Does Women Representation Matter? : A study of women MPs response to feminist demands in Uganda

Scholars have been conflicted whether descriptive representation of women leads to substantive representation. A new way of measuring this relationship is through the relationship between women movements and female parliamentarians. Thus, this paper develops from the rethinking of the critical mass theory and uses the feminist demands stated by women organisations in Uganda. This in order to establish whether or not there exists an alliance between inside and outside actors as a measure of substantive representation of women. By applying this approach to transcripts from plenary debates in the Ugandan parliament, the study finds that several gender-related issues are addressed by female MPs. Using a frame analysis comparing the framing of problems between the women organisations and the female MPs, the paper discovers that the majority of issues addressed in the parliament is framed less radically by the female MPs. While the organisations frame the problems as being gender-related, mainly affecting rural women and girls, the MPs frame them more of concern for the whole population and as problems with economic implications for the country.