This study investigates gender bias among political parties.
Data & Methods: Analyzed 351 party policy shifts across sixty-eight Western European parties over time using a time-series cross-sectional approach. The analysis included twelve countries to provide broad regional coverage.
Key Finding 1: While all political parties respond equally to preference changes from both genders, they show greater responsiveness toward male voters' shifting preferences compared to female voters'.
Key Finding 2: The presence of women in parliament does not alter this responsiveness gap.
Why It Matters
This research challenges the long-standing assumption that descriptive representation in legislatures automatically leads to substantive responsiveness toward women's policy preferences. The findings highlight a persistent gender gap in political responsiveness despite efforts to increase female representation.
