Substantive Representation of Women: The Representation of Women's Interests and the Impact of Descriptive Representation in the Belgian Parliament (1900–1979)

Abstract

Based on empirical data, speeches from the budget debates of the Belgian Lower House (1900–1979), this article explores the relationship between descriptive and substantive representation of women. The article concludes that women members of Parliament (MPs) were women's most fervent representatives and contributed in a unique way to how women were represented; they stretched the borders of the political definition of women's interests and made them fit better with the way women themselves defined their interests. The research contributes to the development of the concepts “substantive representation” and “women's interests” and of the methodology of empirical research in this field.