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Based on empirical data, speeches from the budget debates of the Belgian Lower House (1900-1979), this article explores the relationship between descriptive and substantive representation of women. The article concludes that women members of Parliament (MPs)were women's most fervent representatives and contributed in a unique way to how women were represented; they stretched the borders of the political definition of women's interests and made them fit better with the way women themselves defined their interests. The research contributes to the development of the concepts 'substantive representation' and 'women's interests' and of the methodology of empirical research in this field. Adapted from the source document. COPIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM: HAWORTH DOCUMENT DELIVERY CENTER, The Haworth Press, Inc., 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580

This contribution offers a detailed investigation of the substantive representation of women in Parliament in the 1960s and 1970s. The article presents evidence that although the speeches of women MP's deal with women's interests in a more interrelated manner and are more often feminist in intend, the defence of women's interests nor feminist issues is an exclusively female domain. The heterogeneity of the representatives in terms of party affiliation and sex, is responsible for the diversity of groups of women that receive political attention, the wide range of issues and topics addressed by the MP's, and the presence of different visions on how the situation of women could and should be ameliorated. The material for the analysis was drawn from the speeches of MP's during the budget debates in the Lower House (1960-1980).

In this contribution we confront the results ofa research on the Flemish Parliament (1995-1999) with two hypotheses regarding the request for more wamen in parliament. First, we ask whether female MPs do defend wamen's interests. The research indicates that taking care of women's interests was indeed part of the task of female MPs. Supported by other scholars, we argue that the actual and future role of male MPs in defending women's interests deserves further empirical investigation. Second, we focus on the often-assumed difference that female MPs would make regarding their role orientation. Although there were major similarities in the role orientations of female and male MPs, a number of relative differences were found with regard to representational style, priorities and conception of the relations between majority and minority.