Blacks Represent Blacks and Women Represent Women? A Contingent ‘Yes.’” Journal of Politics 61 (3): 628–57.Google Scholar
Matland, Richard. E. 1998. “Women's Representation in National Legislatures: Developed and Developing Countries.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 23 (1): 109–25.Google Scholar
Municipal Yearbook. 2010. Copenhagen: Mostrup.Google Scholar
Norris, Pippa, and Lovenduski, Joni. 1995. Political Recruitment: Gender, Race and Class in the British Parliament. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Paxton, Pamela. 1997. “Women in National Legislatures: A Cross National Analysis.” Social Science Research 26 (4): 442–64.Google Scholar
Paxton, Pamela, Kunovich, Sheri, and Hughes, Melanie M.. 2007. “Gender in Politics.” Annual Review of Sociology 33: 263–84.Google Scholar
Pelissero, John P., and Krebs, Timothy B.. 1997. “City Council Legislative Committees and Policy-Making in Large United States Cities.” American Journal of Political Science 41 (2): 499–518.Google Scholar
Phillips, Anne. 1994. The Politics of Presence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Raaum, Nina C. 1995. “The Political Representation of Women: A Bird's Eye View.” In Women in Nordic Politics—Closing the Gap, ed. Karvonen, Lauri and Selle, Per. Aldershot: Dartmouth, 25–58.Google Scholar
Randall, Vicky. 1982. Women and Politics. London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, Andrew. 1999. “Women in the Legislatures and Executives of the World—Knocking at the Highest Glass Ceiling.” World Politics 51 (4): 547–72.Google Scholar
Schaffner, Brian F. 2007. “Political Parties and the Representativeness of Legislative Committees.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 32 (3): 475–97.Google Scholar
Serritzlew, Søren. 2003. “Shaping Local Councillor Preferences: Party Politics, Committee Structure and Social Background.” Scandinavian Political Studies 26 (4): 327–48.Google Scholar
Shepsle, Kenneth A., and Weingast, Barry. 1987. “The Institutional Foundations of Committee Power.” American Political Science Review 81 (1): 85–104.Google Scholar
Siaroff, Alan. 2000. “Women's Representation in Legislatures and Cabinets in Industrial Democracies.” International Political Science Review 21 (2): 197–215.Google Scholar
Sprague, Mary. 2008. “The Effects of Measurement and Methods Decisions on Committee Preference Outlier Results.” Political Research Quarterly 61 (2): 309–18.Google Scholar
Swers, Michele L. 2002. The Difference Women Make—The Policy Impact of Women in Congress. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Thomas, Sue. 1994. How Women Legislate. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wängnerud, Lena. 2009. “Women in Parliaments: Descriptive and Substantive Representation.” Annual Review of Political Science 12: 51–69.Google Scholar
Weingast, Barry R., and Marshall, William J.. 1988. “The Industrial Organization of Congress; Or, Why Legislatures, Like Firms, are not Organized as Markets.” Journal of Political Economy 96 (1): 132–63.Google Scholar
Yordanova, Nikoleta. 2009. “The Rationale behind Committee Assignment in the European Parliament: Distributive, Informational and Partisan Perspectives.” European Union Politics 10 (2): 253–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yule, Jean. 2000. “Women Councillors and Committee Recruitment.” Local Government Studies 26 (1): 31–54.Google Scholar