Introduction

This chapter introduces the core question of this book: how male dominance has been changed—or not changed—and defines ‘old democracies’. It challenges the time-lag theory. Furthermore, it explains the book’s methodological approach as well as its level of analysis and focus. In the chapter, a new conceptual model is presented for analysing male dominance in politics by extending the scope to six dimensions and by defining the degree of male dominance. Male dominance in politics encompasses the numerical political representation of women, politics as a workplace, vertical and horizontal sex segregation, discourses on women’s presence in politics, and gender equality policies. The degree of male dominance in politics refers to the representation of women in parliaments. Four stages are introduced based on these numbers: male monopoly, a small minority, a large minority, and gender balance