ABSTRACT

Political processes are shaped by the gendered ways in which women and men are selected to run for political office. This paper examines the increase in women entering the parliamentary arena and employs a feminist historical institutionalism approach to understand how and why change in female representation occurs. We examine the interplay between formal rules and informal practices on candidate selection through the case of Queensland, Australia. Drawing on policy developments and analysis of election reports, we explore the difficulties in changing the gendered nature of political parties, the formal and informal processes, the pace of change and the political struggles and opportunities along the way. Factors supporting increased representation included leadership, sanctions, placement mandates, as well as vacancies and a ‘glass cliff’ political environment. Support for formal rules and quotas – despite resistance at the informal level – has gradually improved opportunities for women in one political party in this jurisdiction and achieved very positive outcomes. In contrast, the other major party has opposed quotas relying instead on informal practices and rules, which result in less positive outcomes for women.

摘要

政治进程受到女性和男性竞选政治职务的性别化方式的影响。本文考察了进入议会舞台的女性人数的增加，并采用女权主义历史制度主义方法来了解女性代表发生变化的方式和原因。我们通过澳大利亚昆士兰的案例研究了正式规则和非正式做法之间的相互作用在候选人选择方面。我们利用政策发展和对选举报告的分析，探讨了改变政党性别性质、正式和非正式进程、变革步伐以及沿途的政治斗争和机遇的困难。支持增加代表性的因素包括领导力、制裁、安置任务、以及职位空缺和“玻璃悬崖”的政治环境。对正式规则和配额的支持——尽管在非正式层面存在阻力——逐渐改善了女性在该辖区一个政党中的机会，并取得了非常积极的成果。相比之下，另一个主要政党反对配额制，而是依靠非正式的做法和规则，这对女性来说结果不太积极。