Women's Representation across Different Generations: A Longitudinal Analysis of the European Parliament

In this article, we focus on generational differences in women's representation and hypothesize that younger generations of women should be more highly represented than older generations, both in general and within the same parliament. We tested this hypothesis with data on all members who have ever served in the European Parliament since 1979. Of the four generations who have ever served in Brussels and Strasbourg - the World War II generation, the 1968 generation, the post-1968 generation and the post-materialist generation - we found both that women's representation increased with every generation and that their representation differs between generations within the same parliament. Finally, our results indicate that while these processes occurred roughly one generation later in eastern and southern Europe, yet, they happened faster in these parts of the European Union.