In Pursuit of Representation: The Effect of Gender Quotas on Legislative Committee Assignments Pubblico

Abstract

Many previous studies on women's substantive representation in legislatures have focused on the effect of gender proportions in Western legislatures. Specifically, many researchers have tested
critical mass theory, which states that women must achieve a "critical mass" of descriptive
representation before they can work as a force to promote women's interests. However, at least
within a Western context, many political scientists have not found evidence to support critical
mass theory (Bratton 2005; Carroll 2008; Heath, Schwindt-Bayer, and Taylor-Robinson 2005;
Reingold 2000). This study aims to test the influence of a gender quota on women's substantive
representation, in order to determine whether critical mass theory is true in a quota legislature
outside of the Western world. The legislative committee membership of female and male
legislators was compared across two legislative assemblies for each of two countries-one with a
reserved seats quota (Pakistan) and one without a quota (India). The study concludes that female
legislators who benefited from the gender quota in Pakistan were more likely to substantively
represent their gender (serve on women's issues committees) than the elected women in both
Pakistan and India. However, the quota women were also more likely to serve on power
committees and men's issues committees, providing support for the mandate effect as described
by Franceschet and Piscopo (2008). Still, the study does not provide evidence to truly support
critical mass theory due to a lack of support for the theory across both legislative assemblies.

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LITERATURE REVIEW _____________________________________________________ 2
Critical Mass Theory_____________________________________________________2
Contradictory Thoughts on Critical Mass Theory________________________________3
Gender Quotas and Substantive Representation _______________________________9

HYPOTHESES ___________________________________________________________ 13
Forms of Quota Provisions ________________________________________________13
Implications of a Reserved Seats Quota ______________________________________15
Statement of Hypotheses__________________________________________________17

RESEARCH DESIGN ______________________________________________________ 21
Independent Variable ____________________________________________________21
Dependent Variable______________________________________________________28
Identifying Women's Issues _______________________________________________________ 32
Identifying Men's Issues__________________________________________________________ 35
Classifying Power Committees_____________________________________________________ 38
Classifying Weak or Undesirable Committees__________________________________________ 41

RESULTS ______________________________________________________________ 42
Data Analysis __________________________________________________________42
Pakistan in Isolation: H1-H6 _______________________________________________44
Pakistan and India: H7-H9_________________________________________________50
Going Further: Repercussions of Assignments _________________________________55

CONCLUSIONS __________________________________________________________ 58

REFERENCES ___________________________________________________________ 63

APPENDIX ______________________________________________________________ 68
Data Constraints ________________________________________________________68
Committee Coding________________________________________________________71

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	International Studies
Degree	BA
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Political Science, General Gender Studies
Parola chiave	Pakistan gender quota critical mass theory committee assignments substantive representation women
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Reingold, Beth, Emory University
Committee Members	Gandhi, Jennifer, Emory University Sparks, Holloway, Emory University

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