This article provides a new perspective on parliamentary representation in South Asia, focusing on the collective under-representation of population majorities based on the macro-demographic categories of age, class, and gender. Situating this analysis within debates on descriptive representation, it presents the first comparative analysis of the contemporary demographic characteristics of members of parliament (MPs) in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Highlighting three major gaps in parliamentary representation, it finds quotas, proportional representation electoral systems, and leftist parties to have positively impacted the descriptive representation of South Asian women, the working class, and young adults.
BanguraY (2006) Introduction: Ethnic inequalities and public sector governance. In: BanguraY (ed.) Ethnic Inequalities and Public Sector Governance. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1–15.
2.
BarrettEJ (1995) The policy priorities of African American women in state legislatures. Legislative Studies Quarterly20(2): 223–247.
3.
BarroRJLeeJ-W (2010) A new data set of educational attainment in the world, 1950–2010. NBER Working Paper No. 15902. Available at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w15902 (accessed 12 July 2013).
4.
BauerGBurnetJ (2013) Gender quotas, democracy, and women’s representation in Africa: Some insights from democratic Botswana and autocratic Rwanda. Women’s Studies International Forum41(2): 103–112.
5.
BobbioN (1996) Left and Right: The Significance of a Political Distinction. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
6.
BurdenBC (2007) Personal Roots of Representation. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
7.
BurnheimJ (1985) Is Democracy Possible? The Alternative to Electoral Democracy. Cambridge: Polity Press.
8.
CarnesN (2012) Does the numerical underrepresentation of the working class in congress matter?Legislative Studies Quarterly37(1): 5–34.
9.
CaulM (2001) Political parties and the adoption of candidate gender quotas: A cross-national analysis. Journal of Politics63(4): 1214–1229.
10.
ChildsSKrookML (2009) Analyzing women’s substantive representation: From critical mass to critical actors. Government and Opposition44(2): 125–145.
11.
CottaMBestH (2000) Between professionalization and democratization: A synoptic view on the making of the European representative. In: BestHCottaM (eds) Parliamentary Representatives in Europe 1848–2000: Legislative Recruitment and Careers in Eleven European Countries. New York: Oxford University Press, 493–526.
12.
DahlerupDFreidenvallL (2010) Judging gender quotas – predictions and results. Policy and Politics38(3): 407–425.
13.
DarhourHDahlerupD (2013) Sustainable representation of women through gender quotas: A decade’s experience in Morocco. Women’s Studies International Forum41(2): 132–142.
14.
DodsonDL (2006) The Impact of Women in Congress. New York: Oxford University Press.
15.
DryzekJS (1996) Political inclusion and the dynamics of democratization. American Political Science Review90(3): 475–487.
16.
GoodinR (2008) Innovating Democracy: Democratic Theory and Practice after the Deliberative Turn. New York: Oxford University Press.
17.
GreyS (2006) Numbers and beyond: The relevance of critical mass in gender reach. Politics and Gender2(4): 492–502.
18.
HawkesworthM (2003) Congressional enactments of race-gender: Toward a theory of raced-gendered institutions. American Political Science Review97(4): 529–550.
19.
IlonszkiG (2007) Socialist and communist members of parliament: Distinctiveness, convergence, and variance. In: CottaMBestH (eds) Democratic Representation in Europe: Diversity, Change, and Convergence. New York: Oxford University Press, 284–315.
JaffrelotCKumarS (eds) (2009) Rise of the Plebians? The Changing Face of Indian Legislative Assemblies. New Delhi: Routledge.
22.
JayalNG (2006) Representing India: Ethnic Diversity and the Governance of Public Institutions. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
23.
JayalNG (2009) The limits of representative democracy. South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies32(3): 326–337.
24.
JoshiD (2012a) Who gets unequal parliamentary representation? A comparison of India and Sri Lanka. Contemporary South Asia20(3): 401–406.
25.
JoshiD (2012b) Social and adversarial varieties of democracy: Which produces fewer criminals?Development and Society41(2): 229–252.
26.
JoshiD (2012c) The politics of human development in India and China: It pays to invest in women and children. Law and Business Review of the Americas18(4): 487–513.
27.
JoshiD (2012d) The impact of India’s regional parties on voter turnout and human development. Journal of South Asian Development7(2): 139–160.
28.
JoshiD (2013a) The representation of younger age cohorts in Asian parliaments: Do electoral systems make a difference?Representation49(1): 1–16.
29.
JoshiD (2013b) The developmental and protective varieties of liberal democracy: A difference in kind or degree?Democratization20(2): 187–214.
30.
JoshiDKingmaK (2013) The uneven representation of women in Asian parliaments: Explaining variation across the region. African and Asian Studies12(4): 352–372.
31.
JoshiDNavlakhaN (2010) Social democracy in Sweden. Economic and Political Weekly45(47): 73–80.
32.
JoshiDO’DellR (2013) Global governance and development ideology: The United Nations and the World Bank on the left–right spectrum. Global Governance19(2): 249–275.
33.
JoshiDYuB (2014) Political determinants of public health investment in China and India. Asian Politics and Policy6(1): 59–82.
34.
KangA (2013) The effect of gender quota laws on the election of women: Lessons from Niger. Women’s Studies International Forum41(2): 94–102.
35.
KeaneJ (2009) The Life and Death of Democracy. New York: W.W. Norton.
