(Page 2 of 26) - Gender and Constitutional Change in the UK: substantive representation and domestic abuse policy in Scotland authored by Mackay, Fiona.

Abstract

Constitutional and institutional restructuring in the UK in the 1990s resulted in the
creation of new parliamentary spaces, structures of governance and party dynamics.
Another outcome has been an historic shift in the gendered distribution of political
power with high proportions of women elected to the Scottish Parliament and the
National Assembly for Wales. Issues of gender are often neglected in accounts of
political change and constitution-building, however, women activists and feminist
ideas were important elements in the shaping of constitutional reform within the UK.
In addition to the achievement of high levels of descriptive representation for women
as members of parliament (MSPs) and government ministers, activists also
succeeding in building gender concerns into the fabric of the new parliamentary and
governmental blueprints and structures. This paper focuses on the Scottish case and
draws upon research undertaken as part of the UK Devolution and Constitutional
Change Programme (Economic and Social Research Council) to examine the impact
of devolution – including the substantial presence of female office-holders – on
women’s substantive representation and citizenship.

The paper examines the institutional performance of the first Scottish Parliament and
Executive (1999-2003) and policy developments in a single field, domestic abuse,
using the framework criteria of recognition, representation, accountability and
outcomes. It is contended that high levels of descriptive representation and the new
constitutional arrangements and institutional designs in Scotland are mutually
reinforcing and have resulted in some gains in the substantive representation of
women. However such representation is complex and contingent upon issue and
political context. It argues that the complexity and contingency of representation in
post devolution Scotland requires ‘thick conceptions’ of substantive representation
comprising a whole-system approach rather than a narrow focus on whether or not
women representatives ‘act for’ women.

Domestic abuse policy developments provide evidence of clear and tangible gains for
women across all our dimensions of evaluation. In this policy area, at least, we can
argue that the conditions for citizenship have been enhanced through ‘thick’
substantive representation: by female MSPs and ministers; by regendered political
institutions as a whole; through institutionalised mechanisms and channels; and via
the enhanced access and voice of organised women; by the representation of domestic
abuse as misrecognition and maldistribution which blights women’s lives and
undermines their opportunity and capacity to participate on a par with men; and by
new accountability structures and relationships that counter legacies of institutional
gender bias and capture. However, opportunities for women – and men - to ‘act for’
women are constrained, sometimes dramatically, by partisan politics, institutional and
political considerations and the prevailing norms of ‘traditional’ political culture. In
general, the substantive representation of women is constrained, sometimes
confounded, by myriad political, institutional, organisational and discursive
constraints.