Undermining the Parliamentary Patriarchy: Women, Political Speech, and Power around the World

Women politicians speak differently than men, work on different issues, and employ different political strategies. Additionally, research has shown that women who progress to higher positions in a hierarchy typically dominated by men tend to adopt more stereotypical masculine traits and become less distinctive from men the longer they stay in office. While acquiring power in a legislature is key in changing the gendered workplace environment of a parliament, we know very little about the interplay of power and femininity in politics. We study this relationship based on two data sources: a collection of 3.5 million parliamentary speeches from twelve democracies of Europe (East and West), North America, and Oceania between 1987 and 2020, and an original dataset of individual committee assignments in these countries. We investigate the relationship between discourse genderedness and the legislative power that politicians acquire, measuring "power" based on prestigious assignments, such as committee memberships and chairwomanships, party leadership, and cabinet positions. This research helps us understand the individual incentives that shape how women politicians represent women in parliament and the institutional structures that influence this relationship.