Whose Voices Are Heard? Parliamentary Committee Witnesses as Gendered Representatives

ABSTRACT Are women sources of expertise for parliamentary policy discussions? In most parliaments, committees are the only venue where citizens can speak directly to the legislature; we argue that the proportion of women witnesses has implications for gender equality in policymaking. We present an original dataset of over 52,000 parliamentary committee witnesses in Canada spanning 19 years (2006–2025). We find that men are overrepresented as parliamentary witnesses, particularly on committees that deal with masculinized policy areas. Women witnesses are underrepresented descriptively and are disproportionately segregated to stereotypically feminine committees. While women are more likely to chair stereotypically feminine committees, chair gender has few independent effects on the gender balance of witnesses, reflecting the institutional constraints faced by women political actors. In other words, leadership does not compensate for gendered witness composition. Our findings highlight the need for an institutional shift toward the intentional inclusion of diverse perspectives in legislative policymaking processes. Related Articles Tyner, K., and F. Jalalzai. 2022. “Women Prime Ministers and COVID‐19: Within‐Case Examinations of New Zealand and Iceland.” Politics & Policy 50, no. 6: 1076–1095. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12511 . Malmberg, F. G., and C. H. Serup. 2021. “Voting Women, Protesting Men: A Multilevel Analysis of Corruption, Gender, and Political Participation.” Politics & Policy 49, no. 1: 126–161. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12393 . Martin, J. R. 2018. “Consensus Builders? The Influence of Female Cabinet Ministers on the Duration of Parliamentary Governments.” Politics & Policy 46, no. 4: 630–652. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12266 .