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Political scientists concerned with gender relations have long been interested in the numbers of women in national legislatures. Women make up slightly more than 50% of the world's population, yet average only 16% of the world's elected political posts. This has led to calls for action that would increase the number of women in legislatures based both on arguments of justice and on claims that an increase will substantively change decision-making processes and outcomes. Part of the debate about substantive changes in political decision making has centered on whether women in a legislature must reach a "critical mass" in order to bring about change in the political arena. The term critical mass is frequently used by politicians, the media, and academics, but can it offer insights into the influence of gender on political processes and outcomes? In this essay, I argue that critical mass is only useful if we discard the belief that a single proportion holds the key to all representation needs of women and if we discard notions that numbers alone bring about substantive changes in policy processes and outcomes. I use a longitudinal textual analysis of New Zealand parliamentary debates to begin development of a joint-effect model that can better explain the factors that aid (or hinder) the substantive representation of women.
The Core Behind Critical Mass Hypotheses
The belief that women politicians will have a substantive effect on political decision making is found within debates about the "politics of presence" (Phillips 1995), of which critical mass research can be seen as one part. In these debates, the messenger as well as the message is seen as important (Catt 2003), and women politicians are seen to be not only "standing as" women but also "acting for" women as a group once elected (Lovenduski and Norris 2003; Pitkin 1967). This assertion is based not on a belief in an essential link between sex and representation but on the way in which women experience the world and how this affects their actions if elected as political representatives. As Melissa Williams (1996, 106) puts it: "The representative who is capable of acting as an advocate for women's interest must have some understanding of the ways in which the lives of her constituents are shaped by...