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Men's over-representation persists in almost all legislatures. This article engages with this problem by bringing together literature on the gendered nature of political parties and literature on the gender gap in political ambition to argue that candidate selection procedures structure the meaning and importance of political ambition. Exploiting the large variation in formal and informal institutions guiding candidate selection in Uruguay, I theorise and empirically explore how two of the most common ways to select legislative candidates worldwide – (1) primaries and (2) exclusive leadership selection – shape the meaning and importance of political ambition in diverging ways, with gendered effects.

Employing a before-and-after comparison, this article exploits a reform of the Ugandan quota law to test if a change in election procedures affects the types of women elected through quotas. In Uganda, a change from indirect to direct elections was anticipated to bring in women who were more representative of female citizens at large and less loyal to the sitting regime. Using original data from 1296 biographies of Ugandan legislators spanning four mandate periods (1996–2016), this study shows that women elected before and after the 2006 reform are similar in most regards. Yet, compared with the indirectly elected women, women elected by universal suffrage in 2006 have higher levels of education and are less likely to report an interest in women's issues. Comparisons with non-quota representatives suggest, however, that these trends are not due to the change to direct elections, but rather the effect of something that influences all legislators in a similar manner.

How do male-dominated populist radical right (PRR) parties relate to and influence norms around women's political inclusion and leadership in mainstream political parties? While research has focused on describing the male dominance of PRR parties or its influence on mainstream political parties' policies, particularly immigration, we know less about how PRR parties relate to norms on women's inclusion or gender-balanced representation in mainstream parties. In a theory-building effort, we posit that PRR parties may seek to (a) adapt to mainstream parties' norms and include more women in leading positions (positive contagion) or (b) negatively affect or even challenge norms around women's inclusion in mainstream parties (adverse contagion). Seeking to theorize this relationship further, we explore leadership selection in the Swedish Parliament, where gender balance constitutes a strong norm. Yet, following the 2022 elections, the proportion of women parliamentary leaders dipped below 30% for the first time in decades. At the same time, the Sweden Democrats, a male-dominated PRR party, emerged as the second-largest party in Parliament. Drawing on interviews with nomination committees, party documents, and data on leadership, we empirically investigate continuity and change in committee leadership appointments in the Swedish Parliament and the role of the radical right in this process. We do not find signs of adverse contagion in the short run: as of 2023, norms promoting gender balance appear to remain robust and enjoy widespread support among mainstream parties. Yet, neither do we find signs of positive contagion where the radical right adapts to mainstream norms around gender balance.

AbstractWomen's access to political leadership positions has increased greatly in recent decades, which calls for research concerning the conditions of women's political leadership in more gender-balanced contexts. This article responds to this need by exploring the leadership ideals, evaluations, and treatment of men and women leaders in the numerically gender-equal Swedish parliament (the Riksdag). Drawing on interviews with almost all the current top political leaders in the Swedish parliament, along with an original survey of Swedish members of parliament, we reveal a mainly feminine-coded parliamentary leadership ideal that should be more appropriate for women leaders. Masculine practices remain, however, and women leaders continue to be disadvantaged. To explain this anomaly between ideals and practices, we argue that a feminist institutionalist perspective, which emphasizes how gender shapes a given context in multiple ways, contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of the conditions for women's political leadership than that provided by the widely employed role congruity theory.

In this article, we introduce a Gendered Workplace Approach for studying the gendered nature of parliaments. This approach, which is informed by a feminist institutionalist perspective, addresses the potentially gendered character of both formal and informal institutions that regulate the inner workings of parliament, taking into consideration the obstacles and opportunities facing MPs of different genders. From a gender perspective, our framework focuses on five dimensions of paramount importance for MPs' working conditions. These are (i) the organisation of work, (ii) tasks and assignments, (iii) leadership, (iv) infrastructure and (v) interaction between MPs.

Women and young constitute two underrepresented groups in most legislatures worldwide. The aim of this paper is to theorize and empirically analyze how the hitherto overlooked intersection between gender and young age condition legislators' opportunities to carry out their representative tasks on equal grounds. Using original survey data from the Swedish Parliament (response rate 82%, n = 287) in combination with 40 in-depth interviews with young male and female MPs, we ask whether being young in parliament have different implications for men and women legislators. We find that young women experience higher demands and anxiety, and are more subject to negative treatment compared to other groups. Young men, on the other hand, stand out as the least exposed group. Together our results demonstrate that a young age reinforces negative gendered patterns for women in parliament, while age appears irrelevant or even, at times, a beneficial factor for young men.

AbstractIn this article, we introduce a Gendered Workplace Approach for studying the gendered nature of parliaments. This approach, which is informed by a feminist institutionalist perspective, addresses the potentially gendered character of both formal and informal institutions that regulate the inner workings of parliament, taking into consideration the obstacles and opportunities facing MPs of different genders. From a gender perspective, our framework focuses on five dimensions of paramount importance for MPs' working conditions. These are (i) the organisation of work, (ii) tasks and assignments, (iii) leadership, (iv) infrastructure and (v) interaction between MPs.

Do men and women legislators have equal opportunities to carry out their parliamentary duties? An important first step to uncover the parliament's inner life is to evaluate members of parliament's (MPs) experiences of their work environment. In this article, we explore the Swedish parliament where women have held over 40% of the seats for two decades to test the persistence of gendered norms and practices. Using an originally-collected survey dataset of 279 Swedish MPs (82% response rate), we find that female MPs experience greater pressure, higher levels of anxiety, and are subject to more negative treatment than male MPs. Yet, while men and women report participating in debates and influencing their political party's agenda to the same degree, we conclude that the Parliament's working environment remains gendered in that women pay a higher personal cost for their political engagement.

Individuals who have a higher education are highly overrepresented in national legislative bodiesworldwide. In spite of an extensive body of literature interested in educational background and itsrelation to political activity, significantly fewer studies have engaged with the qualitative advantagesand drawbacks of legislators'educational background in their legislative work. The aim of this paper isto explore whether higher education functions as a resource for legislators in their political office. Weuse data from a unique elite survey conducted in the Swedish Parliament, which had a response rate of82% (n= 287), to investigate the relation between educational background and the internal efficacyand influence of MPs. The quantitativefindings indicate that there is little or no difference betweenlegislators with and without higher education in terms of internal efficacy and influence. Contextualis-ing thefindings with 33 elite interviews, wefind that while legislators value skills acquired throughhigher education in their work—such as the ability to handle large amounts of text and infor-mation—MPs without higher education display similar skills acquired in alternative ways.

Do men and women legislators have equal opportunities to carry out their parliamentary duties? An important first step to uncover the parliament's inner life is to evaluate members of parliament's (MPs) experiences of their work environment. In this article, we explore the Swedish parliament where women have held over 40% of the seats for two decades to test the persistence of gendered norms and practices. Using a new survey dataset of 279 Swedish MPs (82% response rate), we find that female MPs experience greater pressure, higher levels of anxiety, and are subject to more negative treatment than male MPs. Yet, while men and women report participating in debates and influencing their political party's agenda to the same degree, we conclude that the Parliament's working environment remains gendered in that women pay a higher personal cost for their political engagement.