Tracing Intersectionality in Parliamentary Committee Hearings in Finland

Utilizing intersectionality as a heuristic tool, the paper investigates marginalized groups’ presence and intersectionality claims in Finnish parliamentary committee hearings. Drawing from feminist studies on political representation, group advocacy and institutionalism, it seeks, first, to find out whether and when single or multiple axis groups are consulted in obligatory standing committee hearings on legislative bills, and what kind of temporal change we can witness in these processes. Second, it analyzes whether and how these advocacy groups take up (or not) intersectional concerns or other disadvantaged groups’ situation in their statements. The analysis utilizes a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. The data consist of hearings data from two periods, 2005/2009 and from 2017 onwards. As intersectionality in parliamentary contexts is mostly studied via MPs’ behaviour or discourse, the aim of the paper is to highlight the possibilities and new avenues that exploring intersectionality in a hearings context in a quite homogeneous parliament such as the Finnish one may bring to study. It also reveals some of the institutional constraints that impact on the re-presentation of multiply oppressed groups on the parliamentary scene.