36.
KennworthyLMalamiM (1999) Gender inequality in political representation: A worldwide comparative analysis. Social Forces78(1): 235–268.
37.
KissauKLutzGRossetJ (2012) Unequal representation of age groups in Switzerland. Representation48(1): 63–81.
38.
KrookML (2009) Quotas for Women in Politics: Gender and Candidate Selection Reform Worldwide. New York: Oxford University Press.
39.
LoewenbergG (2011) On Legislatures: The Puzzle of Representation. Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.
MansbridgeJ (1999) Should blacks represent blacks and women represent women? A contingent ‘yes’. Journal of Politics61(3): 628–657.
42.
MatlandRE (2005) Enhancing women’s political participation: Legislative recruitment. In: BallingtonJKaramA (eds) Women in Parliament: Beyond Numbers. Stockholm: International IDEA, 93–111.
43.
McGannA (2006) The Logic of Democracy: Reconciling Equality, Deliberation, and Minority Protection. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
44.
MuriaasRLTønessenLWangV (2013) Exploring the relationship between democratization and quota policies in Africa. Women’s Studies International Forum41(2): 89–93.
45.
NanivadekarM (2006) Are quotas a good idea? The Indian experience with reserved seats for women. Politics and Gender2(1): 119–128.
46.
NarudHMValenH (2000) Does social background matter? In: EsaiassonPHeidarK (eds) Beyond Westminster and Congress: The Nordic Experience. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 83–106.
47.
NoëlAThérienJ (2008) Left and Right in Global Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press.
48.
NorrisP (2004) Electoral Engineering: Voting Rules and Political Behavior. New York: Cambridge University Press.
49.
NorrisPInglehartR (2001) Women and democracy: Cultural obstacles to equal representation. Journal of Democracy12(3): 126–140.
50.
NorrisPLovenduskiJ (1995) Political Recruitment: Gender, Race, and Class in the British Parliament. New York: Cambridge University Press.
51.
NortonP (2007) Four models of political representation: British MPs and the use of ICT. Journal of Legislative Studies13(3): 354–369.
52.
OmvedtG (2005) Women in governance in South Asia. Economic and Political Weekly40(44): 4746–4752.
53.
PandayPK (2008) Representation without participation: Quotas for women in Bangladesh. International Political Science Review29(4): 489–512.
54.
PaxtonPGreenJHughesM (2008) Women in Parliament 1945–2003: Cross-National Dataset. Computer file, ICPSR 24340-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR24340 (accessed 15 July 2011).
55.
RacineJL (2009) Caste and beyond in Tamil politics. In: JaffrelotCKumarS (eds) Rise of the Plebians? The Changing Face of Indian Legislative Assemblies. New York: Routledge, 439–489.
56.
PhillipsA (1995) The Politics of Presence. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
57.
PitkinH (1967) The Concept of Representation. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
58.
RaiS (2005) Reserved seats in South Asia: A regional perspective. In: BallingtonJKaramA (eds) Women in Parliament: Beyond Numbers. Stockholm: International IDEA, 174–182.
59.
ReynoldsA (2010) Electoral democratization in Nepal. Journal of Contemporary Asia40(3): 509–519.
60.
ReynoldsA (2011) Designing Democracy in a Dangerous World. New York: Oxford University Press.
61.
RuedinD (2009) Ethnic group representation in a cross-national comparison. Journal of Legislative Studies15(4): 335–354.
62.
RuedinD (2012) The representation of women in national Parliaments: A cross-national comparison. European Sociological Review28(1): 96–109.
63.
Schwindt-BayerL (2005) The incumbency disadvantage and women’s election to legislative office. Electoral Studies24(2): 227–244.
64.
Schwindt-BayerLMishlerW (2005) An integrated model of women’s representation. Journal of Politics67(2): 407–428.
65.
SenA (1999) Development as Freedom. New York: Anchor Books.
66.
ShepherdME (2008) Sex-Selective Abortion in India: The Impact on Child Mortality. Youngstown, NY: Cambria Press.
67.
StockemerD (2009) Women’s parliamentary representation: Are women more highly represented in (consolidated) democracies than in non-democracies?Contemporary Politics15(4): 429–443.
68.
TrippAMKangA (2008) The global impact of quotas: On the fast track to increased female legislative representation. Comparative Political Studies41(3): 338–361.
69.
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) (2011) World population prospects: 2010 revision. Available at: http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/ (accessed 15August2011).
WangV (2013) Women changing policy outcomes: Learning from pro-women legislation in the Ugandan parliament. Women’s Studies International Forum41(2): 113–121.
72.
WängnerudL (2009) Women in parliaments: Descriptive and substantive representation. Annual Review of Political Science12: 51–69.
73.
WarrenME (2008) Citizen representatives. In: WarrenMEPearseH (eds) Designing Deliberative Democracy: The British Columbia Citizens’ Assembly. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 50–69.
74.
WautersB (2010) Bringing class (back) in: Methodological reflections on social class and representation. Representation46(2): 183–195.
75.
WeldonLS (2002) Beyond bodies: Institutional sources of representation for women in democratic policy-making. Journal of Politics64(4): 1153–1174.
76.
YoungIM (1990) Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
77.
YoungIM (2000) Inclusion and Democracy. New York: Oxford University Press.
