Who Takes the Parliamentary Floor? The Role of Gender in Speech-making in the Swedish Riksdag. (September 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bäck, Hanna; Debus, Marc; Müller, Jochen
• Is Part Of: Political research quarterly. Volume 67:Number 3(2014:Sep.)
• Page Start: 504
• Page End: 518
• Publication Date: 2014-09
• Subjects: parliamentary speeches -- gender -- policy areas -- Swedish Riksdag; Political science -- Periodicals; Science politique -- Périodiques; 320
• DOI: 10.1177/1065912914525861
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1065-9129

Abstract

Legislative speeches are an important instrument for parties and members of parliament (MPs) to signal their positions and priorities. This raises the question of who speaks when. We evaluate whether a MP's presence on the floor depends on his or her gender. We hypothesize that female MPs give in general less speeches in parliament and that this pattern results from debates dealing with "harder" policy issues. Our expectations are supported when analyzing a new data set containing information on the number and content of speeches given in the Swedish Riksdag between 2002 and 2010.