Reforming the parliamentary workplace: Feminist theory and practice

Feminist institutionalist scholarship has highlighted the power of embedded norms in parliamentary institutions. Such norms include resistance in the name of parliamentary privilege to independent oversight of the conduct of elected members. Given this longstanding resistance, what has made change possible? Explanations offered in studies of parliament as a gendered workplace cover both exogenous and endogenous factors. These factors Include: the presence of feminist insiders and norm work in transnational institutions; localisation of these new global norms; pressure generated by the #MeToo movement; financial scandals and parliamentary responses to them (creating path dependency); critical mass or critical actors; policy borrowing and isomorphism. Digital technology has provided platforms for ‘speaking out’ and the possibility of parliaments operating as hybrid institutions but also facilitated often violent pushback. This paper will review the various lenses that can be applied: firstly, to explain the institutional reforms that have taken place since 2017; and secondly to explain the limits to change imposed by the logic of adversarial politics and the nature of parliamentary employment. It draws on a study of four Westminster parliaments (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK) conducted with Maria Maley and explores the relevance of the Westminster findings and explanatory lenses to developments in the European Parliament.