The literature on gendered representation often questions whether men and women prioritise different policy areas. Men and women are stereotypically associated with, respectively, “masculine” and “feminine” policy domains (Alexander and Andersen 1993; Huddy and Terkildsen 1993). Furthermore, women are often expected to pay greater attention to “women’s issues”. This has sometimes been used to justify women’s greater presence in politics, although it risks essentialising women and relegating them to certain policy domains. Female politicians may be expected by their constituents, their parties and their male peers to focus on “feminine” policy areas, even if their own priorities lie elsewhere. Identifying gender gaps within policy focus is therefore challenged by the need to distinguish genuine differences between the sexes from differences that are constructed by gendered expectations and stereotypes.
This paper sheds light on these puzzles by examining the policy focus of male and female parliamentarians under two distinct scenarios: firstly, low-profile work that reflects the free choice of individual politicians, and secondly, high-profile work that reflects the preferences of party managers. Using France as a case study, I analyse a unique and original dataset of more than 200,000 parliamentary questions spanning two full parliamentary terms (2002-2012) in France. The data include written questions, oral questions and private members’ bills, all of which measure the priorities of individual politicians. I also analyse questions to the government, which are televised, high-profile and stage-managed by parties. My findings indicate that women are indeed more likely than men to represent women’s interests, confirming previous studies (eg Campbell et al 2010) that women do need women to represent them. However, on all other policy areas, significant gender gaps emerge only in high-profile work, when women are directed to be the voice of stereotypically “feminine” issues.
