The Representative Claim And The Construction Of Gender

Master's Thesis from the year 2012 in the subject Gender Studies, grade: A - Distinction, University College London (School of Public Policy), course: Msc International Public Policy, language: English, abstract: This study applies recent innovative perspectives in the field of constitutive representation of gender (CRG) to an exploratory case study of Italy. The analysis is based on the political manifestos of the winning coalition for the 2001, 2006 and 2008 general elections, and the speeches of the Ministers for Equal Opportunities concerning the ministerial program guidelines made at the beginning of each legislature.

The purpose of the work is:

1) to explore how gender relations, feminine identities and their interests are constructed through representative claims,

2) to examine what policy pledges representatives commit to when they seek to substantively act for women and

3) to investigate the link between CRG and SRW by analysing the congruency between the pledges made for women and the legislation proposed by the Italian women's policy agency, the Ministry for the Equal Opportunities.

Traditional research on women's political representation focuses on the substantive (SRW) and descriptive representation of women and on the link between the two. However, the relationship has proved to be elusive and evidence is inconclusive. Recently a new conceptualisation of political representation, intended as a creative and performative act, has been advanced by Mansbridge (2003) and Saward (2006). Alongside, Judith Squires (2008) has advanced the concept of constitutive representation of gender (CRG), as a analytical tool that permits to avoid predetermined assumptions on women's identity and interests.