Breaking Male Dominance in Old Democracies

Description

Has male dominance in political life been broken? Will gender balance in elected assemblies soon be reached? Around 100 years after womens suffrage was gained, and in spite of much effort, most countries are still at some distance from this goal. In 2013, the average representation of women in the worlds parliaments was around 20 per cent. This book analyses the longitudinal development of womens political representation in eight old democracies, where women were enfranchised before and around World War I: Denmark, Iceland, Germany, The Netherlands, New Jersey (USA), New South Wales (Australia), Sweden, and the United Kingdom. These countries/states have all followed an incremental track model of change in womens position in political life, but have followed different trajectories. This slow development stands in contrast to recent examples of fast track development in many countries from the Global South, not least as a result of the adoption of gender quotas.