Left-wing parties have been found to be the best performers regarding women’s representation. These parties have been considered to be ‘catalysts’ within their respective party systems in setting in motion a ‘contagion’ process by showing to other competitors that there is no electoral penalty to promoting women candidates. Research on gender and politics has tended to oversee the diversity of the left block and predominantly focused on mainstream left-wing parties, such as the Social Democrats. This paper explores women’s representation in radical left parties across Europe with a view to identifying the existence of regional differences and the reasons behind them. We posit that the diverse ideological and organisational background of radical left parties –including conservative Communist, socialist populist, democratic socialist and green parties – explains both their position towards gender quotas as well as the level of women deputies they reach, irrespective of external variables such as party magnitude.
