The conditions for the substantive effects of descriptive representation. A text-based analysis of the behaviors of male and female legislators in the German Bundestag

Women are underrepresented in the parliaments of many established democracies. Does this affect their substantive representation, i.e. the extent to which their interests are being voiced in the legislative process? This paper explores this question in view of the German case and a text-based quantitative analysis of the public interventions of Members of the German Bundestag, meaning their parliamentary questions, floor speeches, and vote explanations. Empirically, the paper advances from a non-essentialist understanding of women’s interests by asking about the extent to which legislators give voice to manifest concerns of women’s organizations in their legislative activities. Specifically, it asks whether female legislators systematically differ from male legislators in this regard. Theoretically, the paper focuses on how legislators’ party affiliations, committee assignments, and electoral incentives affect their proclivity to give voice to the concerns of women. The analysis draws from the legislative activities of all 709 German MPs in the 19th Bundestag. It employs a dictionary approach to estimate the extent to which women represent the concerns of women in substantive ways and how this is conditioned by their political context.