This article investigates the feminisation of local politics. Starting from the observation that the representation of women in local electoral politics lags behind the regional and federal level, and taking into account the relevance of local party branches in the recruitment and selection of candidates for elections, we examine the extent to which there is an ‘internal’ feminisation of local party branches and how this links to the ‘external’ feminisation of local electoral politics. Based on surveys among local party chairs, the article maps patterns of feminisation over time and across parties, investigates problems local branches encounter in the recruitment of candidates for local elections, and analyses the (attitudes towards the) measures taken to further the integration of women in local electoral politics. We conclude that internal and external feminisation do not always go hand in hand and that local politics continues to be a male-dominated political biotope. |
Search result: 10 articles
Article |
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Journal | Politics of the Low Countries, Issue 2 2020 |
Keywords | local politics, local party branches, local elections, gender quotas, Belgium |
Authors | Robin Devroe, Silvia Erzeel and Petra Meier |
AbstractAuthor's information |
Article |
Ze halen hun slag wel thuisOver particratie en het aanpassingsvermogen van Belgische partijen |
Journal | Res Publica, Issue 4 2018 |
Keywords | dealignment, electoral support, federalism, gender, particracy, personalisation |
Authors | Jean-Benoit Pilet and Petra Meier |
AbstractAuthor's information |
Particracy has been widely used to describe Belgian politics after World War II. Yet, Belgian politics has changed. We examine five changes – the federalisation of the state architecture, diversification of the demos, erosion of political support, party’s dealignment and personalisation of politics – to evaluate how they have affected particracy in Belgium. The answer is twofold: particracy is still very strong, but it has changed. The three traditional party families that had institutionalised particracy in Belgium (Christian-democrats, socialists and liberals) had to face new challengers. They co-opted the most moderate ones (greens, regionalists), while excluding others (radical right/left). Intraparty democracy/participatory/transparency reforms, or changes to the electoral system, all of them opening the political system, were also implemented, but parties were able to overcome them. Yet, the ever-growing gap between traditional parties and citizens and the growth of new parties building upon voters’ dissatisfaction with traditional parties, may put particracy more radically into question. |
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Journal | Erasmus Law Review, Issue 2 2016 |
Keywords | Supervision, twin track system, principle of proportionality, human rights, violent and sex offenders |
Authors | Bernd-Dieter Meier |
AbstractAuthor's information |
After release from prison or a custodial preventive institution, offenders may come under supervision in Germany, which means that their conduct is controlled for a period of up to five years or even for life by a judicial supervising authority. Supervision is terminated if it can be expected that even in the absence of further supervision the released person will not commit any further offences. From the theoretical point of view, supervision is not considered a form of punishment in Germany, but a preventive measure that is guided by the principle of proportionality. After a presentation of the German twin track system of criminal sanctions and a glimpse at sentencing theory, the capacity of the principle of proportionality to guide and control judicial decisions in the field of preventive sanctions is discussed. The human rights perspective plays only a minor role in the context of supervision in Germany. |
Article |
De substantiële vertegenwoordiging van moslimvrouwenVertegenwoordigende claims en responsiviteit in het Vlaamse hoofddoekendebat |
Journal | Res Publica, Issue 4 2013 |
Keywords | political representation, representative claims, responsiveness, women’s substantive representation, the headscarf debate, women’s interests |
Authors | Eline Severs, Karen Celis and Petra Meier |
AbstractAuthor's information |
Recently, scholars have propagated a ‘claim-based’ approach towards the study of women’s substantive representation. In this article, we challenge the relativism of such a ‘claim-based’ approach and explore the relevance of the concept of ‘responsiveness’ as a democratic criterion. We do so, more specifically, through a study of Muslim women’s substantive representation in the Flemish headscarf debate. We identify claims to speak for Muslim women formulated by (1) political parties and (2) Muslim women and (minority) women’s associations and examine the congruence between their respective claims. The important incongruence found between the claims formulated by right-wing and liberal parties and those of Muslim women/women’s associations provides empirical backing to the acclaimed relevance of a relational evaluation of women’s substantive representation. We conclude that the criterion of responsiveness is invaluable because it allows us to evaluate if actors’ claims to speak for women account for women’s capacity to speak for themselves. |
Article |
Genderquota als een kieshervorming: terug naar de context, actoren en belangen |
Journal | Res Publica, Issue 3 2013 |
