Doctoral Dissertation Research in Policial Science: Descriptive Representation and Policy Outcomes in Parliaments

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This project assesses how representation affects policy outcomes. The project includes the construction of a dataset, the Database of Female Parliamentarians by Party Type, 1907-2012, permitting the analysis of policy outcomes based on identity. A central question in the literature is whether increasing the numerical representation of an identity group leads to expansions of group rights and the protection of group liberties; this project seeks answers to this question. The intellectual merit of the project is associated with its advances in the study of representation and the construction of the first cross-national, comprehensive dataset that tracks women in parliament by party. The database will facilitate answers to questions such as: Are women more likely to be promoted within a party when there are more of them? Does having more women in a party affect male and female voters' views about women's competence in office? The research will have impacts beyond academia as well, contributing to current policy debates about what drives expansions in rights, participation in the economy, and more broadly, greater equality in society. Its conclusions have the potential to shape policy-making in countries and organizations that hope to increase representation or to improve laws protecting rights. The project's methods and conclusions are relevant for under-represented groups.