Bridging Feminist Capital in the French National Assembly

Parliaments are becoming more gender-balanced worldwide, which is expected to influence their institutional dynamics. However, feminist readings of Bourdieu’s theories on masculine domination suggest a persistent gender hierarchy. According to these perspectives, women are less likely to compete on equal footing for political distinction because they cannot accumulate capital—whether cultural, social, or symbolic—in the same way as men. As a result, parliaments are likely to remain highly gendered and male-dominated, shaped by a culture of masculinity. This culture perpetuates gender biases in norms, roles, behaviors, and expectations for members of parliament. As “space invaders”, women often face significant challenges in navigating these environments, establishing legitimacy, building political careers, and exerting influence. This perspective of masculine dominance leaves women parliamentarians with two options: adapt or leave, rather than excelling. Recent changes in the gender composition of parliaments offer an opportunity to challenge such theories. This paper examines how women and men deputies in the French National Assembly perceive the types of capital they need and the strategies they employ to 1) remain in parliament, 2) transform the institution, and 3) influence society through policy. We propose that women can make use of a feminist capital to get ahead (bridging) while the most convenient strategy is to sustain relationships within their own circles (bonding). The case of the French National Assembly provides a unique opportunity to study the gendered dynamics of a recently feminized parliament, following the dramatic influx of inexperienced women deputies elected in 2017. While existing research on parliaments has examined the implications of shifts towards more gender-balanced parliaments, this study identifies the use of feminist perspectives as a strategy for getting ahead in politics. This represents a shift from exclusionary to inclusionary mechanisms in research on gender and power in the parliament, pointing to feminism a source of agency—as agency is often lacking in research inspired by Bourdieu’s perspective.