More women in the German Bundestag?
by OK
Benjamin Höhne: Mehr Frauen im Bundestag? Deskriptive Repräsentation und die innerparteiliche Herausbildung des Gender Gaps, in: Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen (ZParl), Vol. 51 (2020), Issue 1, pp. 105-125. (DOI: 10.5771/0340-1758-2020-1-105)
Lately, the parliamentarian presence of women more and more has been a topic in public debates. These debates draw more on theoretical arguments instead of on empirical findings. How the gender gap between the German Bundestag’s composition and the population can be explained is analyzed on the basis of candidate selections in all seven Bundestag parties. A clear majority of all parties with the exception of the right-wing populist AfD show sensitivity to a fair gender presence. In three consecutive steps, the recruitment stages are examined, beginning with the shift from society to party and ending with the election of MPs. The problem of females being under-represented starts at an early stage, i.e. already with the share of female party members. In contrast, there are hardly any significant differences between the sexes in party participation . Considering the nomination decisions, positive discrimination against women, especially on state level lists, is more common than negative discrimination, especially in electoral districts.
The article is published in: ZParl, Vol. 51 (2020), Issue 1, pp. 105-125.
