Contagious Representation: Women's Political Representation in Democracies around the World

Women’s participation in parliaments, high courts, and executive
offices worldwide has reached record high numbers, but this
global increase in women’s representation masks significant variation
among different democratic political systems. For example, in
December of 2009, Rwanda’s legislature contained 56% women,
while the U.S. Congress contained only about 17% and the Japanese
Diet had only 11%. Since 2000, only twenty-seven women
have achieved executive office worldwide. Contagious Representation
is a comprehensive look at women’s participation in all aspects
of public life in the main democratic political institutions—the executive,
the judiciary, the legislature, and within political parties.

Moving beyond studies of single countries and institutions, Contagious
Representation presents original data from 159 democratic
countries spanning 50 years, providing a comprehensive understanding
of women in democracies worldwide. The first volume to
offer an analysis on all avenues for women’s participation for such
a lengthy time period, Contagious Representation examines not
only the causes of women’s representation in the main democratic
political institutions but also how women’s representation in one
institution affects the others. Each chapter contains case studies
and examples of the change in women’s participation over time
from around the world. Thames and Williams definitively explain
the rise, decline, or stagnant levels of women’s political participation,
considering how representation is contagious across political
institutions and gaining a better understanding of what factors affect
women’s political participation.

Frank C. Thames is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Texas Tech University.

Margaret S. Williams is Senior Research Associate at the Federal Judicial Center in Washington, DC.