Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T12:49:34.442Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Gender and party cohesion in the Italian parliament: a spatial analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2017

Licia C. Papavero  and
Francesco Zucchini
Licia C. Papavero
Affiliation:
Department of Social and Political Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
Francesco Zucchini*
Affiliation:
Department of Social and Political Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
*
*E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Studies on female legislative behavior suggest that women parliamentarians may challenge party cohesion by allying across party lines. In this paper we analyze a specific parliamentary activity – bill co-sponsorship – in the Italian lower Chamber, between 1979 and 2016, as a source of information about MPs’ original preferences to study how gender affects party cohesion. Do women form a separated group in the Italian parliament? On average, are they more or less distant from the center of their parties than men? Does gender affect systematically party cohesion? A principal component analysis of co-sponsorship data allows us to identify the ideal points of all MPs in a multidimensional space for each legislature. Based on these data we estimate the impact of gender on party cohesion at the individual level while controlling for the impact of several other variables of different kind (individual, partisan, and institutional). We find that: (1) on average, women show lower cohesion as a group inside different parties and higher party cohesion than men; (2) the influence of gender on party cohesion is not conditional upon individual characteristics, upon the size and organization of parliamentary parties, and upon the share of women in their parliamentary groups; (3) the different behavior of women MPs may depend on the different patterns of recruitment in the parties.

Keywords

genderpolitical partiesparliamentItaly
Type
Research Article
Information
Italian Political Science Review / Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , July 2018 , pp. 243 - 264
Copyright
© Società Italiana di Scienza Politica 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aleman, E., Calvo, E., Jones, M.P. and Kaplan, N. (2009), ‘Comparing cosponsorship and roll-call ideal points’, Legislative Studies Quarterly 34(1): 87–116.Google Scholar
Barnello, M.A. (1999), ‘Gender and roll call voting in the New York State assembly’, Women and Politics 20(4): 77–94.Google Scholar
Barnes, T.D. (2012), ‘Gender and legislative preferences: evidence from the Argentine provinces’, Politics & Gender 8(4): 483–507.Google Scholar
Barnes, T.D. (2014), ‘Women’s representation and legislative committee appointments: the case of the Argentine provinces’, Revista Uruguaya de Ciencia Politica 23(2): 135–163.Google Scholar
Barnes, T.D. (2016), Gendering Legislative Behavior: Institutional Constraints and Collaboration in Argentina, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Beckwith, K. (2007), ‘Numbers and newness: the descriptive and substantive representation of women’, Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue Canadienne de science politique 40(1): 27–49.Google Scholar
Beckwith, K. and Cowell-Meyers, K. (2007), ‘Sheer numbers: critical representation thresholds and women’s political representation’, Perspectives on Politics 5(3): 553–565.Google Scholar
Benoit, K. and Laver, M. (2006), Party Policy in Modern Democracies, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bratton, K.A. and Rouse, S.M. (2011), ‘Networks in the legislative arena: how group dynamics affect cosponsorship’, Legislative Studies Quarterly 36: 423–460.Google Scholar
Burrell, B.C. (1994), A Woman’s Place is in the House: Campaigns for Congress in the Feminist Era, Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Carando, S. (2010), La composizione di genere delle commissioni parlamentari nella Camera dei deputati (1948-2010). Unpublished BA thesis. Milan: University of Milan.Google Scholar
Carey, J.M. and Shugart, M.S. (1995), ‘Incentives to cultivate a personal vote: a rank ordering of electoral formulas’, Electoral Studies 14(4): 417–439.Google Scholar
Carrubba, C.J., Gabel, M., Murrah, L., Clough, R., Montgomery, E. and Schambach, R. (2006), ‘Off the record: unrecorded legislative votes, selection bias and roll-call vote analysis’, British Journal of Political Science 36: 691–704.Google Scholar
Carrubba, C.J., Gabel, M. and Hug, S. (2008), ‘Legislative voting behavior, seen and unseen: a theory of roll-call vote selection’, Legislative Studies Quarterly 33: 543–572.Google Scholar
Castles, F.G. and Mair, P. (1984), ‘Left-right political scales: some ‘expert’ judgments’, European Journal of Political Research 12(March): 73–88.Google Scholar
Childs, S. and Krook, M.L. (2008), ‘Critical mass theory and women’s political representation’, Political Studies 56(3): 725–736.Google Scholar
Clark, J. (1998), ‘Women at the national level: an update on roll-call voting behavior’, in S. Thomas and C. Wilcox (eds), Women and Elective Office: Past, Present and Future, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 118–129.Google Scholar
Cox, G.W. and McCubbins, M.D. (2005), Setting the Agenda: Responsible Party Government in the US House of Representatives, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Curini, L. and Iacus, S.M. (2008), ‘Italian spatial competition between 2006 and 2008: a changing party system?’. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Italian Political Science Society, September 5–8, Pavia.Google Scholar
Curini, L. and Zucchini, F. (2010), ‘Testing the law-making theories in a parliamentary democracy. A roll call analysis of the Italian Chamber of Deputies (1988-2008)’, in T. König, G. Tsebelis and M. Debus (eds), Reform Processes and Policy Change. Veto Players and Decision-Making in Modern Democracies, London: Springer, pp. 189–211.Google Scholar
Curini, L. and Zucchini, F. (2012), ‘Government alternation and legislative party unity: the case of Italy, 1988–2008’, West European Politics 35(4): 826–846.Google Scholar
Curini, L. and Zucchini, F. (2014), ‘The institutional foundations of committee cohesion in a (changing) parliamentary democracy’, European Political Science Review 6(14): 527–547.Google Scholar
Dahlerup, D. (2006), ‘The story of the theory of critical mass’, Politics and Gender 2(4): 511–522.Google Scholar
Dion, D. (1997), Turning the Legislative Thumb Screw. Minority Rights and Procedural Change in Legislative Politics, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Dodson, D.L. (2006), The Impact of Women in Congress, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gabel, M.J. and Huber, J.D. (2000), ‘Putting parties in their place: inferring party left right ideological positions from party manifestos data’, American Journal of Political Science 44(1): 94–103.Google Scholar
Giannetti, D. and Laver, M. (2009), ‘Party cohesion, party discipline, party factions in Italy’, in D. Giannetti and K. Benoit (eds), Intra-Party Politics and Coalition Government, London: Routledge, pp. 146–168.Google Scholar
Hall, R.L. and Grofman, B. (1990), ‘The committee assignment process and the conditional nature of committee bias’, American Political Science Review 84(4): 1149–1166.Google Scholar
