Women Representation in the Government

Running head: WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN THE GOVERNMENT
A STUDY TO ANALYZE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PARTICIPATION
OF WOMEN IN GOVERNMENT AND GENDER RELATIONS AT ALL LEVELS OF
SOCIETY
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN THE GOVERNMENT
Table of Contents
Research Proposal............................................................................................................................2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Literature Search Methodology.......................................................................................................3
Annotated Bibliography...................................................................................................................5
Subtopics..........................................................................................................................................7
Research Paper.................................................................................................................................9
Introduction......................................................................................................................................9
Discussion......................................................................................................................................10
Male Hegemony within the Political Parties.............................................................................10
Gender Relations.......................................................................................................................11
Conservatism.............................................................................................................................11
Gender Inequality......................................................................................................................12
Policy Gaps................................................................................................................................12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................14

2WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN THE GOVERNMENT
Research Proposal
Introduction
According to Opentextbc.ca (2020), the United Nations in the year 1990 stipulated that
30% of the parliamentary seats within the different nations of the world should be filled with
women however by the end of the year 2010 it was seen that only 26 out of the 189 nations were
being able to achieve this particular goal. More importantly, within the nation of Canada in the
year 2018 it was seen that only 25% of the representatives in the Parliament were women despite
the population of women in Canada in the concerned year being more than 50% (Cbc.ca, 2020).
Celis and Lovenduski (2018) are of the viewpoint that gender relations or for that matter the high
level of inequality that the women had to face within the societal framework of the different
nations of the world is an important reason which had directed contributed towards the low
representation of women in the Parliament.
The historical advantages that men hold within the electoral system, the limited access of
women to the different political parties, gender inequality, socio-economic inequality faced by
the women and others are some of the most important reasons because of which the women hold
a low representation within the Parliamentary system of nations like Canada and others. Thus,
the purpose of this study is to analyze the manner in which gender relations or gender inequality
faced by women in the societal structure had contributed towards their low representation within
the government system or the Parliament. The research question on which the study would focus
upon is outlined below-

3WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN THE GOVERNMENT
1. How gender relations or gender inequality within the societal structure contributed
towards the low representation of women in the Canadian Parliament?
Literature Search Methodology
The online database, Google Scholar, was used by the researcher for the purpose of
locating secondary sources of information related to the research topic which had been selected
for analysis in this paper. Furthermore, the researcher used the keywords “gender inequality and
women representations in the Canadian Parliament”, “representation of women in the Canadian
Parliament”, “issues related to the representation of women in the Canadian government” and
others. On the basis of the initial literature search, eight peer-reviewed articles related to the
research topic under discussion here were selected by the researcher. From these eight sources,
five relevant sources were selected by the researcher through the usage of the inclusion and
exclusion criteria. The inclusion and exclusion criteria which was followed by the researcher for
the selection of the five peer-reviewed articles is being outlined by the below given table-
Inclusion criteria Exclusion criteria
Articles which are published in the English
language
Articles which are published in foreign
languages
Articles which are published on or after the
year 2016
Articles which are published before the year
2016
Articles which focus on the impact of gender
inequality on the low representation of
women in the Canadian government
Articles which focus on the impact of gender
inequality on the low representation of
women in the national government of the

4WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN THE GOVERNMENT
other nations of the world
Articles which contain information regarding
the factors which have contributed towards
the low representation of women in the
Canadian government
Manuscripts, abstracts, unpublished articles
Primary, secondary peer-reviewed articles,
text books
Case series, guidelines and others
The researcher on the basis of the above given inclusion and exclusion criteria rejected
three articles from the list of the eight sources which were initially selected for the study. The
three articles which were rejected by the researcher are “The politics of preserving gender
inequality: de-institutionalisation and re-privatisation”, “Still a glass ceiling? Tracing the limits
to women’s representation in elected office” and “There for the moment: extra-legislative
windows of opportunity for women’s social movements in politics, a comparison of Canada and
Northern Ireland”. The article “The politics of preserving gender inequality: de-
institutionalisation and re-privatisation” was rejected by the researcher since this particular
article rather than focusing on the manner in which gender inequality had given rise to the issue
of low women representation within Canadian government focuses on the manner in which the
national government of the different nations of the world are using the processes of de-
institutionalization and re-privatization for maintaining gender inequality with their nations. On
the other hand, the article “Still a glass ceiling? Tracing the limits to women’s representation in
elected office” was rejected by the researcher since this particular article rather than focusing

5WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN THE GOVERNMENT
solely on the Canadian government focuses on the issue under discussion here within the
different European nations. Lastly, the article “There for the moment: extra-legislative windows
of opportunity for women’s social movements in politics, a comparison of Canada and Northern
Ireland” was rejected since the article rather than focusing primarily on the issue focusing on the
manner in which women’s social movements can contribute towards the resolution of the issue.
Annotated Bibliography
Pruysers, S., Cross, W. P., Gauja, A., & Rahat, G. (2017). The Impact of Parties on
Women’s Representation. Organizing political parties: Representation, participation,
and power, 208.
This particular article had been selected by the researcher since this article undertakes an
analysis of the manner in which male hegemony within the different parties have given rise to
the situation wherein the women do not adequate representation within the political parties and
thereby within the government. Thus, it can be said that this particular article by highlighting the
issue of male hegemony within the political parties explains the reasons for the lack of effective
representation of women within the government.
Fortin-Rittberger, J., Eder, C., Kroeber, C., & Marent, V. (2019). How Party Systems
Shape Local–National Gender Gaps. Government and Opposition, 54(1), 52-74.
This article had been selected by the researcher since it highlights the manner in which
gender relations or the high level of gender inequality had created a gender gap within the
political parties and thereby given rise to the issue of lack of women representation within the
government. Thus, this article will help the researcher to explain the manner in which gender
inequality or gender relations had impacted the representation of women within the government.

6WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN THE GOVERNMENT
Celis, K., & Childs, S. (2018). Conservatism and Women's Political Representation. Politics
& Gender, 14(1), 5-26.
This article had been selected by the researcher since it offers an insight into the manner
in which conservatism or the masochistic thought process of the individuals had contributed
towards the inadequate representation of women within the government. Thus, this particular
article by highlighting the contribution of conservatism towards the low representation of women
within the government will help the researcher to answer the research question.
Allen, P., & Childs, S. (2019). The grit in the oyster? Women’s parliamentary organizations
and the substantive representation of women. Political studies, 67(3), 618-638.
This article had been selected by the researcher had tried to undertake an analysis of the
factors which had contributed towards the low representation of women within the government.
This particular article will help the researcher to answer the research question of this study since
the authors of the article have highlighted various factors like male hegemony, gender inequality
and others as the important factors which have contributed towards the lower representation of
women within the government.
Thomas, M. (2017). Equality of Opportunity but not Result: Women and Federal
Conservatives in Canada. The Blueprint: Conservative Parties and Their Impact on
Canadian Politics.
This article had been selected by the researcher since this particular article highlights the
manner in which despite the different initiatives undertaken by the Canadian government for the
resolution of the issue of gender inequality, the number of women representatives within the
Canadian government had failed to improve. Thus, this article by highlighting the societal as

7WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN THE GOVERNMENT
well as the structural issues which have contributed towards the low representation of women
within the Canadian government will help the researcher to answer the research question selected
for the conduct of this study.
Subtopics
On the basis of the above given annotated bibliography, the subtopics which had been
selected by the researcher for answering the research question are listed below-
Subtopic Relevance of subtopic to
Question
Relevance of sources to subtopic
Male hegemony
within the
political parties
Male hegemony within the political
parties had directly contributed
towards the lower number of women
within the government. Thus, this
particular subtopic becomes
important for answering the research
question which had been formulated
by the researcher.
The article “The Impact of Parties on
Women’s Representation” by
undertaking an analysis of this
particular issue becomes important
for answering the research question
under discussion here.
Gender relations
within the
society
The gender relations, which exists
within the societal framework is an
important factor which had
contributed towards the lower
representation of women in
government. Thus, this particular
The article “How Party Systems
Shape Local–National Gender Gaps”
by analyzing this particular issue
becomes important for answering the
research question of the study.

8WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN THE GOVERNMENT
subtopic becomes an important one
for addressing the research question.
Conservatism Conservatism is an important factor
which had directly contributed
towards make hegemony within the
different political parties and thereby
given rise to the issue under
discussion. Thus, it can be said that
this particular subtopic will help the
researcher to address the research
question of the study.
The article “Conservatism and
Women's Political Representation”
by analyzing the role of
conservatism within the issue of
lower representation of women
within the government becomes an
important for addressing the research
question under discussion here.
Gender
Inequality
Gender inequality is an important
factor because of which the women
fail to get adequate representation
within the government. Thus, it is
likely that this particular subtopic
will help the researcher to
effectively answer the research
question under discussion here.
The article “The grit in the oyster?
Women’s parliamentary
organizations and the substantive
representation of women” by
analyzing the manner in which
gender inequality had given rise to
the issue of low representation of
women within the government
becomes an important for answering
the research question under
discussion here.
Policy Gaps The Canadian government over the The article “Equality of Opportunity

9WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN THE GOVERNMENT
years had taken the help of different
policies related to gender equality
however because of policy gaps they
have failed to yield the desired
results. Thus, this subtopic will help
the researcher to adequately address
the research question by highlighting
the policy gaps.
but not Result: Women and Federal
Conservatives in Canada” by
highlighting the manner in which the
different policies of the Canadian
government related to gender
equality had failed to significantly
enhance resolve the issue under
discussion here will help the
researcher to address the research
question.
The researcher is hoping that through the adequate usage of the above given subtopics
which are directly related to the research topic selected for the study would be able to answer the
research question selected for the study. An effective analysis of these five subtopics would help
the researcher to adequately understand the manner in which gender relations or gender
inequality within the societal structure contributed towards the low representation of women in
the Canadian Parliament.
Research Paper
Introduction
According to Cbc.ca, (2020), within the nation of Canada it was seen that only 25% of the
representatives in the Parliament were women in the year 2018 despite the population of women

10WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN THE GOVERNMENT
in Canada in the concerned year being more than 50%. Adding to this, Celis and Lovenduski
(2018) have observed that the gender inequality or for that matter the gender relations which
exists within the societal framework of the nation of Canada is an important factor which had
directly contributed towards the issue of low representation of women within the parliament and
also within the government as well. More importantly, it had been seen that despite the
stipulation or for that matter the mandate of the United Nations to increase the representative of
women in the government by 30%, the nation of Canada and its government had failed to
effectively increase the number of women representatives within the parliament and also with its
government as well (Opentextbc.ca, 2020). In this relation, it needs to be said that male
hegemony within the political parties and also the Canadian government, gender inequality,
gender relations, conservatism and policy gaps are some of the most important reasons because
of which the Canadian women are not getting adequate opportunities to get representation within
the different political parties and also within the Canadian parliament. The research question on
which the study would focus upon is outlined below-
2. How gender relations or gender inequality within the societal structure contributed
towards the low representation of women in the Canadian Parliament?
Discussion
Male Hegemony within the Political Parties
Pruysers et al. (2017) are of the viewpoint that male hegemony is an important factor
which had substantially contributed towards the issue of gender inequality faced by the women
within the societal framework. Adding to this, Kabene et al. (2017) have noted that because the
ideology of male hegemony held by the male members of the society it had been seen that the

11WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN THE GOVERNMENT
women over the years had been relegated to the background of the society. This in turn had
substantially reduced the number of growth or development opportunities which are available to
the women and this had adversely affected the quality of life led by them. The idea of male
hegemony had even dominated the different political parties as well wherein it had been seen
that the women are not being offered adequate opportunities on account of the idea that they are
not on par with men and thereby not capable of handling political affairs as effectively as the
men. This is an important reason for the low representation of women in the government.
Gender Relations
As discussed by Fortin-Rittberger et al. (2019) gender relation is another important factor
which had adversely affected the growth or for that matter the development of the women over
the years. Adding to this, McGregor et al. (2017) have noted that because of the societal gender
relations, the women are not considered to be equal to men and thereby deprived of important
job roles within the societal structure. Furthermore, politics or governance being an important
discipline which greatly determines the growth or the development of the nations thus the
women are being given adequate representation or opportunity to participate within the same.
Conservatism
Celis and Childs (2018) are of the viewpoint that Conservatism or for that matter
adherence to the traditional ideas of male-dominance is an important factor which had greatly
contributed towards the issue of low representation of women in the government. Adding to this,
Tremblay (2017) has noted that the conservative or the traditional ideas held by the individuals
become apparent when the idea that the women are capable of handling political affairs or
governing the states or the nations as efficiently as the men is being taken into consideration.

12WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN THE GOVERNMENT
This in turn is an important factor which had directly contributed towards the situation wherein it
is seen that the women are not being given adequate representation within the government.
Gender Inequality
As discussed by Allen and Childs (2019), despite the achievements attained by the
modern women over the years it is seen that they are not treated equally or for that matter on par
with the male members of the society. Adding to this, Ashe (2017) has noted that this in turn had
given rise to the situation wherein it is seen that the women are being deprived of important
opportunities, not given the job roles that are actually important and thereby allocated only
secondary job roles and also had to face a substantial amount of discrimination within the
societal framework as well. This in turn becomes an important factor which explains why over
the years women have failed to get adequate representation within the government.
Policy Gaps
Thomas (2017) is of the viewpoint that it is true that the Canadian government and also
the national government of the other nations of the world have undertaken various initiatives for
the resolution of the issues of gender inequality, ineffective gender relations within the society
and others. However, the important issue arises since the majority of these policies, initiatives
and others are designed completely from the perspective of the men and also inadequate
measures are being undertaken for the implementation of the same (Sawer & Turner, 2016). This
in turn had created the situation wherein it is seen that despite the different initiatives undertaken
by the national government of the different nations of the world to promote gender equality they
have not been able to get the desired results from the same (Hughes, Paxton & Krook, 2017).
This even manifests itself when the aspect of low representation of women within the
government is being taken into consideration.

13WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN THE GOVERNMENT
Conclusion
To conclude, an important which the Canadian government along with the national
government of the other nations of the world are presently facing can be attributed to the aspect
of low presentation of women within the government. The above discussion clearly indicates that
gender relations, male hegemony within the society and also the different political parties,
gender inequality, policy gaps, conservatism and others are some of the most important factors
which have directly contributed towards the issue under discussion here. However, at the same
time it needs to be said that a deeper analysis of these factors which have contributed towards the
issue of low representation of women within the government clearly reveals the fact that they are
all associated with the aspect of gender inequality or for that matter gender relations within the
societal framework. These aspects of gender inequality or gender relations and its impact on the
representation of women within the government become apparent from the above discussion of
the same.

14WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN THE GOVERNMENT
References
Allen, P., & Childs, S. (2019). The grit in the oyster? Women’s parliamentary organizations and
the substantive representation of women. Political studies, 67(3), 618-638.
Anderson, M. J., & Gillies, J. (2018). There for the moment: extra-legislative windows of
opportunity for women’s social movements in politics, a comparison of Canada and
Northern Ireland. Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 56(2), 157-176.
Ashe, J. (2017). Women's Legislative Underrepresentation: Enough Come Forward,(Still) Too
Few Chosen. Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science
politique, 50(2), 597-613.
Cbc.ca, (2020). 50% population, 25% representation: Why the parliamentary gender gap persists.
Retrieved 12 March 2020, from https://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/women-politics/
Celis, K., & Childs, S. (2018). Conservatism and Women's Political Representation. Politics &
Gender, 14(1), 5-26.
Celis, K., & Lovenduski, J. (2018). Power struggles: gender equality in political
representation. European Journal of Politics and Gender, 1(1-2), 149-166.
Fortin-Rittberger, J., Eder, C., Kroeber, C., & Marent, V. (2019). How Party Systems Shape
Local–National Gender Gaps. Government and Opposition, 54(1), 52-74.
Goetz, A. M. (2019). The politics of preserving gender inequality: de-institutionalisation and re-
privatisation. Oxford Development Studies, 1-16.

15WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN THE GOVERNMENT
Hughes, M. M., Paxton, P., & Krook, M. L. (2017). Gender quotas for legislatures and corporate
boards. Annual Review of Sociology, 43, 331-352.
International.gc.ca, (2020). Policy on Gender Equality. Retrieved 12 March 2020, from
https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/funding-financement/policy-
politique.aspx?lang=eng
Kabene, S., Baadel, S., Jiwani, Z., & Lobo, V. (2017). Women in Political Positions and
Countries’ Level of Happiness. Journal of International Women's Studies, 18(4), 209-
217.
Kroeber, C., Marent, V., Fortin-Rittberger, J., & Eder, C. (2019). Still a glass ceiling? Tracing
the limits to women’s representation in elected office. Comparative European
Politics, 17(1), 112-131.
McGregor, R. M., Moore, A., Jackson, S., Bird, K., & Stephenson, L. B. (2017). Why So Few
Women and Minorities in Local Politics?: Incumbency and Affinity Voting in Low
Information Elections. Representation, 53(2), 135-152.
Opentextbc.ca, (2020). Women in Power and Decisionmaking. Retrieved 12 March 2020, from
https://opentextbc.ca/womenintheworld/chapter/chapter-7-women-in-power-and-
decisionmaking/
Pruysers, S., Cross, W. P., Gauja, A., & Rahat, G. (2017). The Impact of Parties on Women’s
Representation. Organizing political parties: Representation, participation, and power,
208.

16WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN THE GOVERNMENT
Sawer, M., & Turner, A. (2016). Specialised Parliamentary Bodies: Their Role and Relevance to
Women's Movement Repertoire. Parliamentary Affairs, 69(4), 763-777.
Thomas, M. (2017). Equality of Opportunity but not Result: Women and Federal Conservatives
in Canada. The Blueprint: Conservative Parties and Their Impact on Canadian Politics.
Tremblay, M. (2017). Sharing power: women, parliament, democracy. Routledge.