Existing feminist research has established that the vast majority of national political parties over-represent men.
In this article, we focus on ‘Europarties’ that exist at the European Union level, to analyse the descriptive representation of women in leadership positions, including Spitzenkandidat:innen. We demonstrate that more women have become part of Europarties’ leaderships in recent years, but that overall, men remain over-represented, especially in right-wing parties. We explain these dynamics by drawing on Feminist Institutionalism and the idea that formal and informal gendered rules help to explain the different levels of female representation. We focus on gender quotas and women’s organisations in enhancing female representation and argue that without statutory gender quotas for Europarties’ governing bodies, as well as formal and transparent decision-making processes, women risk being excluded from leadership positions.
Isabelle Hertner is a Senior Lecturer in Politics of Britain in Europe and Director of the Centre for German Transnational Relations at King’s College London. Isabelle is an expert on political parties in the UK, Germany, France, and at the European Union level. Her research is comparative in nature and draws primarily on qualitative methods, such as elite interviews, surveys, participant observation.
Angelos Chryssogelos is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the School of Social Sciences, London Metropolitan University. Angelos' research interests lie in international relations, European politics, EU studies and comparative politics, with particular interest in foreign policy analysis and the intersection of domestic and international politics.