Studying Women's Substantive Representation in Legislatures: When Representative Acts, Contexts and Women's Interests Become Important

The lack of consensus regarding what the substantive representation of women means involves far reaching consequences for empirical research. This article illustrates some consequences of specific operationalisations of 'the substantive representation of women'. It shows that, in order to understand the substantive representation of women, as it is performed by multiple representatives, empirical research needs to encompass a broad range of representative acts and contexts. It also benefits from including a wide conception of women's interests and women's perspectives.