What Women’s Parties Want

An Investigation of the Issue Concerns of Women’s Parties in Europe, 1990–2020

Dados Bibliográficos

ID7973593
AutoresLouise Luxton (0000-0002-3604-4393, autor correspondente)
Ano2025
Páginas1-31
Data de publicação2025-07-04
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoPolitics & Gender (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1743-923X • E-ISSN: 1743-9248
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1743923x2510010x
OpenAlexW4412040154
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas59

Over the past 20–30 years, women’s parties have consistently formed across Europe, aiming to improve women’s substantive representation by politicizing gender issues. Despite their potential impact on the policy agenda, empirical knowledge of the full range and scope of issues these parties mobilize is limited. This paper presents a novel mixed-method text analysis of the issue concerns in an original dataset of European women’s parties’ manifestos spanning a 30-year period. I find that parties across contexts share concerns in social justice and social policy. However, two subtypes of women’s party can be differentiated based on issue focus and framing . Essentialist women’s parties predominantly represent women’s material interests, whereas feminist parties additionally tackle structural gender inequality issues, including gender-based violence and human security. These findings provide a foundation for incorporating women’s parties into growing research on party competition over gender issues

Political economy · Political science · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Gender Politics and Representation · Gender Studies · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies