Power struggles: gender equality in political representation

In: European journal of politics and gender, Band 1, Heft 1-2, S. 149-166

Abstract

Gender inequality in political representation remains despite widespread and long-standing feminist campaigns for representative equality. This article suggests that in order to increase our understanding of why men's over-representation in politics persists, gender equality in descriptive and substantive representation should be analysed as power struggles. Power is operationalised as positional power and active power, and struggle as the interaction between feminist strategies and resistance. The article offers a rereading of the scholarship on gender equality and political representation through the lens of power struggles and concludes with highlighting some future research tracks.