Beyond Gender Equality: Intersectional Pathways to Power in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives

While gender parity in parliaments has improved globally, the path to genuine political power sharing remains marked by deep-seated inequalities. Research consistently shows that even when women enter parliament, their political careers tend to be shorter, and their progression into leadership roles is often constrained. Yet, most analyses overlook how intersecting identities, such as ethnicity, level of education and age, combine with gender to create compounded barriers to political power. This paper, therefore, applies intersectionality theory to examine how members of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives with multiple marginalized identities navigate their political careers. The study will provide an intersectional and longitudinal examination of the composition and career trajectories of members of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives from 1995 to 2024. By going beyond a binary gender approach, the analysis explores how intersecting identities, specifically gender, ethnicity, professional background and age, influence access to parliamentary seats, the likelihood of sustained political careers, and the attainment of leadership roles, such as parliamentary party group leadership. The overall goal is to uncover the ways in which intersectional dynamics shape pathways to power, creating distinct career patterns for representatives from marginalized groups compared to their majority peers. The study’s longitudinal approach, furthermore, offers a nuanced perspective on how these identity-based barriers evolve over time. Through its integration of intersectional and longitudinal analyses, this study broadens our understanding of the pathways to political power within Belgium’s parliamentary landscape.