Women’s and Young People’s Climate Activism as Non-Traditional, Non-Institutional Political Representation: Exploring Theoretical Implications for the Study of Political Representation

An expansive body of literature assesses representation in politics, covering the relative representation of policymakers of various gender and other identities. Scholars also speculate what gender and other representation in politics means for broader society. But I would argue that it is not only this formal, institution-based representation that matters. Activism and social movements also constitute a meaningful route for influencing politics and representing communities in political discourse. I argue that environmental, especially climate, activism is a platform for women’s and young people’s political representation, one that is not reliant on participation within traditional, formal institutions. It is a form of political representation that not only allows women and young people to have significant impacts on policy issues; it is also a form of representation that empowers them as political actors and re-shapes societal perceptions related to political participation. While norms are changing, both women and young people still face considerable obstacles in making their way into these more formalized roles, but nevertheless manage to be politically influential in other spaces, especially activism. In this paper, I engage with theoretical conceptions of what political representation means, the forms it can take, and the implications of broadening our understanding of political representation to more fully incorporate informal, non-institutional forms of representation like highly-visible activism and civil society engagement. I pair this theoretical discussion with an exploration of case studies that can illustrate the phenomenon I am describing. Most notable of these is the Greta Thünberg and the School Strikes for Climate. I hope to offer insights as to what the contemporary context, especially the prominence of climate activism, means for the study of political representation for those groups who have historically been denied access to traditional positions of power; in this paper, the focus is on women and young people, but I would argue that the theoretical implications reach beyond and include other diverse and marginalized communities.