Gendering Institutions: The Political Recruitment of Women in Post-Devolution Scotland Meryl Kenny PhD – The University of Edinburgh – 2009 Contents CONTENTS .................................................................................................... I LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ............................................................... VI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................... VII ABSTRACT .................................................................................................. IX DECLARATION............................................................................................ XI LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS.......................................... XII CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................... 1 Gender, Politics and Institutions: New Approaches and Directions ................................. 4 Why Political Recruitment?.................................................................................................. 6 Why Scotland? ....................................................................................................................... 7 Structure of Text.................................................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER TWO: GENDER AND THE INSTITUTIONS OF POLITICAL RECRUITMENT........................................................................................... 13 I: The Comparative Literature on Political Recruitment ................................................ 14 II: The Supply and Demand Model.................................................................................... 16 The Dynamics of Supply and Demand ...................................................................................... 19 A Critique of Supply-Side Explanations ..................................................................................... 21 The Limiting Power of Demand .................................................................................................. 25 Theorizing Institutional Interconnections ................................................................................... 26 III: Taking the Model Forward: An Institutionalist Approach....................................... 28 i Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 34 CHAPTER THREE: TOWARDS A FEMINIST INSTITUTIONALISM .......... 35 I: Feminist Political Science: An Institutional ‘Turn’ ...................................................... 35 From ‘Sex’ to ‘Gender’ ................................................................................................................. 36 Patriarchy, Gender Regimes, and the Gender Order .............................................................. 37 Theorizing Gendered Institutions ............................................................................................... 39 Moving Beyond the Numbers? ................................................................................................... 42 II: The New Institutionalism: One or Many?.................................................................... 44 Rational Choice Institutionalism ................................................................................................. 45 Sociological Institutionalism ........................................................................................................ 49 Historical Institutionalism ............................................................................................................. 52 III: New Institutionalism and Feminist Political Science: Creating a dialogue ............. 57 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 61 CHAPTER FOUR: CONNECTING GENDER, POWER, AND CHANGE .... 63 I: Defining Institutions ........................................................................................................ 63 II: Gender ............................................................................................................................. 67 III: Power.............................................................................................................................. 70 IV: Change............................................................................................................................ 75 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 81 CHAPTER FIVE: A FEMINIST INSTITUTIONALIST APPROACH - METHODOLOGY AND METHOD ............................................................... 83 I: A Feminist Institutionalist Methodology? ..................................................................... 83 A Feminist Discursive Approach ................................................................................................. 87 II: Research Strategy, Methods and Sources .................................................................... 92 Process Tracing ............................................................................................................................ 96 Documents ..................................................................................................................................... 99 ii Interviews ..................................................................................................................................... 100 III: Issues of Validity, Reliability and Generalizability.................................................. 101 IV: Ethical Considerations................................................................................................ 104 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 104 CHAPTER SIX: CANDIDATE SELECTION IN POST-DEVOLUTION SCOTLAND............................................................................................... 106 I: Women and the Scottish Parliament............................................................................ 107 Reforming Candidate Selection and Recruitment .................................................................. 109 Scottish Parliament Elections: 1999-2007 .............................................................................. 112 II: Gender and Political Recruitment: Trends Over Time ............................................ 119 Candidate Selection: 1999-2007 .............................................................................................. 121 Party Measures to Improve Women’s Representation ......................................................... 125 Gender and Incumbency Trends .............................................................................................. 132 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 140 CHAPTER SEVEN: BREAKING WITH THE PAST? PATHS OF INSTITUTIONAL REFORM IN THE LABOUR PARTY ............................. 142 I: The Modernization and Feminization of the Labour Party....................................... 143 Setting the Context for Reform: Party Organization Before New Labour ........................... 144 Modernizing Candidate and Leadership Selection ................................................................ 146 Feminizing the Labour Party ..................................................................................................... 149 II: Creating a ‘New Politics’ in Scotland: Interconnected Trajectories of Institutional Reform ................................................................................................................................ 157 The Autonomy and Organization of the Scottish Labour Party ............................................ 158 Candidate Selection in Scottish Labour Post-Devolution ..................................................... 159 Candidate Selection After 1999 ................................................................................................ 165 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 166 CHAPTER EIGHT: THE STORY OF A SELECTION ................................ 168 iii I: Introducing the Key Players ......................................................................................... 168 The Central Players .................................................................................................................... 169 The Regional Players ................................................................................................................. 169 The Local Players ....................................................................................................................... 170 II: A Micro-Level Case Study........................................................................................... 172 Mapping City North and Greenside .......................................................................................... 173 III: Tracing the Process..................................................................................................... 176 Stage One: Declaration of Interest and Application Process ............................................... 178 Stage Two: Branch and Union Nominations