Constituting Women’s Interests through Representative Claims

The promotion of ‘women’s interests’ is a central focus and concern of advocates of women’s political representation. Examining the policy priorities and initiatives of female office-holders, existing research seeks to establish whether there are links between women’s presence and policy outcomes favorable to women as a group. Building on recent work critical of this traditional approach, this paper seeks in three key points to rethink the nature and process of political representation. First, it observes, dynamics of representation are not limited to elected bodies; rather, actors in multiple sites articulate policy demands. Second, in the course of their lobbying efforts, these actors make claims about who ‘women’ are and what ‘women’ want. Third, analyzing the multiple sources of claims-making highlights the need to distinguish between ‘women’s issues’ (a broad policy category) and ‘women’s interests’ (the content given to this category by various actors). The implications of this new approach are illustrated via four case studies, pointing to substantial within- and cross-case variations in the issues and interests identified as relevant to women as a group, as well as the actors claiming to act for women. On this basis, the paper concludes that ‘women’ and ‘women’s interests’ are constructed through, and not simply reflected in, political advocacy on their behalf