ABSTRACT
Throughout the twentieth century, political parties have been central to all west European political systems. Within parliamentary democracies, only nationally organised parties have been able to present wide-ranging policy programmes to the electorate and simultaneously put forward candidates in all constituencies or regions across a country. Thus, it has become normal for governments, whether local, regional or national, to be drawn from leading party figures, either from a single party or, in the case of a majority of countries, a number of parties in coalition. As the century developed many electors began to develop firm party attachments, automatically supporting the same party at all elections regardless of who the candidate might be. This has cemented the strong position of parties, and, as a result, the possibility of gaining formal political power working outside of traditional party structures remains slim. Although parties have become the gatekeepers to the political
system, the problem for women (alongside minority groups) has been that many such organisations have proved extremely difficult to break into. Many parties in western Europe were established early in the twentieth century, or even earlier, when only men enjoyed the vote, and as a result party positions (both internal and representative) were initially filled entirely by men. As the franchise became equal (see Table 1, p. 2) women were regarded with hostility as they were perceived as a threat to those holding party positions. Some parties, notably those tied to religion, believed that women should not hold party positions as a point of principle.1 Even those parties which were formally open to women were often characterised by an aggressive and confrontational style of politics which alienated many women. As a result the proportion of party members who were women remained low, for example in West Germany 85 per cent of party members in 1969 were still male.2
