Democracy and Political Representation of Women in Lithuania: The Role of Political Parties and Electoral System.

• In Event: Gender and Politics in the Baltic States

Abstract

The democratic system is believed to be an egalitarian and inclusive form of government to a great extent. Therefore, it is considered worldwide that gender equality in politics is necessary for the effective functioning of democracy. Women’s equal involvement in the political process and their representation in decision-making institutions strengthen democracy. However, in many democracies, gender equality is far from achieved. Yet, Lithuania, with relatively less democratic experience, managed to improve gender equality in politics and elected women leaders to influential positions.
This study intends to examine how democracy has facilitated Lithuanian women’s entry into the political sphere by focusing on the role of political parties and the electoral system. Lithuania has a multi-party system and a mixed-method electoral system. This study takes into account how these systems work in women’s access to political office. An interdisciplinary approach will be adopted for this study by drawing theoretical insights from various fields with particular references from feminist institutionalist discourse. The previous three elections to Seimas will be analyzed to understand the performance of political parties in women’s candidacy. As this study focuses only on the descriptive representation of women, various national and international databases will be utilized.
As equality is central to democracy, it is essential to understand the factors that improve or decrease women’s accessibility to political office in a democracy. This study intends to understand these factors in Lithuania through the above-mentioned approach.

Short Bio

The author is a Ph.D. candidate at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her research topic is ‘Political Representation of Women in the Post-Soviet Space: A Comparative Study of Lithuania, Ukraine, and Russia, 1991 - 2021.’ Her academic areas of interest are political representation of women, gender in post-Soviet countries, and the politics of post-Soviet countries. She submitted her MPhil to the University of Hyderabad, India, before joining Ph.D. on ‘Theories of Underdevelopment: Comparing Dependency Theory and World Systems Analysis’ in 2019. She has an MA in Politics and International Relations from Pondicherry University, Puducherry, India.
The author recently presented a paper at the CBEES Conference at Sodertorn University, Stockholm, in November 2023. She has also participated in the summer school on 'Strategic Narratives of Balticness' held in Gdansk, Poland, in September 2022.

Author

• Gifty Ann Babu, PhD Candidate, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi