LEADING BY EXAMPLE: FEMALE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT AS POLITICAL ROLE MODELS

Female representatives have been expected to spur engagement with politics among other women. Female politicians may thus function as true role models, inspiring other women and girls to be politically active themselves. As the term “role model” suggests, female politicians can inspire younger women who are still learning about the political world and their place within it.

That is, while female MPs  need  to stimulate political discussion among all women, regardless of age. It is largely among young women that the presence of female role models helps translate political engagement into a greater propensity for political action.

The presence of female politicians might encourage women to enter the political arena themselves that is, might make it more likely that women are (or, in the case of young women, intend to be) politically active. The expectation is that seeing others “like them” active in political life may inspire women and girls to active political participation. Impact on attitudes such as interest and efficacy is important, but the ability of female role models to inspire actual political involvement is arguably of even greater consequence and importance. The presence of visible female politicians is positively associated with a range of anticipated activities among younger women , and  the presence of a successful female MP candidate predicts greater campaign volunteerism and turnout among women in political activity.

Greater numbers of women in political office will have many positive effects: compensate for past and present injustice, provide a voice for overlooked interests, and contribute to the overall legitimacy of the democratic system . Many related expectations, such as the prediction that female legislators will place issues of interest to women on the agenda and support policies that benefit women, have received strong empirical support.

Female politicians in democratic nations do function as true role models, inspiring women and girls to be politically active themselves. Women of all ages are more likely to discuss politics, and younger women become more politically active, when there are more women in parliament.

Evidence favoring the role model effect has normative implications, given continuing sex disparities in political engagement in general and among young people in particular. Where there are female role models in political life, adolescent girls and young women in particular are more likely to envision themselves as active participants in politics, raising hopes for greater gender equality in the future. Women lead by example.