Testing the Politics of Presence: Women's Representation in the Swedish Riksdag

In: Scandinavian political studies: SPS ; a journal, Volume 23, Issue 1, p. 67-91

Abstract

This article focuses on women's representation in the Swedish Riksdag. The theory of the politics of presence serves as a point of departure. The aim is to underpin empirically -- or to test empirically -- the assertion that female politicians, to a greater extent than male politicians, represent the interests of women. The concept of women's interests divides, on a theoretical level, into three components: the recognition of women as a social category; acknowledgement of the unequal balance of power between the sexes; & the occurrence of policies to increase the autonomy of female citizens. On the empirical level, this corresponds to measurements indicating female vs male MPs' attitudes & behavior in areas such as gender equality & social welfare policy. The data used are parliamentary survey studies from 1985, 1988, & 1994. The analysis controls for effects of politicians' gender when other factors -- eg, party affiliation, age, education, & parliamentary experience -- are taken into account. The main result is that the theory of the politics of presence gains strong empirical support. What this study contributes is a significant measure of stability for the feminist critique of more established theories of representative democracy. 7 Tables, 1 Appendix, 41 References. Adapted from the source document.