Abstract
Gender represents a very important, yet often neglected, element of political and constitutional change. The UK is an example of a state in relative constitutional flux where gender and constitutional reform have been closely intertwined. Alongside, the constitutional change has developed a ‘new’ politics, derived from democratic renewal (especially devolution in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland post-1997). This has created conditions for a renewed debate on women representation in UK’s political and public life and has also stimulated some innovations (and in some cases, transformations) of internal candidate selection strategies within parties. This has resulted in a degree of better representation for women elected to the various UK legislatures. Nevertheless, twenty years on from devolution, progress for women is stagnating at subnational level (and desperately slow at UK Parliament and local government level). This chapter explores changes in the electoral opportunity structures for women in post-devolution UK, using Wales and its National Assembly as a case study. It will focus specifically on how internal candidate selection processes within the main political parties in Wales—Labour, Conservative and Plaid Cymru—have changed against a backdrop of constitutional reform, whilst also unpacking gender from the recent electoral success of UKIP. We explore the impact the changes in candidate selection processes have had on women’s electoral fortunes and the descriptive representation of women in UK legislatures. We draw on empirical work on UK’s constitutional transformation undertaken by the authors since the beginning of devolution. Our findings highlight the importance of endogenous and exogenous factors, both structural and cultural, in diversifying pathways into politics for women through innovative approaches to candidate selection strategies within parties, and through addressing structural barriers outside political parties. We argue that whilst the ‘new’ politics has brought some changes to electoral opportunity structures for women at subnational level, there has been no real cascading effect of positive changes at other levels, a culture of bias still stifling the internal party processes of selecting candidates.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Allen, P., & Cutts, D. (2018). An analysis of political ambition in Britain. The Political Quarterly, 89(1), 73–81.
BBC Wales. (2014). How the all women shortlists still creates controversy. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-27665486.
BBC Wales. (2017). Election candidate ‘imposition’ upsets Bridgend tories. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-39778661.
BBC News. (2000). Tory row over women MPs. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/952797.stm.
Bille, L. (2001). Democratizing a democratic procedure: Myth or reality? Candidate selection in Western European parties, 1960–1990. Party Politics, 7(3), 363–380.
Bird, K., (2003). The political representation of women and ethnic minorities in established democracies: A framework for comparative research. Documento presentado ante la Academia de estudios de migración de Dinamarca, Universidad de Aalborg, 11.
Bradbury, J. (2009). Devolution and party organization in the UK: Statewide parties and statewide-regional branch relations over candidate selection in Scotland and Wales. In Territorial party politics in Western Europe (pp. 119–144). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Brown, A. (1998). Deepening democracy: Women and the Scottish Parliament. Regional & Federal Studies, 8(1), 103–119.
Brown, A., Donaghy, T. B., Mackay, F., & Meehan, E. (2002). Women and constitutional change in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Parliamentary Affairs, 55(1), 71–84.
Buckley, F. (2013). Women and politics in Ireland: The road to sex quotas. Irish Political Studies, 28(3), 341–359.
Caul, M. (2001). Political parties and the adoption of candidate gender quotas: A cross-national analysis. Journal of Politics, 63(4), 1214–1229.
Chaney, P. (2003). Women and constitutional change in Wales. Centre for Advancement of Women in Politics.
Cheng, C., & Tavits, M. (2011). Informal influences in selecting female political candidates. Political Research Quarterly, 64(2), 460–471.
Chiva, C. (2005). Women in post-Communist politics: Explaining under-representation in the Hungarian and Romanian Parliaments. Europe-Asia Studies, 57(7), 969–994.
Clark, N., & Rohrschneider, R. (2009). Second-order elections versus first-order thinking: How voters perceive the representation process in a multi-layered system of governance. European Integration, 31(5), 645–664.
Conservative Party. (2018). Guide to becoming a Conservative MP. https://www.conservatives.com/-/media/CCHQ_Guide-to-becoming-a-Candidate.ashx? Last accessed April 2018.
Cross, W. (2008). Democratic norms and party candidate selection: Taking contextual factors into account. Party Politics, 14(5), 596–619.
Cutts, D., & Widdop, P. (2013). Was labour penalised where it stood all women shortlist candidates? An analysis of the 2010 UK general election. The British Journal of Politics & International Relations, 15(3), 435–455.
Davidson-Schmich, L. K. (2010). Gender quota compliance and contagion in the 2009 Bundestag election. German Politics and Society, 28(3), 132–155.
