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This contribution to the Special Issue on Gender and Conservatism uses expert and election surveys to explore the extent to which the feminist or traditional gender ideology of parties of the right relates to their economic and liberal/authoritarian ideology. We show that although parties of the left generally espouse more feminist ideologies than parties of the right, there are a significant number of rightist parties in Western Europe that combine laissez-faire economic values with liberal feminist ideals. That said, there is more homogeneity among parties of the populist radical right than rightist parties more generally. We find that despite some variation in their gender ideology, parties of the populist radical right overwhelmingly—with the exception of one party in the Netherlands—continue to adopt traditional or antifeminist gender ideologies. In terms of attracting women voters, we find that rightist parties who adopt a feminist gender ideology are able to attract more women voters than other parties of the right. We detect several examples of center-right parties that include feminist elements in their gender ideologies and are able to win over larger proportions of women voters than rightist parties that fail to adopt feminist positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While analysis of the relationship between the descriptive and substantive representation of women has mainly focused on women politicians as critical actors in many contexts political parties provide the linkage between voters’ preferences and policy programmes. The manner in which political parties respond to women voters is shaped by both the information they receive about women voters’ preferences, from the news media, pollsters and other sources, and by gendered party type. Analysis of parties’ attempts to target women voters can help us understand whether parties perceive women as typical or average voters. I conduct two case studies on the influence of gendered newsframes on party policy and inter-party competition in the United States and Great Britain to formulate a preliminary analytic framework designed to facilitate research to assess how parties’ responses to portrayals of women voters vary according to institutional and contextual factors across time and space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do gender quotas reduce the quality of politicians elected to a legislature? For the first time in the literature, this article addresses this question by examining the quality of 'quota women' compared to their non-quota colleagues at three stages of their political career: their electoral performance, their qualifications for political office and their post-election legislative career trajectories. Drawing on the unique case of Britain following the 1997 general election, no significant difference is found between the quality of 'quota women' and their non-quota colleagues. Voters do not punish 'quota women' at the ballot box; 'quota women' are as equally qualified for political office as their colleagues; and the gatekeepers of executive office do not discriminate against 'quota women' in front-bench promotions. Considering this, the article concludes by asking whether the similarity of 'quota women' to their colleagues may actually impact on their capacity to affect transformative substantive representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of conservative women is expanding to compensate for the historic over-emphasis of gender and politics research on left-wing women. We add to this burgeoning literature and assess the extent to which the modern gender gap in political attitudes – where women have moved to the left of men – is evident among supporters of the British Conservative Party. We find that, like women party members, women Conservative supporters are noticeably to the left of men, but only on economic issues. This sex gap cannot simply be accounted for by women’s employment in the public sphere, lesser interest in politics or because they are more morally conservative than male Conservatives. These findings are likely to have serious implications for intra-party discipline, the support for the Conservative Party at the next British general election and, if replicated elsewhere, speak to what it means to ‘represent’ the interests of right-wing women. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is a substantial academic literature addressing the representation of women in British politics. The majority of recent work focuses on issues of demand (such as gender quotas) and issues affecting the supply of women candidates have been largely overlooked. However, more recently the use of job shares for MPs has been proposed as a possible solution to supply-side problems. This article tests what the British electorate's reaction to such arrangements might be. It finds no great support for the introduction of job-sharing candidates but nor does it detect overwhelming opposition. Explaining the case for job sharing increases its support slightly but no argument has especially strong impact. The counterarguments have some impact but are also not very strong. When the various pro- and anti-arguments are made together, they appear largely to cancel each other out. Opposition is greatest among men, Conservative or UKIP voters, and those over 60. Support is greatest among women, Labour or Liberal Democrat voters, and younger respondents, especially those of an age most likely to be taking advantage of job shares themselves. When confronted with job-sharing candidates most of the public appear to make judgements on the basis of the candidates offered, rather than automatically rejecting job-share set-ups out of hand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses gender differences regarding public opinion, particularly in regards to voting, in Great Britain. The author investigates the ways in which voters engage with women's issues during elections, with focus given to the British elections of 2012, and notes women's political preferences regarding taxation, public services, and public expenditures. Differences in political party affiliation between men and women are noted, with the author explaining women's higher likelihood to support the Labour Party. Other topics discussed include gender equality and issue salience.

The year 2010 constituted a favourable opportunity for the greater descriptive representation of women in the UK Parliament. The parties were publicly competing over the issue; Parliament had its own Committee looking at it; and there were plenty of vacancies for candidates in each of the parties' held seats, as many more MPs than usual stood down. The outcome was disappointing. There was an overall increase in the number of women MPs - up from 128 to 142 - but this was only a 2.5 per cent increase on 2005. Inter-party differences remain. The Liberal Democrats witnessed a decline in the number and percentage of their women MPs and candidates; the Tories saw a doubling of their number, with women now constituting 16 per cent of their parliamentary party; and Labour has both the largest number and percentage of women MPs. These patterns are best explained by the parties' different attitudes towards equality guarantees - measures that, all other things being equal, return women MPs to Parliament. In other words, Labour's All Women Shortlists once again delivered. The other parties' efforts were simply less efficient at translating women candidates into MPs. Looking to the future, the picture is far from rosy. The Coalition's plans for political reform will likely increase competition for selection at the next general election to women's detriment, and the impact of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority raises the possibility that their supply might decrease too. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK general election of 2010 should have been a critical one for women. But it was not to be. Despite all of the main political parties claiming to want more women MPs the increase in their number relative to the 2005 Parliament was just 2.5%. Women remain under-represented numerically in the House of Commons, constituting less than one-quarter of all MPs. The election campaign was largely women free too, as women married to politicians gained more attention than women politicians. Moreover, and despite enhanced inter-party competition over the women's vote—or rather, and more accurately, the votes of middle income mothers, otherwise known as the ‘mumsnet’ vote—women's issues and perspectives were marginalised from the campaign proper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article analyses the relationship between the representatives and the represented by comparing elite and mass attitudes to gender equality and women's representation in Britain. In so doing, the authors take up arguments in the recent theoretical literature on representation that question the value of empirical research of Pitkin's distinction between substantive and descriptive representation. They argue that if men and women have different attitudes at the mass level, which are reproduced amongst political elites, then the numerical under-representation of women may have negative implications for women's substantive representation. The analysis is conducted on the British Election Study (BES) and the British Representation Study (BRS) series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

That women generally have lower levels of interest in politics than men is a well rehearsed political fact (Andersen, 1975; Baxter & Lansing, 1983; Burns, 2001; Burns et al., 2001; Campbell et al., 1954; Hayes & Bean, 1993; Tolleson Rinehart, 1992) but less is known about the underlying causes of these differences. This paper attempts to unpick the concept of political interest, to either confirm that women are less interested in politics than men or to test whether women and men are simply interested in different things. We assess whether barriers to women's participation in politics, such as child rearing, have a detrimental effect on political interest. Finally we consider whether the process of gendered socialization, whereby men are more likely than women to have a high sense of agency, whilst women are more likely than men to have a high sense of communion with others, can account for the sex differences in political interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses issues concerning women's equality guarantees and the Conservative Party in Great Britain under the leadership of David Cameron. Cameron's announced reform of the party's selection procedures stop far short of equality guarantees. The gender gap of the 2005 general election of the party has produced an unprecedented interest among the party's elite in the representation of women in the House of Commons.

Discusses the political activity of women during the 2005 British General Election. Review of the campaign since 2001; Extent to which political parties highlighted women in their campaign; Summary of how well women are represented at Westminster.