Gender, Conflict, and Control: Explaining Participation in Parliamentary Activities

Previous investigations of gender differences in parliamentary activities have emphasized the frequency of speeches and topics discussed, especially during Question Time. However, Question Time is only a small part of the parliamentary day, and although it is the most visible it may not be representative of the work of parliamentarians. This paper extends the type of parliamentary activities under consideration. We test two hypotheses on the impact of the level of conflict that is embedded in the specific parliamentary activity, and the level of gatekeeping party leaders have on access to a specific activity. First, different parliamentary activities within one legislature have different rules and different levels of potential conflict. Perceptions of traditional gender norms might mean that women are less likely to participate in activities perceived as more confrontational. Second, parliamentary activities vary to the extent party leaders act as gatekeepers. On the one hand, greater gender balance should occur when gatekeepers have less control on who participates. When gatekeeping is high, we expect men to participate to a greater extent than women as gatekeepers tend to be men. On the other hand, gatekeepers may strategically deploy women to perform a commitment to gender equality, resulting in greater participation of women than men when gatekeeping is high. To test these hypotheses, we use data on parliamentary activities from the Australian House of Representatives across more than 40 years. We explore six different aspects of parliamentary behaviour: speeches in the House of Representatives, speeches in the Federation Chamber, oral questions, questions on notice, interjections in the House of Representatives, and interjections in the Federation Chamber. Preliminary results show greater gender balance and even greater presence of women than men in parliamentary activities where potential for conflict is low. For high conflict parliamentary activities, men are more likely to participate. As for our second hypothesis, preliminary findings do not support the claim that parliamentary activities with greater gatekeeper control are associated with greater participation for men. Instead, we find some evidence of the strategic deployment of women in parliamentary activities under some circumstances when gatekeeper control is high.