%0 Journal Article
%T The Grit in the Oyster? Women¡¯s Parliamentary Organizations and the Substantive Representation of Women
%A Peter Allen
%A Sarah Childs
%J Political Studies
%@ 1467-9248
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/0032321718793080
%X This article addresses a foundational question of political representation: how do representatives act for those they represent? In a shift away from analyses of individual representatives¡¯ attitudes and behaviour, we identify Women¡¯s Parliamentary Organizations as potential critical sites and critical actors for women¡¯s substantive representation. Offering one of the most in-depth studies to date, our illustrative case is the long-standing UK Parliamentary Labour Party¡¯s Women¡¯s Committee. With a unique data set, and using both quantitative and qualitative methods, we systematically examine the Parliamentary Labour Party¡¯s Women¡¯s Committee efforts to substantively represent women over more than a decade. We find that the Committee sustains its focus on a small number of women¡¯s issues and interacts with party leadership to advance women¡¯s interests in a feminist direction. Our findings capture processes of political change, a frequently under-explored stage in studies of substantive representation. We close by identifying the potential for comparative research in this area
%K women¡¯s substantive representation
%K critical mass
%K critical actors
%K political change
%K gender and politics
%K feminizing
%K women¡¯s parliamentary organizations
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0032321718793080