A bill of their own: collaboration of women in European parliaments

Abstract

Research on representation is increasingly concerned with substantive questions, such as how women members of parliament are acting for women in parliament. To understand the substantive impact women have, we need to understand the power structure in parliament and how women members of parliament use collaboration to represent their constituents. Using a data set of cosponsorship data from 14 European parliaments between 1987 and 2021, and taking advantage of the range of electoral systems, quotas and levels of women’s representation present in these countries, I find that women are more likely than men to collaborate on bill cosponsorship and cosponsor more bills with other women, especially when there are few women in parliament. An analysis of bills cosponsored by women reveals that women members of parliament use the tool of cosponsorship to substantively represent women.