Taking intersectionality seriously: Redesigning studies on women’s political representation

‘Women and Politics’ scholars increasingly agree on the importance of intersectionality to the study of women’s political representation. The understanding that women’s social positions and subject formations are affected by the intersection of power structures (such as, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, class, and age) has fuelled recent debates on the meaning and measurement of women’s interests and has induced critical reconsiderations of the assumed relation between women’s descriptive and their substantive representation (Strolovitch 2006; Dovi 2007; Celis et al 2008). Increasingly, scholars display a retreat from universalistic assumptions about ‘women’ and their interests. This tendency notwithstanding, scholars have lagged in designing and executing research that takes intersectionality seriously (Smooth 2011, 438). This paper aims to fill this gap by specifying the implications of intersectionality theory for studies on women’s political representation and research design. It makes two claims in particular. Firstly, it argues that the label ‘intersectionality’ is often, and inattentively, used to demonstrate studies’ expanded focus – to include previously unattended intersectional groups. Meanwhile, studies offer little to no elaboration on the applied methodology and its ‘fit’ with intersectionality theory. Secondly, it argues that such elaborations are necessary because of the distinct ontological and epistemological foundations of intersectionality theory. Building from these foundations, the paper demonstrates the need for studies that are socio-constructivist in their approaches to political reality and that apply the criteria of reflexivity, non-essentialism and inclusion within and across the stages of data collection, analysis and interpretation.