ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to address the concept of power explicitly by unpacking the power mechanisms present in symbolic representation. Political theory on power offers insightful lenses to explore the political representation of gender and its dimension of symbolic representation. The theorisations of power drawn from all show as Allen would say that power in feminist analyses is never just domination or empowerment, but always a mix of the two. Empirically grasping this interplay inherent to the concept of power is relevant for feminist analyses of political representation. Politics is a field in which hegemonic men whose gender domination intersects with their social class, race, or sexual orientation exercise power as domination over women whose subordination also intersects along similar lines. Symbolic representation focuses on unspoken cultural codes that through discourses and social practices construct femininity and masculinity in ways that can maintain the hegemonic male domination over women or empower women in politics.
