Whilst analysis of the relationship between the descriptive and substantive representation of women has mainly focused on women politicians as critical actors, in many contexts political parties provide the linkage between voters’ preferences and policy programmes. Feminist activists have used the instrumental desire of political parties for electoral success to generate interest in women’s issues. The feminisation of political parties can take place on two levels; deep-rooted and superficial. Analysis of the portrayal of women voters in parties’ campaign materials and leader’s speeches can help us to assess whether parties perceive women voters as typical or average. In this paper I will examine the international literature on gender and elections to assess whether women voters are at the core of parties’ election platforms or whether they have tended to ‘spray on’ a gender dimension to their manifestos and election material and how this varies according to institutional and contextual factors.
