Do female MPs substantively represent women? A study of legislative behaviour in Canada's 35th Parliament

This article outlines the pattern of women's participation in the Canadian parliamentary system. The question of interest is whether female members of the House of Commons make a difference in politics and, notably, if they substantively represent women. The basic underlying hypothesis is that women in the Canadian House of Commons make a difference, that is to say, they substantively represent women. However, the impact of women in politics is limited: they do indeed make a difference, but not a drastic one. In this sense, women try to shape the legislative agenda and the legislative discourse in order to promote women's issues more than do men, but their activity in favour of women's concerns remains quite limited from a numerical point of view. To achieve effective results in this study, two methods were employed: a survey given to members of the 35th Canadian Parliament, and a content analysis of the Hansard Index of the House of Commons. Overall, the results presented here provide some support for the substantive argument. On the question of whether women members of the House of Commons make a difference in politics, and, significantly, if they substantively represent women, the answer is generally positive, although it is necessary to qualify this response. Both female and male MPs speak and act to support women's issues in the House of Commons, but these activities remain quantitatively marginal. However, on each aspect considered, the group of female MPs were proportionately more involved in women's issues than their male counterparts.