Constituent Preferences and Variation in Women’s Substantive Representation

• In Event: Women's Representation

Abstract

The literature on underrepresented groups assumes that, once elected, descriptive representatives will legislate on behalf of their group’s substantive interests. While the literature finds support for the notion that female representatives prioritize women’s substantive interests in their legislative behavior, considerable variation exists across women within countries. This project explores how the preferences of constituents, specifically with respect to women’s issues, condition the ability of female legislators to substantively represent women’s issues across varying electoral systems. Female legislators must be responsive to their constituents’ interests in their legislative work and differences in constituent preferences for women’s interests might explain variation in women’s legislative behavior. Specifically, those who represent constituents opposed to women’s substantive interests may avoid legislating on these interests while those who represent constituencies that favor these interests may have greater freedom to legislate on women’s interests. To test this, I use a measure of constituent preferences for women’s substantive policies from an original survey conducted across both party-centric (Argentina) and candidate-centric (Peru) electoral systems. This survey represents the first attempt to extensively measure constituent preferences for women’s substantive policies with samples representative at the electoral district level. Data on constituent preferences is paired with data on bills initiated by female legislators in Argentina and Peru.

Author

• Kaitlin Senk, Rice University