Keywords | gender quotas, electoral reform, women’s interests, strategic interests, Belgium |
Authors | Karen Celis and Petra Meier |
AbstractAuthor's information |
This article returns to the meanwhile classic question of which factors explain the adoption of gender quotas, but approaches the issue through the literature on electoral reform. It argues that the latter offers two new issues to be studied when it comes to the adoption of gender quotas. Firstly, the definition of the political-institutional and socioeconomic context in which gender quotas are adopted should be broadened, and international institutions, much focused upon in research on gender quotas, should be integrated in this definition of the context in which gender quotas get adopted, so as to facilitate comparative research. Secondly, research needs to approach actors striving for gender quotas more critically. This implies paying more attention to the women/feminist stakeholders involved in campaigns for gender quotas, as well as to their strategic motivations and possible self-interest. |
Research Note |
Hoe de traditionele laatkomer een modelleerling werdDe Belgische genderquota en pariteitsclausule verklaard |
Journal | Res Publica, Issue 2 2013 |
Authors | Petra Meier |
Author's information |
Article |
De impact van party magnitude op het aantal vrouwelijke verkozenenGender quota in België kritisch bekeken |
Journal | Res Publica, Issue 2 2011 |
Keywords | gender quota, Belgium, impact, party magnitude, women in politics |
Authors | Sandra Sliwa, Petra Meier and Peter Thijssen |
AbstractAuthor's information |
In the literature on the impact of gender quota party magnitude appears as one of the most critical explanatory variables. A high party magnitude has long been argued to be a necessary condition for quota to be effective. However, recently a number of studies have shown that gender quota can be equally effective in the case of low party magnitude. An analysis of the Belgian regional elections for the years 1999, 2004 and 2009 shows that for quota to be effective it is crucial that they are tailored to the electoral system in which they are applied. Quota prove to be particularly effective when party magnitude is high while a placement mandate is effective when it covers a substantial part of the eligible list positions. We therefore conclude that effective quota can be designed for both high and low party magnitude. |
Article |
Een vergelijkend perspectief op de positie van mannen en vrouwen in de lokale politiek |
Journal | Res Publica, Issue 1 2007 |
Authors | Petra Meier |
AbstractAuthor's information |
The article analyses the gender balance in local Belgian politics in the aftermath of the 2006 local elections. It offers a comparative perspective on the position of candidates, representatives elected and those holding office including data from the last three decades. The article also discusses the attitude of local party sections towards measures to foster a gender balance. The data show that local party sections more easily agree on parity at the level of candidates than that they support a real sharing of power at the level of the executive power. Local party sections do not support more than a guaranteed minimum presence of wo/men in the councils of eldermen. Furthermore, both at the level of candidates and at that of the executive the data reveal a final glass ceiling. Women have difficulties reaching the top positions on electoral lists as well as the top positions in the local executive power. |
Article |
De kracht van de definitie: een vergelijking van quotawetten in Argentinië, België en Frankrijk |
Journal | Res Publica, Issue 1 2004 |
Authors | Petra Meier |
Abstract |
Gender quota do not always go hand in hand with a considerable rise in the number of women elected. Although the number of fe/male representatives elected depends on several factors, we argue that the stipulations of gender quota acts influence to a large extent their impact on the sex ratios in politics. This is not so much due to the share of fe/male candidates parties have to present than to the extent to which a gender quota act anticipates the particularities of the electoral system. A comparative analysis of three prominent cases, the Argentinean, Belgian and French gender quota acts, shows that the more a gender quota rule targets at the specificities of the electoral system in order to promote a gender balance in political representation, the more this rule 'guarantees' a result, even though gender quota acts concern but the input side of the electoral process. |
Article |
On the Theoretical Acknowledgement of Diversity in Representation |
Journal | Res Publica, Issue 4 2001 |
Authors | Petra Meier |
Abstract |
This article provides a state of the art of the growing normative plea for enhanced representativeness, by which we understand a form of representation considering the sociodemographic particularities of society. We look at the Anglo-American plea for group representation and the (mainly) French debate on parity democracy. Concerned with the structural marginalisation of large numbers of citizens from the political arena, these scholars criticise the abstract concept ofcitizenship and the interpretation of the process of representation as such. The plea for enhanced representativeness faces more than one normative challenge. Dealing with these issues the scholars pleading for enhanced representativeness above all reveal that the issue for or against representation in terms of representativeness is a matter of choice on underlying normative assumptions. |