Voice And Women's Empowerment: Mapping A Research Agenda, Pathways Brief 2

The number of women in public office is an inadequate proxy for assessing ‘women’s political voice’ in public decision-making as it is based on the assumption that female public officials will - by virtue of their gender - seek to promote women’s rights and gender specific issues. This Policy_Brief seeks to explain how a critical analysis of the concept of ‘representation’ can help researchers understand the reasons why numbers alone is not enough to ensure an amplification of women’s public voice and substantive transformation of policy.