Hostname: page-component-66d9dcfd78-qkmwt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-08-08T01:25:55.438Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Role of District Magnitude in When Women Represent Women

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2022

Brian F. Crisp Open the ORCID record for Brian F. Crisp [Opens in a new window]  and
Patrick Cunha Silva Open the ORCID record for Patrick Cunha Silva [Opens in a new window]
Brian F. Crisp*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, USA
Patrick Cunha Silva
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: crisp@wustl.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Legislators are likely to substantively represent groups to which they belong or with which they have some particular affinity. However, there are electoral systems that diminish this tendency and systems that promote it. More precisely, as district magnitude increases, representatives will be freer to focus on issues that are not decisive of vote choice for most voters. In this letter, we use a case of electoral reform and the nature of the post-reform chamber (Chile's Chamber of Deputies) to test whether increasing district magnitude makes it more likely that women will focus on women's issues. A series of tests on multiple sets of observations show robust results for the conclusion that as the number of candidates elected in a district increases, elected women become more likely to pursue women's issues.

Keywords

gendersubstantive representationelectoral systemsbill cosponsorshipdistrict magnitude

Information

Type
Letter
Information
British Journal of Political Science , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , July 2023 , pp. 1061 - 1069
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Bagashka, T and Clark, JH (2016) Electoral rules and legislative particularism: evidence from US state legislatures. American Political Science Review 110(3) (August), 441–456. Available from https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055416000228CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, TD (2016) Gendering Legislative Behavior: Institutional Constraints and Collaboration. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caprioli, M (2000) Gendered conflict. Journal of Peace Research 37(1) (January), 51–68. Available from https://doi.org/10.1177/0022343300037001003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carey, JM and Shugart, MS (1995) Incentives to cultivate a personal vote: a rank ordering of electoral formulas. Electoral Studies 14(4), 417–439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, JH and Caro, V (2013) Multimember districts and the substantive representation of women: an analysis of legislative cosponsorship networks. Politics & Gender 9(1), 1–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clayton, A, Josefsson, C and Wang, V (2017) Who represents women in Turkey? An analysis of gender difference in private bill sponsorship in the 2011–15 Turkish parliament. Politics & Gender 13(2), 276–304. Available from https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X16000453CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coffe, H (2018) MPs’ representational focus in MMP systems. A comparison between Germany and New Zealand. Representation 54(4), 367–389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, GW (1987) Electoral equilibrium under alternative voting institutions. American Journal of Political Science 29(1), 82–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, GW (1990) Centripetal and centrifugal incentives in electoral systems. American Journal of Political Science 34(4), 903–935.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crisp, BF and Silva, PC (2022) “Replication Data for: The Role of District Magnitude in When Women Represent Women”, https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/Z3EWZD, Harvard Dataverse, V1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downs, A (1957) An Economic Theory of Democracy. New York: Harper/Row, 135–150.Google Scholar
Duverger, M (1954) Political Parties: Their Organization and Activity in the Modern State. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Funk, KD and Philips, AQ (2019) Representative budgeting: women mayors and the composition of spending in local governments. Political Research Quarterly 72(1), 19–33. Available from https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912918775237CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gamboa, R and Morales, M (2016) Chile's 2015 electoral reform: changing the rules of the game. Latin America Politics and Society 58(4), 126–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grose, CR (2005) Disentangling constituency and legislator effects in legislative representation: black legislators or black districts. Social Science Quarterly 86, 427–443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hero, RE and Preuhs, RR (2010) Black–Latino political relationships: policy voting in the U.S. House of Representatives. American Political Science Review 38, 531–562.Google Scholar
Hoehmann, D (2020) When do female MPs represent women's interests? Electoral systems and the legislative behavior of women. Political Research Quarterly 73(4) (December), 834–847. Available from https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912919859437CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Htun, M, Lacalle, M and Micozzi, JP (2013) Does women's presence change legislative behavior? Evidence from Argentina, 1983–2007. Journal of Politics in Latin America 5(1) (April), 95–125. Available from https://doi.org/10.1177/1866802X1300500105CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kweon, Y and Ryan, JM (2021) Electoral systems and the substantive representation of marginalized groups: evidence from women's issue bills in South Korea. Political Research Quarterly 75(4), 1065–1078.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leys, C (1959) Models, theories and the theory of political parties. Political Studies 7, 127–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowande, K, Ritchie, M and Lauterbach, E (2019) Descriptive and substantive representation in Congress: evidence from 80,000 congressional inquiries. American Journal of Political Science 63(3), 644–659.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacDonald, JA and O'Brien, EE (2011) Quasi-experimental design, constituency, and advancing women's interests: reexamining the influence of gender on substantive representation. Political Research Quarterly 64(2), 472–486. Available from https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912909354703CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mechkova, V and Carlitz, R (2021) Gendered accountability: when and why do women's policy priorities get implemented. European Political Science Review 13(1), 3–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mügge, LM, van der Pas, DJ and van de Wardt, M (2019) Representing their own? Ethnic minority women in the Dutch Parliament. West European Politics 42(4), 705–727.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myerson, RB (1993) Incentives to cultivate favored minorities under alternative electoral systems. American Political Science Review 87(4), 856–869.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Preuhs, RR (2007) Descriptive representation as a mechanism to mitigate policy backlash: Latino incorporation and welfare policy in the American states. Political Research Quarterly 60, 277–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Regan, P and Paskeviciute, A (2003) Women's access to politics and peaceful states. Journal of Peace Research 40(3) (May), 287–302. Available from https://doi.org/10.1177/0022343303040003003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sartori, G (1968) Political development and political engineering. In Montgomery, J and Hirschman, AO (eds), Public Policy. Cambridge University Press, 261–298.Google Scholar
Shugart, M, Valdini, M and Suominen, K (2005) Looking for locals: voter information demands and personal vote-earning attributes of legislators under proportional representation. American Journal of Political Science 49(2) (April), 437–449. Available from https://doi.org/10.2307/3647687CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swers, M (1998) Are women more likely to vote for women's issue bills than their male colleagues? Legislative Studies Quarterly 23(3) (August), 435–448. https://www.jstor.org/stable/440362CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swers, ML (2001) Research on women in legislatures: what have we learned, where are we going? Women & Politics 23, 167–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor-Robinson, M (2014) Gender and legislatures. In Martin, S, Saalfeld, T and Kaare, S (eds), Oxford Handbook of Legislative Studies. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 250–266.Google Scholar
Thomas, S (1994) How Women Legislate. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Thomas, S and Welch, S (2001) The impact of women in state legislatures: numerical and organizational strength. In Carroll, S (ed.), The Impact of Women in Public Office. Indiana University Press, 166–181.Google Scholar
Tremblay, M (2003) Women's representational role in Australia and Canada: the impact of political context. Australian Journal of Political Science 38(2) (July), 215–238. Available from https://doi.org/10.1080/1036114032000092693CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tremblay, M (2005) Women's political representation: does the electoral system matter? Political Science 57(1) (June), 59–75. Available from https://doi.org/10.1177/003231870505700105CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tschoepe, G (1997) The influence of African American representation on state AFDC policy. State & Local Government Review 29, 156–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: Link

Crisp and Cunha Silva Dataset

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/Z3EWZD
Link
Supplementary material: PDF

Crisp and Cunha Silva supplementary material

Crisp and Cunha Silva supplementary material

Download Crisp and Cunha Silva supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 245.4 KB