Despite the scholarly attention to the role of political parties in women’s representation, there is very little literature on women’s parties. Neglect of these parties is curious because some women’s parties, such as those in Iceland, Israel and Northern Ireland, have had striking effects on women’s representation in politics; though small, short-lived and marginal, these parties altered the discourse, behavior and policy in the other parties in their respective systems.
This paper focuses on the Feminist Initiative (F!) in Sweden and considers whether this party has had similar contagion effects. The party won a seat in the European Parliament in May 2014 as the first exclusively feminist party in that body, which earned it tremendous international attention and buoyed its support at home. The purpose of this paper is to consider whether and how that electoral success created pressure on the other parties in Sweden in the context of the general election in September 2014.
This paper will first determine whether the positions, strategies or tactics of the other parties changed on issues associated with F!. It will do this by comparing the campaign materials and strategies of the eight other significant national parties in the system in 2010 and 2014 (the four largest parties on the right ran in coalition in both elections and the three largest on the left ran in coalition in 2010), as well as media coverage of these parties. If I can document changes in the other parties on these issues, I will interview party officials, members of the media and researchers following these campaigns to determine the impetus behind these specific changes. The aim is to document the effects of F! and consider whether the party has been useful for the representation of women in Sweden.