EPAER. (2017). A parliament that works for Wales. http://www.assembly.wales/NAfW%20Documents/About%20the%20Assembly%20section%20documents/Expert%20Panel%20on%20Assembly%20Electoral%20Reform/A%20Parliament%20that%20Works%20for%20Wales.pdf.
Equality and Human Rights Commission. (2011). Pathways to politics. London. https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/research-report-65-pathways-to-politics.pdf.
Equality and Human Rights Commission. (2017). Who runs Wales? Cardiff. https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/wrw_2017_english.pdf.
Fawcett Society. (2017). Does local government works for women? https://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=0de4f7f0-d1a0-4e63-94c7-5e69081caa5f.
Ford, R., & Goodwin, M. (2014). Understanding UKIP: Identity, social change and the left behind. The Political Quarterly, 85(3), 277–284.
Freidenvall, L., Dahlerup, D., & Skjeie, H. (2006). The Nordic countries: An incremental model. In D. Dahlerup (Ed.), Women, quotas and politics (Vol. 10, pp. 55–82). London: Taylor & Francis.
Guerrina, R., & Masselot, A. (2018). Walking into the footprint of EU law: Unpacking the gendered consequences of Brexit. Social Policy and Society, 17(2), 1–12.
Guerrina, R., & Murphy, H., (2016). Strategic silences in the Brexit debate: Gender, marginality and governance. Journal of Contemporary European Research, 12(4), 872–880.
Haastrup, T., Wright, K., & Guerrina, R. (2016). Women in the Brexit debate: Still largely confined to ‘low’ politics. LSE Brexit.
Hay, C., & Stoker, G. (2009). Revitalising politics: have we lost the plot? Representation, 45(3), 225–236.
Hazan, R. Y., & Rahat, G. (2006). Candidate selection: Methods and consequences. Handbook of party politics, 4, 1545–1591.
Hazan, R. Y., & Rahat, G. (2010). Democracy within parties: Candidate selection methods and their political consequences. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Henderson, A., Jeffery, C., Liñeira, R., Scully, R., Wincott, D., & Wyn Jones, R. (2016). England, Englishness and Brexit. The Political Quarterly, 87(2), 187–199.
Hopkin, J., & Bradbury, J. (2006). British statewide parties and multilevel politics. Publius: The Journal of Federalism, 36(1), 135–152.
The Guardian. (2014). UKIP wins European elections with ease to set off political earthquake. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/may/26/ukip-european-elections-political-earthquake.
House of Commons. (2016). Research briefing: All-women-shortlists. http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN05057.
Inglehart, R., & Norris, P. (2003). Rising tide: Gender equality and cultural change around the world. New York and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Institute for Government. (2011). What works in candidate selection. A discussion paper for the party conferences, London: Institute for Government.
Jennings, W., Clarke, N., Moss, J., & Stoker, G. (2017). The decline in diffuse support for national politics: The long view on political discontent in Britain. Public Opinion Quarterly, 81(3), 748–758.
Johnston, R. J. (2001). From votes to seats: The operation of the UK electoral system since 1945. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Kanthak, K., & Woon, J. (2015). Women don’t run? Election aversion and candidate entry. American Journal of Political Science, 59(3), 595–612.
Karamessini, M., & Rubery, J. (2017). The challenge of austerity for gender equality in Europe: A consideration of eight countries at the center of the crisis. In Gender and time use in a global context (pp. 51–74). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Katz, R. S. (2001). The problem of candidate selection and models of party democracy. Party Politics, 7(3), 277–296.
Katz, R. S., & Mair, P. (1995). Changing models of party organization and party democracy: The emergence of the cartel party. Party Politics, 1(1), 5–28.
Kenny, M. (2016). The genesis of English nationalism. Political Insight, 7(2), 8–11.
Kriesi, H. (2014). The populist challenge. West European Politics, 37(2), 361–378.
Krook, M. L. (2010). Quotas for women in politics: Gender and candidate selection reform worldwide. New York: Oxford University Press.
Krook, M. L., & Norris, P. (2014). Beyond quotas: Strategies to promote gender equality in elected office. Political Studies, 62(1), 2–20.
Lawless, J. L., & Fox, R. L. (2005). It takes a candidate: Why women don’t run for office. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mackay, F., & McAllister, L. (2012). Feminising British politics: Six lessons from devolution in Scotland and Wales. The Political Quarterly, 83(4), 730–734.
Mair, P. (2013). Ruling the void: The hollowing of Western democracy. London: Verso books.
