ABSTRACT
Historically, winning the vote was a major milestone in women’s political citizenship. Yet, the hope that obtaining the franchise would in turn lead to unproblematic and equal participation in power was not realised. As the chapters in this book show, in countries where women were granted early enfranchisement (Australia, Norway and Canada were among the first countries to give women the right to vote) the electoral outcomes were not more positive for women’s representation than in countries where women’s right to vote was delayed (Switzerland granted universal female franchise in 1971 while in South Africa black women got the vote in 1994). Although the chapters highlight many differences in the historical trajectory of women’s political empowerment across established and emerging democracies, the barriers identified to women’s full parliamentary representation are remarkably similar across all cases. In turn, the strategies used to overcome these obstacles also cover bear a close resemblance to one another. The chapters also underline the importance of feminist activism in generating support for an increased presence of women in parliament, and, once in parliament in some numbers, women MPs indicate an awareness of a responsibility to represent women’s views and interests in addition to the interests of their geographical constituency. This final chapter draws together and compares the main chapter findings on the progress of women in sharing political power with men.
Obstacles