Hazan, R.Y. (2003), ‘Does cohesion equal discipline? Towards a conceptual delineation’, Journal of Legislative Studies 9: 4.Google Scholar
Hix, S. and Jun, H.-W. (2009), ‘Party behaviour in the parliamentary arena’, Party Politics 15(6): 667–694.Google Scholar
Hix, S., Noury, A. and Roland, G. (2005), ‘Power to the parties: cohesion and competition in the European parliament, 1979–2001’, British Journal of Political Science 35: 209–234.Google Scholar
Huber, J. and Inglehart, R. (1995), ‘Expert interpretations of party space and party locations in 42 societies’, Party Politics 1: 73–111.Google Scholar
Jeydel, A. and Taylor, A.J. (2003), ‘Are women legislators less effective? Evidence from the US House in the 103rd–105th Congress’, Political Research Quarterly 56(1): 19–27.Google Scholar
Jones, M.P. (1997), ‘Legislator gender and legislator policy priorities in the Argentine chamber of deputies and the United States House of representatives’, Policy Studies Journal 25(4): 613–629.Google Scholar
Kanter, R.M. (1977), ‘Some effects of proportions on group life: skewed sex ratios and responses to token women’, American Journal of Sociology 82(5): 965–990.Google Scholar
Kanthak, K. and Krause, G.A. (2012), The Diversity Paradox: Political Parties, Legislatures and the Organizational Foundations of Representation in America, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kessler, D. and Krehbiel, K. (1996), ‘Dynamics of cosponsorship’, The American Political Science Review 90(3): 555–566.Google Scholar
Krehbiel, K. (1991), Information and Legislative Organization, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Lovenduski, J. and Norris, P. (1993), Gender and Party Politics, London: Sage.Google Scholar
Matland, R.E. and Studlar, D.T. (1996), ‘The contagion of women candidates in single-member district and proportional representation electoral systems: Canada and Norway’, The Journal of Politics 58: 707–733.Google Scholar
Newell, J. (2000), Parties and Democracy in Italy, Arlington, TX: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Osborn, T.L. (2012), How Women Represent Women: Political Parties, Gender, and Representation in the State Legislatures, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Pansardi, P. and Vercesi, M. (2017), ‘Party gate-keeping and women’s appointment to parliamentary committees: evidence from the Italian case’, Parliamentary Affairs 70(1): 62–83.Google Scholar
Papavero, L.C. (2011), ‘A gendered agenda? Female representation and bill sponsorship in the Italian parliament (1987-2008)’. WP-LPF 4/11. Retrieved on 26 November 2017 from http://www.centroeinaudi.it/images/abook_file/wp_lpf_4_11_papavero.pdf.Google Scholar
Poole, K.T. (2005), Spatial Models of Parliamentary Voting, New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Reingold, B. (1992), ‘Concepts of representation among female and male state legislators’, Legislative Studies Quarterly 17(4): 509–537.Google Scholar
Sanbonmatsu, K. (2008), ‘Representation by gender and political parties’, in C. Wolbrecht, K. Beckwith and L. Baldez (eds), Political Women and American Democracy, New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 96–109.Google Scholar
Schwindt-Bayer, L.A. (2010), Political Power and Women’s Representation in Latin America, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Schwindt-Bayer, L.A. and Corbetta, R. (2004), ‘Gender turnover and roll call voting in the U.S. House of representatives’, Legislative Studies Quarterly 29(2): 215–229.Google Scholar
Shepsle, K.A. and Weingast, B.R. (1995), ‘Positive theories of congressional institutions’, in K.A. Shepsle and B.R. Weingast (eds), Positive Theories of Congressional Institutions, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, pp. 5–35.Google Scholar
Sieberer, U. (2006), ‘Party unity in parliamentary democracies: a comparative analysis’, The Journal of Legislative Studies 12(2): 150–178.Google Scholar
Steenbergen, M.R. and Jones, B.S. (2002), ‘Modeling multilevel data structure’, American Journal of Political Science 46(1): 218–237.Google Scholar
Swers, M.L. (2002), The Difference Women Make. The Policy Impact of Women in Congress, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Tavits, M. (2009), ‘The making of Mavericks: local loyalties and party defection’, Comparative Political Studies 42: 793–815.Google Scholar
Thomas, S. (1989), ‘Voting patterns in the California Assembly: the role of gender’, Women and Politics 9(4): 43–53.Google Scholar
Thomas, S. and Welch, S. (1991), ‘The impact of gender on activities and priorities of state legislators’, The Western Political Quarterly 44(2): 445–456.Google Scholar
Vega, A. and Firestone, J.M. (1995), ‘The effects of gender on congressional behavior and substantive representation of women’, Legislative Studies Quarterly 20(2): 213–222.Google Scholar
Wangnerud, L. (2000), ‘Testing the politics of presence. Women’s representation in the Swedish Riksdag’, Scandinavian Political Studies 23(1): 67–91.Google Scholar
Wojcik, S. and Mullenax, S. (2017), ‘Men idle, women network: how networks help female legislators succeed’, Legislative Studies Quarterly 42(4): 579–610.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: Link

Papavero and Zucchini Dataset

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/YRDS8N
Link