Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Home
Hostname: page-component-7c459644fd-jzmtv Total loading time: 0.279 Render date: 2022-09-01T04:16:44.098Z Has data issue: true Feature Flags: { "shouldUseShareProductTool": true, "shouldUseHypothesis": true, "isUnsiloEnabled": true, "useRatesEcommerce": false, "useNewApi": true } hasContentIssue true
  • English
Politics & Gender Politics & Gender

Article contents

The Story of the Theory of Critical Mass

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2006

Drude Dahlerup
Drude Dahlerup
Affiliation:
Stockholm University
Get access Rights & Permissions[Opens in a new window]

Extract

The theory of a “critical mass” seems to live a life of its own, in spite of reservations expressed by researchers, my own reservations included. In debates about women's political representation, the importance of a certain number or percentage of women in political assemblies is often stressed. According to conventional wisdom, research has shown that it takes a certain minimum representation, for example, 30%, before the minority, here women, are able to make a substantial difference in politics.

Type
CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON GENDER AND POLITICS
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , December 2006 , pp. 511 - 522
Copyright
© 2006 The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association

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.)

References

References

Antić, Milica, and Sonja Lokar. 2006. “The Balkans: From Total Rejection to Gradual Acceptance of Gender Quotas.” In Women, Quotas and Politics, ed. Drude Dahlerup. London: Routledge, 138–67.
Beckwith, Karen, and Kimberly Cowell-Meyers. 2003. “Sheer Numbers.” Paper prepared for the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Philadelphia, August 28–31.
Dahlerup, Drude. 1988. “From a Small to a Large Minority: Women in Scandinavian Politics.” Scandinavian Political Studies 11 (4): 275–98.Google Scholar
Dahlerup, Drude. 1993. “De una pequena a una gran minoría: una teoría de la ‘masa critica’ aplicada el caso de las mujeres en la politica escnadinavia.” Debate Feminista 8 (Autumn): 165–206.Google Scholar
Dahlerup, Drude. 2004. “Feministisk partipolitik? Om skillnader i dansk och svensk jämställdhetsdebatt. In Framtiden i samtiden. Könsrelationer i förändring i Sverige och omvärlden, ed. Christina Florin och Christina Bergqvist. Stockholm: Institute for Futures Studies: 234–63.
Dahlerup, Drude, ed. 2006. Women, Quotas and Politics. London: Routledge.
Dahlerup, Drude, and Lenita Freidenvall. 2005. “Quotas as a ‘Fast Track’ to Equal Political Representation for Women: Why Scandinavia is No Longer the Model.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 7 (1): 26–48.Google Scholar
“Electoral Gender Quotas—Key to Equality?” 2003. Research project, Department of Political Science, Stockholm University. www.statsvet.su.se/quotas (October 2006).
Gender, and Media. Gender and Media in Southern Africa. http://www.gemsa.org.za (October 2006).
“Global Database of Quotas for Women.” 2006. International IDEA and Stockholm University. http://www.quotaproject.org (October 2006).
Goetz, Anne Marie. 2003. “Women's Political Effectiveness: A Conceptual Framework.” In No Shortcuts to Power: African Women in Politics and Policy Making, ed. A. M. Goetz and S. Hassim. London and New York: Zed Books; Cape Town: David Phillips, 29–80.
Goetz, Anne Marie, and Shireen Hassim. 2003. “Introduction: Women in Power in Uganda and South Africa.” In No Shortcuts to Power: African Women in Politics and Policy Making, ed. A. M. Goetz and S. Hassim. London and New York: Zed Books; Cape Town: David Phillips, 1–28.
Hacker, H. M. 1951. “Women as a Minority Group.” Social Forces 30: 60–69.Google Scholar
IPU (Inter-Parliamentary Union). 2006. “Women in National Parliaments.” http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/world.htm (October 2006).
Kanter, Rosabeth Moss. 1977. Men and Women of the Corporation. New York: Basic Books.
Krook, M. L. 2004. “Promoting Gender-Balanced Decision-Making: The Role of International Fora and Transnational Networks.” In Crossing Borders: Re-Mapping Women's Movements at the Turn of the 21st Century, ed. H. R. Christensen, B. Halsaa, and A. Saarinen. Odense: Odense University Press, 205–20.
Lovenduski, Joni. 2005. Feminizing Politics. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Lowe-Morna, Colleen, ed. 2004. Ringing Up the Changes: Gender in Southern African Politics. Johannesburg: Gender Links.
Molyneux, Maxine. 2001. Women's Movements in International Perspective: Latin America and Beyond. London: Palgrave.
Peschard, Jacqueline. 2003. “An Overview of the Quota Systems in Latin America.” In The Implementation of Quotas: Latin American Experiences, 20–30. Quota Workshop Report Series no. 2, International IDEA, Stockholm, www.idea.int.
Sawer, Marion. 2000. “Parliamentary Representation of Women: From Discourses of Justice to Strategies of Accountability.” International Political Science Review 21 (4): 361–80.Google Scholar
Skjeie, Hege. 1992. Den politiske betydningen av kjønn. Oslo: Institute for Social Research.
Socialist International Women. 1998. Statement of Bureau Meeting, 15–16 May 1998 in Oslo, Norway. http://www.socintwomen.org.uk.
Stetson, Dorothy McBride, and Amy G. Mazur. 1995. Comparative State Feminism. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women (FWCW). 1995. “Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.” http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/declar/htm.
United Nations. 1979. “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.” UN Treaty Series, 1249: 13.
WEDO (Women's Environment, and Development Organization). 2005. “50/50 Campaign: Get the Balance Right!” http://www.wedo.org/campaigns.aspx?mode=5050main.
84
Cited by

Save article to Kindle

To save this article to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

The Story of the Theory of Critical Mass
Available formats
×

Save article to Dropbox

To save this article to your Dropbox account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Dropbox account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

The Story of the Theory of Critical Mass
Available formats
×

Save article to Google Drive

To save this article to your Google Drive account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Google Drive account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

The Story of the Theory of Critical Mass
Available formats
×
×

Reply to: Submit a response

Please enter your response.

Your details

Please enter a valid email address.

Conflicting interests

Do you have any conflicting interests? *