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This article examines parliaments as symbol-makers beyond the actions of individual Members of Parliament or parliamentary party groups. In doing so, it develops an analytical framework for studying how legislatures symbolically represent women and, more generally, how they stand for gender equality. The article identifies who are the symbol-makers on behalf of the institution and outlines several indicators that allow assessing how the symbolic may further the gender sensitivity of parliaments. The indicators are clustered into two domains: on one hand, physical spaces, and, on the other hand, communications and public outreach. Drawing on examples from parliaments around the world, the article documents the wide range of available repertoires aimed at eroding the association between politics and masculinity. It also discusses the expected impact of symbolic activity on the targeted audiences and pinpoints the ways in which descriptive, substantive and symbolic representation build onto each other.

Despite the increasingly reported incidence of sexual harassment among female elected representatives and staff members around the world, many more cases may not surface due to the power asymmetries, partisan logics and male organisational culture underpinning parliaments. No workplace is immune to sexual harassment, but when such misconducts occur in parliaments women's right to fully and equally participate in political life is severely infringed. While international organisations have issued numerous resolutions calling parliaments to take action, this article shows that most legislative chambers in Europe and the Americas lag behind the adoption of adequate preventative measures, complaint mechanisms and reparation measures.

AbstractThis article investigates how legislatures may re-present themselves through claim-making on behalf of the institution. Focusing on claims about gender equality, attention is paid to the Women's Parliament organized by the Parliament of Catalonia, an all-women event through which female members of Parliament and social activists came together to put forth a feminist political agenda. Drawing on a constructivist approach, I disentangle the intentions of the institution, examine the discursive construction and performative enactment of the representative claim, and assess its reception by different audiences. I also reflect on how the symbolic activity undertaken within and by parliaments can recast ideas and practices of representation to promote more radical and inclusive politics. Overall, the article evinces that symbolic representation can be studied as a dimension in its own right and that, rather than being a mere by-product, it does co-constitute descriptive and substantive representation.

Focus on quotas has shifted attention away from other, more comprehensive and strategic reforms aimed at furthering gender equality in political parties. This article concentrates on the gender action plans adopted by three Spanish parties. Using a gendered and institutional approach, it examines the conditions that led to the layering of these plans alongside existing party rules and assesses the outcome of such a gradual change. The results of the empirical analysis suggest that gender action plans have contributed not only to feminize the organization in terms of women's numerical representation but also increasingly to regender it, thereby setting in motion a more profound change that challenges the foundations of gendered opportunities for political participation. The article also identifies the measures that have been less effective and pinpoints the reasons for the differential impact of gender equity institutional change across the various components of the party gender regime.

Is women's chronic minority status worldwide explained by a lack of women wishing to stand for political office or by party selectors' disinterest in selecting women candidates? This debate continues among gender politics scholars; however, an increasing number of studies highlight the need to further investigate how the demands of party selectors might shape the supply of women candidates, especially in strong parliamentary democracies where political parties are the key gatekeepers (Kenny 2013; Murray 2010). This concern was already present in Norris and Lovenduski's (1995) original model, which called for a deeper examination of the "interaction effects" between "supply" and "demand." In engaging with this call, I argue that the constraining effects of supply are reinforced not only by the demands of party selectors, but also by the everyday (gendered) functioning of political parties, which helps us understand the differential chances of women and men eventually becoming candidates.

Richard S. Katz y William Crotty (eds.). Londres, Sage, 560 pp.

Mientras se ha prestado mucha atención a los factores que facilitan la adopción de cuotas electorales degénero y la efectividad de las mismas, sabemos relativamente poco de las potenciales distintas característicasde las mujeres electas con y sin discriminación positiva. Asimismo, aquellas predicciones relativas a losprocesos de selección de candidaturas y a los perfiles de las personas candidatas realizadas por quienes seoponen a las cuotas no han sido examinadas empíricamente. El artículo examina el parlamento catalán en elperiodo 1980-2010 con el objetivo de explorar los efectos que producen las cuotas en los procesos de reclutamientoy en los perfiles de las diputadas antes y después de la adopción de cuotas. Al analizar la selecciónde candidatos y candidatas, se ponen a prueba las predicciones que señalan que los partidos tienen dificultadesen hallar un número suficiente de mujeres dispuestas a ser candidatas y que las cuotas generan un techode cristal para las propias mujeres. El estudio de los perfiles nos permite evaluar si las predicciones sobre lainferior cualificación de las nuevas candidatas y sobre la mayor dependencia hacia las personas que las reclutaronencuentran soporte empírico.