Party and gender in Western Europe revisited

Abstract

Scholars of women’s parliamentary presence have suggested that the proportion of women parliamentarians rests on the interaction between intra-party and party external conditions, and that these can be discussed in terms of necessity and sufficiency. Still, the field lacks systematic cross-case assessments of such relationships. This research takes an explorative approach to necessity, sufficiency and interaction in the field of gender and party. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to study 57 individual West European parties, it demonstrates that party behaviour is a function of intra-party and party-external conditions. Furthermore, it shows that when the external factors are not present, parties are themselves able to achieve gender-balanced parliamentary delegations. The article reveals that there are several paths to gender balance, and that the absence of conditions sufficient for balance does not explain why parties do not become gender balanced.