Representation and Participation of Women in Politics

This book is concerned with a critical appraisal on the issues of women’s representation and participation in politics. The various and diverse intellectual strands that inform the concepts of representation, participation politics are analysed in this book. The book provides an overview of these related concepts by reviewing their definitions and origins as well as their related legal, institutional and policy applications. It also evaluates international experiences women in politics. Due to the complex and multidimensional nature of problems related to issues of gender and politics, an interdisciplinary approach was used. Therefore, the book includes an interdisciplinary range of references with the aim of overcoming the barriers between different traditions of knowledge and experiences. In this book the models of representation, theories of political representation, critical mass theory, the institutional approach of participation and the intrinsic and instrumentalist arguments for women’s participation in politics are discussed. These served as the theoretical base on which core issues are operationalised.