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Black and white photo of Hanna Bäck. Photo.

Hanna Bäck

Professor

Black and white photo of Hanna Bäck. Photo.

Sweden : Biased Debate Participation with Nearly Equal Gender Representation

Author

  • Hanna Bäck
  • Markus Baumann
  • Royce Carroll

Editor

  • Hanna Bäck
  • Marc Debus
  • Jorge M. Fernandes

Summary, in English

The Swedish Riksdag is often regarded as an ideal type for Scandinavian or Nordic parliamentarism. This relates to institutional features and party cohesion, but more often so to descriptive representation in terms of gender—an aspect where Sweden's parliament has consistently occupied the top position among European parliaments during the last decades. However, and despite an unlikely-case-character, previous research has shown that gender biases exist in Nordic parliaments and the Riksdag in particular. This chapter follows this research and evaluates how gender and seniority determine legislators' opportunities to speak in plenary debates. Our results show that the gender biases found in previous research persist to date and extend further to the past. Furthermore, low seniority amplifies the effect of gender; junior female legislators have the slimmest chances to speak in plenary debates.

Department/s

  • Department of Political Science

Publishing year

2021

Language

English

Pages

713-733

Publication/Series

The Politics of Legislative Debates

Document type

Book chapter

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Topic

  • Political Science

Keywords

  • legislative speech
  • floor access
  • gender representation
  • seniority
  • Riksdag

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISBN: 9780198849063