Gender and Interruptions in German State Parliaments

Are interruptions during parliamentary debate gendered? Do male and female MPs experience different reactions to their speeches? In short, yes, and the gendered nature of the topic under debate matters. MPs receive more reactions, both positive and negative, when speaking on gendered topics that conform to stereotypes about their gender. Using an original corpus of approximately 400,000 speeches given in German state parliaments, we first estimate the gendered nature of parliamentary speech, then examine how reactions to speeches given by male and female MPs differ, and finally examine whether they differ by the gendered nature of the speech topic. Female and male MPs receive similarly positive and negative reactions to their speeches on average, but they receive different reactions depending on the gendered nature of the debate topic. The gendered nature of parliamentary interjections could affect how women MPs view their position and how women voters view parliament.