Women members of Parliament representing women : influencing the political agenda in the British House of Commons

Peake, Alison Lucy (1998) Women members of Parliament representing women : influencing the political agenda in the British House of Commons. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Abstract

The thesis explores the impact of women MPs from 1987-98. It considers whether women MPs make a substantive difference to the political agenda and policy-making, how this difference is shaped by political opportunities in the House of Commons, and how male MPs react to the increased presence of women.

Women MPs' perceptions of the political relevance of gender are explored through interviews. Women MPs identify women as a group with distinctive perspectives, and report a high level of responsibility towards representing these in parliament. This is additional to their responsibilities to their constituents and party.

The complex relationship between gender, political structures and political action is considered. In order to generate a realistic picture of the influence of women MPs, the thesis argues that an institutionally specific view of the policy-making process is required together with methodological approaches which explore women's political behaviour at multiple levels throughout that process. Gender appears to be a good indicator of concern for women's issues, but the differential impact of women is constrained by limited opportunities for backbench influence in the House of Commons. Voting is a poor measure of difference due to the strength of the party system. However, expressions of difference are found in alternative political spaces. Women MPs have co-operated to advance common agendas. Private Members' Bills are sites of informal cross-party co-operation, whilst the Parliamentary Labour Party Women's Group is a more formal organisational space for co-operation.

Parliamentary participation suggests that women MPs have brought new political issues of concern to women to the parliamentary agenda, and that men, too, consider these issues. If the behaviour of men changes, the impact of women MPs will be greater.

A range of qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches are used. Almost 100 interviews with Labour and Conservative parliamentary candidates in the 1997 general election and MPs in the 1997 parliaments are considered. Parliamentary documentation was used to analyse MPs' parliamentary activity.

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