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Encyclopaedia   Gender and Elections   SUPPORTING LEGAL AND POLICY FRAMEWORKS FOR MEANINGFUL GENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN THE ELECTORAL PROCESS   The impact of legal frameworks on gender equality and women’s participation in the electoral process   The impact of electoral systems on women’s representation  
District size

Generally, large district size tends to favor women’s representation. This is due to the fact that in systems with large district size in multi-member constituencies, men and women do not need “to compete for a single post in the nomination process within a party. Parties are thus less concerned about a potential male bias among voters, which often leads them to nominate a male candidate over a female one in single-member districts, often referring to him as the most broadly acceptable candidate.”[1]


[1] International IDEA, Inter-Parliamentary Union and Stockholm University (2013): op. cit., p. 22.