Capturing representational deficits, looking past descriptive representation

The existence of gendered representational deficits in most advanced industrial democracies’ legislative and executive bodies has become conventional wisdom. What remains contentious, however, is our ability to estimate both the magnitude and the impact of these deficits. Much of our knowledge about representational deficits revolves around descriptive representation, i.e., counting women in elected assemblies. While such numbers provide key markers of the degree to which women are included in politics, descriptive representation only exposes a partial image of women’s inclusion in, and connection with, the political process writ large. Drawing on a longitudinal analysis focusing on Germany, the paper investigates whether the increase in women’s legislative representation over time has had parallel spill overs on women’s views of the representative process through political engagement, and ultimately, satisfaction with the way democracy works.