Gender, Institutions and Political Recruitment: A Research Agenda

Political parties can make or break women’s efforts to stand for office, yet there have been few systematic studies into the ‘secret garden’ of political recruitment. This paper takes a closer look at this under-researched area, drawing on original in-depth research on the candidate selection process in two different settings – Scotland and Thailand. Building on the insights of feminist and new institutional theory, the paper suggests that work on gender and political recruitment must focus on the internal party dynamic, a key arena in which the gendered politics of distribution play out and where crucial gendered power struggles take place. We argue that gendered informal party practices are critically important for understanding the continuity of male political dominance and female under-representation. In Scotland and Thailand, for example, we find that informal conventions – including party practice of patronage and clientelism – often contradict or undermine formal party rules, working to blunt the reformist potential of gender equality reforms. The paper concludes by outlining a research agenda for work on gender, institutions and political recruitment and pointing to future directions for work in this area.