Washington University in St. Louis Washington University Open Scholarship All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) 7-23-2012 When Women Matter: The Relationship Between Women's Presence and Policy Representation in Western European States Diana Z. O'Brien Washington University in St. Louis Follow this and additional works at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd Recommended Citation O'Brien, Diana Z., "When Women Matter: The Relationship Between Women's Presence and Policy Representation in Western European States" (2012). All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs). 973. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd/973 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by Washington University Open Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) by an authorized administrator of Washington University Open Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS Department of Political Science Dissertation Examination Committee: Matthew J. Gabel, Chair Brian F. Crisp Farida Jalalzai Mona Lena Krook Andrew D. Martin Linda Nicholson When Women Matter: The Relationship Between Women's Presence and Policy Representation in Western European States by Diana Z. O'Brien A dissertation presented to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2012 St. Louis, Missouri copyright by Diana Z. O'Brien 2012 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION When Women Matter: The Relationship Between Women's Presence and Policy Representation in Western European States by Diana Z. O'Brien Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science Washington University in St. Louis, 2012 Matthew J. Gabel, Chair In recent years, increasing women's participation in electoral politics has become a priority for a number of activists, politicians, and international governing organi- zations. This focus can largely be attributed to the belief that doing so provides normative benefits for women through increased policy representation. Despite the prevalence of this assumption, research connecting women's numeric and policy rep- resentation generates mixed results. At the same time, this work often fails to ad- equately theorize the link between the presence of female legislators and attention to women on the political agenda. Inspired by these policy debates, this dissertation asks when women's policy representation emerges in Western European countries and whether the presence of female politicians explains this phenomenon. Beginning with the frequently espoused hypothesis of a direct relationship between women's numeric and policy representation, the theoretical framework underpinning the project outlines three more nuanced connections between the two forms of repre- sentation. First, the intervening relationship argues that the link between women's presence and policy representation is not direct, but instead occurs through women's increased access to political leadership positions. Second, the vote-seeking relation- ship posits that in order to explain women's representation, it is necessary to account ii for parties' desire to appeal to female voters. Finally, the policy-stability relationship suggests that attention to women on the policy agenda may reflect parties' stable attitudes towards women's representation. Following the introductory chapter, this theoretical framework linking women's numeric and policy representation is developed and tested in five empirical studies. To consider how these hypotheses might apply to parties' policy agendas, the second chapter presents qualitative case studies of the three major British parties. Drawing on these insights, the third chapter uses an original dataset measuring attention to women on the electoral manifestos of 52 parties to test the competing hypotheses. The fourth chapter builds on this work, assessing how variation in parties' internal organizations might influence which parties are explained by each of the four theories. The final two empirical chapters shift the level of analysis from political parties to legislatures and governments. Mirroring the previous study, in the fifth chapter I return to the UK in order to assess the role of female MPs in influencing policy in the House of Commons. To test the theories developed in this analysis, in the sixth chapter I apply the direct, intervening, vote-seeking, and policy-stability hypotheses to the expansion of parental leave provisions by 136 governments from across 15 countries over a 20 year period. Taken together, these results demonstrate that the relationship between women's numeric and policy representation is more complicated than frequently assumed. In order to understand the emergence of policy for women in general|and the link between female legislators and policy representation in particular|it is necessary to consider which actors control women's (numeric and policy) representation and what factors motivate their behavior. In essence, this dissertation shows that it is not sufficient to simply theorize and test a direct relationship between women's presence and attention to women on the policy agenda. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the past weeks, I have procrastinated the writing this section. This is not because I do not want to acknowledge all of the wonderful people who have made this thesis possible. Rather, it is because so many people have had such a tremendous impact on my work and life over the past six years that I fear that I cannot possibly pay proper tribute to them all. Throughout my academic career, I have received excellent mentorship. At Wash- ington University, I was lucky enough to have three wonderful advisers. To begin with, Matt Gabel has been an exceptional committee chair. I don't think he ever envisioned overseeing a women and politics dissertation, but our biweekly meetings were essential to the development of the theory that underpins this work. Matt's influence has made me a better and more careful scholar, and I cannot thank him enough for all that he has done for me over the past years. I came to Washington University largely because of Mona Lena Krook, and she has been a phenomenal teacher, mentor, co-author, and friend. She has provided me with countless opportunities|as well as a great deal of support|during my time in graduate school. She is also both a personal and professional inspiration to me (and many other burgeoning women and politics scholars). I was also lucky to work with Andrew Martin. Andrew offered excellent advice on both the statistical analyses and the substantive impact of the dissertation. He also helped me to become a better teacher and researcher, and has provided invaluable insights on navigating this profession. In addition to my core members, I would like to thank Farida Jalalzai, Linda Nicholson, and Brian Crisp for serving on my dissertation committee. Their comments on this work will be especially useful for the next stage of the project. Brian is iv also among the many faculty members in the political science department who have provided me with constructive criticism and advice over the past six years, including Jeff Gill, Dawn Brancati, Sunita Parikh, and Itai Sened. I am also indebted to the Hanover College professors who inspired me to come to graduate school, including Bill Kubik, Ron Smith, and Mi Yung Yoon. As well as these faculty members, my time at Washington University has been greatly enriched by my fellow graduate students. I am grateful for those with whom I have shared this experience, including my officemates Carlos Costa, Ron Watson, and Chris Claassen, as well as other colleagues and friends including Kate Jensen, Ian Ostrander, Yael Shomer, Mariana Medina, P¨arZetterberg, Amanda Driscoll, Hong Min Park, Gordon Arsenoff, Peter Casey, Adriana Crespo-Tenorio, Morgan Hazelton, Rachael Hinkle, Jee Seon Jeon, Michael Nelson, Santiago Olivella, Noel Johnston, Chris Pope, Keith Schnakenberg, Tony Stenger, Alicia Uribe, and Greg Whitfield, among others. At several key moments in the writing process, my work benefitted from the feed- back I received from scholars in the women and politics community, especially at the 2011 American Political Science Association meeting, the 2011 European Conference on Gender and Politics, and the 2010 Midwest Political Science Association meeting. My research and conference activities, moreover, would not have been possible with- out the generous financial support of the National Science Foundation. In particular, without my Dissertation Improvement Grant, I would not have been able to complete the fieldwork that generated the second and fifth chapters of the thesis. Above all else, this dissertation is dedicated to my family|Andrew Womack and John, Anna, and Valerie O'Brien. As I completed the thesis, my fianc´eAndy has been unfailingly supportive. He has acted as my cheerleader, my sounding board, and even an impromptu editor. I love him dearly, and without him I could not have completed v this work. My sister Valerie is a constant source of inspiration for me. I am in awe of her intelligence, humor, kindness, patience, and steadfast focus on achieving her goals. I thank her for being the best friend I could possibly hope for. Finally, I am so thankful for my parents. From a young age, my father and mother instilled in me a deep love of (and appreciation for) learning. Over the past six years, they have also been ceaseless in their love and support for me, reassuring me that I was capable of earning my Ph.D. even when I harbored doubts. Without my family, none of this would have been possible. vi For my family, Andrew Womack and John, Anna, and Valerie O'Brien. Without them, none of this would have been possible. vii Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements iv List of Tables xii List of Figures xiii 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Motivating the Dissertation Project . .1 1.2 Previous Research Linking Women's Numeric and Policy Representation5 1.2.1 Normative Literature Linking Women's Numeric and Policy Representation . .6 1.2.2 Empirical Literature Linking Women's Numeric and Policy Rep- resentation .