Representing Women Voters, the Role of Political Parties

Whilst analysis of the relationship between the descriptive and substantive representation of women has mainly focused on women politicians as critical actors, albeit usually from left-of-centre parties, in many contexts political parties provide the linkage between voters’ preferences on the one hand and policy programmes on the other. Feminist activists have used the instrumental desire of political parties for electoral success to generate interest in women’s issues by arguing that women’s votes can be delivered through policies targeted at women. The feminization of political parties can, therefore, take place on two levels; deep-rooted and superficial. Deep-rooted feminization occurs when women’s organizations, interests and perspectives are embedded within party structures and routinely incorporated into policy platforms and campaigns. Superficial feminization occurs when women’s interests are accommodated in an ad hoc and piecemeal fashion in response to a perceived electoral case on an election by election basis. Analysis of the portrayal of women voters in parties’ campaign materials and party leader’s speeches can help us to assess whether parties perceive women voters as typical or average voters, i.e. are central to their campaigning strategies, or whether they view them as a ‘special’ interest group who can be targeted in specific contexts, but can be just as easily forgotten when another issue hits the political agenda.