Representation-based approaches towards substantive gender equity require the application of an intersectional analysis that recognizes the co-constitutive elements of structural inequities. While the increased presence of marginalized groups in representative legislative bodies is not in itself sufficient to guarantee political attentiveness towards historically silenced social perspectives; a representational approach that seeks to eradicate multiple subordinations is more likely to disrupt the dominant masculine hegemonies, and provide for the possibility of substantive equity-driven policy changes. Accordingly, a review of women's representation in political office at multiple levels of government should be attentive to the racial and ethnic demographics of the constituencies and the presence or absence of integrated equity measures which simultaneously address the representational absence of women and racialized citizens. Through a review of the equity legislation applied to Finnish municipalities and the parity movement in France, it will be demonstrated that it is possible to significantly increase the presence of women representatives without significantly disrupting masculine hegemonies, particularly when women’s equity is divorced from intersecting dimensions of oppression. Since women are not a monolithic group with a distinct and internally consistent set of interests, any attempt to address women’s under-representation in isolation from other historically marginalized groups will severely limit the equity potential of increased women’s representation. Variations in representational gender-equity at multiple levels of government are significantly informed by the inclusion of, or separation from, corresponding equity struggles. As Elénore Lépinard’s account of France’s parity movement illustrates, significant gender equity can be achieved at the expense of abandoning attendant representational equity movements. This discussion thus proposes a methodological intervention into studies of gender equity in multiple levels of government by suggesting that intersectional considerations impact study outcomes and poses a normative challenge towards representational gender equity projects premised on minimal institutional disruption that sustain intersecting marginalizations.
