Gendering Political Representation

Gendering representation is a feminist research praxis that describes, analyzes, and explains the gendered dimensions of political representation. Its central question regards the inclusion and exclusion of women and gender in various dimensions of representation; i.e., formal participation, descriptive and substantive representation. The aim of gendering representation lies also in enhancing the inclusiveness of the concept of political presentation and its praxis in terms of sex and gender. A key contribution to the latter ambition is the theory linking descriptive and substantive representation: descriptive representativeness possibly furthers substantive representativeness. Whether that is actually the case is an empirical question. Empirical research is challenged by theoretical evolutions in respect of the diverse character of women’s interests and gendered perspectives. A formal operationalization of substantive representation meets that demand. Besides the advantage of harmonizing the empirical and recent theoretical research, applying a formal operationalization will make the research question more apt for traveling and application in a wide range of political and cultural contexts. Longitudinal and international comparative research can in turn broaden our knowledge about the content, actors, and contexts of substantive representation across time and space