Sex, Gender and the Conservative Party

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

   PDF

2. Introduction

   1. Introduction

      • Sarah Childs, Paul Webb

      Pages 1-15

3. Women’s Political Representation

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 17-17

      PDF

   2. Conservatism, Representation and Feminization

      • Sarah Childs, Paul Webb

      Pages 19-35

4. Women’s Descriptive Representation in the Conservative Party

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 37-37

      PDF

   2. Women Members and the Party’s Women’s Organizations

      • Sarah Childs, Paul Webb

      Pages 39-61

   3. Conservative Legislative Recruitment

      • Sarah Childs, Paul Webb

      Pages 62-84

   4. Reforming Parliamentary Selection: Party Change, Parliamentarian and Party Member Attitudes

      • Sarah Childs, Paul Webb

      Pages 85-110

5. Women’s Substantive Representation

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 111-111

      PDF

   2. Party Member Attitudes and Women’s Policy (by and for women?)

      • Sarah Childs, Paul Webb

      Pages 113-137

   3. Sex, Gender and Parliamentary Behaviour in the 2005 Parliament

      • Sarah Childs, Paul Webb

      Pages 138-162

6. Feminization and Party Strategy

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 163-163

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   2. Feminization and Party Cohesion: Conservative Ideological Tendencies and Gender Politics

      • Sarah Childs, Paul Webb

      Pages 165-181

   3. The Feminization Strategy and the Electorate

      • Sarah Childs, Paul Webb

      Pages 182-217

   4. Conclusion

      • Sarah Childs, Paul Webb

      Pages 218-234

7. Back Matter

   Pages 235-299

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As leader of the Conservative party, David Cameron inherited a multi-faceted gender problem: only 17 women MPs; an unhappy women's organization; electorally uncompetitive policies 'for women'; and a party which was seemingly unattractive to women voters. This book is an account of the feminization of the party since 2005.

• Electoral
• Electorate
• gender
• methods
• parliament
• Policy
• voter
• women
• British Politics
• us politics

"Their analysis of the descriptive and substantive representation of women within the Conservative Party is comprehensive, detailed and clearly argued. By situating their analysis within the context of overall party strategy they make a significant and distinctive contribution to the emerging literature on Cameron and the Conservatives." - Timothy Heppell, The Journal of Legislative Studies, 18:3-4, 534-535

• School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies, University of Bristol, UK

  Sarah Childs

• Department of Politics and Contemporary European Studies, University of Sussex, UK

  Paul Webb

SARAH CHILDS is Professor of Politics and Gender at the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies, University of Bristol, UK. She has published widely on sex, gender and political representation. Her books include New Labour's Women MPs (2004), Women and British Party Politics (2008) and with Mona Lena Krook, Women, Gender and Politics: A Reader (2010).

PAUL WEBB is Professor of Politics at the Department of Politics and Contemporary European Studies, University of Sussex, UK and has held a number of previous and visiting positions in Britain and abroad, most recently at the Australian National University. He is author or editor of numerous publications, including The Modern British Party System (2000), Political Parties in Advanced Industrial Societies (2002) and The Presidentialization of Politics: A Comparative Study of Modern Democracies (2005). He is currently co-editor of the journal Party Politics.

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