Do numbers create equality of work? : A single case study of the Namibian Parliament as a Gendered Workplace
Year: 2025
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This paper examines whether equal numbers of men and women MPs create equality of work within the Namibian parliament. Through a feminist institutionalist approach, this paper conducts a fine-grained analysis of the inner-workings of parliament. Previous research has described parliaments as gendered institutions, which stems from the days when men dominated the political field. Even if women are equally represented within parliaments, gendered rules and norms might linger, and these can pose a threat to women's opportunity to influence the political outcome. Through a mixed-method approach of interviews and descriptive statistics, this paper finds that numbers do not create equality of work within the Namibian case. The results are based on a mixed-method analysis of power and influence, combined with the inner-working experiences of Namibian MPs. Collectively, the results showed that descriptive representational equality does not enable men and women’s MPs to work on equal terms within the Namibian parliament as a workplace. These findings contribute to previous research, mainly that formal rules on gender aimed to achieve gender equality can create gendered outcomes not favour gender equal institutions. This strengthens the previous research on parliaments as gendered institutions, and explores how and why formal and informal rules might not develop at the same pace, which poses hindrances to political representation.
Author: Tillbom, Saga
Institution: Uppsala University
Language: English
Subfield: Gender Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W6990590021