Matland, R. E., & Studlar, D. T. (1996). The contagion of women candidates in single-member district and proportional representation electoral systems: Canada and Norway. The Journal of Politics, 58(3), 707–733.
Matland, R. E., & Studlar, D. T. (1998). Gender and the electoral opportunity structure in the Canadian provinces. Political Research Quarterly, 51(1), 117–140.
McAllister, L. (2000). The new politics in Wales: Rhetoric or reality? Parliamentary Affairs, 53(3), 591–604.
McAllister, I., & Studlar, D. T. (2002). Electoral systems and women’s representation: A long-term perspective. Representation, 39(1), 3–14.
McAllister, L., & Stirbu, D. S. (2007). Opportunities for gender innovations in a new political space. International Journal of the Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 1(1), 1–11.
Meier, P. (2004). The mutual contagion effect of legal and party quotas: A Belgian perspective. Party Politics, 10(5), 583–600.
Norris, P. (Ed.). (1997). Passages to power: Legislative recruitment in advanced democracies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Norris, P. (2001). Breaking the barriers: Positive discrimination policies for women. In Has liberalism failed women? (pp. 89–110). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Norris, P. (2011). Democratic deficit: Critical citizens revisited. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
Norris, P., & Lovenduski, J. (1993). ‘If only more candidates came forward’: Supply-side explanations of candidate selection in Britain. British Journal of Political Science, 23(3), 373–408.
Norris, P., & Lovenduski, J. (1995). Political recruitment: Gender, race and class in the British Parliament. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Norris, P., & Krook, M. (2011). Gender equality in elected office: A six step action plan. OSCE.
Palmieri, S. (2011). Gender-sensitive parliaments: A global review of good practice. Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Pattie, C., & Johnston, R. (2017). Sticking to the union? Nationalism, inequality and political disaffection and the geography of Scotland’s 2014 independence referendum. Regional & Federal Studies, 27(1), 83–96.
Phillips, A. (1995). The politics of presence. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Pitkin, H. F. (1967). The concept of representation. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Ramiro, L. (2016). Support for radical left parties in Western Europe: Social background, ideology and political orientations. European Political Science Review, 8(1), 1–23.
Ruedin, D. (2009). Ethnic group representation in a cross-national comparison. The Journal of Legislative Studies, 15(4), 335–354.
Russell, M., Mackay, F., & McAllister, L. (2002). Women’s representation in the Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales: Party dynamics for achieving critical mass. Journal of Legislative Studies, 8(2), 49–76.
Schmidt, G. D. (2009). The election of women in list PR systems: Testing the conventional wisdom. Electoral Studies, 28(2), 190–203.
Stirbu, D. (2011). Female representation beyond Westminster: Lessons from Scotland and Wales. Political Insight, 2(3), 32–33.
Stirbu, D., Larner, J., & McAllister, L. (2017). Pitiful progress: Women in local government in Wales after the 2017 local elections, Governance Insights, Medium. https://medium.com/athena-talks/pitiful-progress-women-councillors-in-wales-after-the-2017-local-elections-edbf39258c7.
Stirbu, D., & McAllister, L. (2016). If it’s broken, fix it: Time to rethink the AMS electoral system in Wales. http://www.democraticaudit.com/2016/06/09/if-its-broken-fix-it-time-to-rethink-the-ams-electoral-system-in-wales/.
Vengroff, R., Nyiri, Z., & Fugiero, M. (2003). Electoral system and gender representation in sub-national legislatures: Is there a national—Sub-national gender gap? Political Research Quarterly, 56(2), 163–173.
Wängnerud, L. (2000). Representing women. In Esaiasson & Heidar (Eds.), Beyond westminster and congress (pp. 132–154). The Nordic Experience.
Wängnerud, L. (2009). Women in parliaments: Descriptive and substantive representation. Annual Review of Political Science, 12, 51–69.
Welsh Government. (2017). Consultation on local government electoral reform. https://consultations.gov.wales/sites/default/files/consultation_doc_files/electoral_reform_-_a_consultation_document_v2.pdf.
Women2Win. (2018). Women2Win campaign. https://www.women2win.com/about-us.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Stirbu, D., Larner, J., McAllister, L. (2018). Gender Representation in Wales: New Approaches to Candidate Selection in UK’s Devolved Legislatures and Beyond. In: Cordero, G., Coller, X. (eds) Democratizing Candidate Selection. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76550-1_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76550-1_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76549-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-76550-1
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)