TY - JOUR
T1 - Parliamentary representation of women
T2 - From discourses of justice to strategies of accountability
AU - Sawer, Marian
PY - 2000/10
Y1 - 2000/10
N2 - The 1990s have witnessed a wide range of initiatives at national and international levels to increase the parliamentary representation of women. It is argued here that the "underrepresentation of women" is an inherently ambiguous slogan that has wrapped up in it quite different families of arguments, including the right to represent, the need for representativeness, and the representation of interests. This ambiguity is politically powerful but may cause problems for the practice of representation. The article concludes that "making a difference" discourse may lead to an over-emphasis on embodiment and a neglect of issues of accountability.
AB - The 1990s have witnessed a wide range of initiatives at national and international levels to increase the parliamentary representation of women. It is argued here that the "underrepresentation of women" is an inherently ambiguous slogan that has wrapped up in it quite different families of arguments, including the right to represent, the need for representativeness, and the representation of interests. This ambiguity is politically powerful but may cause problems for the practice of representation. The article concludes that "making a difference" discourse may lead to an over-emphasis on embodiment and a neglect of issues of accountability.
KW - Accountability
KW - Institution-building
KW - Representation
KW - Women
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0034340764&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0192512100214003
DO - 10.1177/0192512100214003
M3 - Article
SN - 0192-5121
VL - 21
SP - 361
EP - 380
JO - International Political Science Review
JF - International Political Science Review
IS - 4
ER -