The Appointment of Men as Representatives to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women

• Author: Elizabeth L. Brannon
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10659129211066124
• Published date: 01 December 2022
• Date: 01 December 2022

Article

PoliticalResearchQuarterly

2022,Vol.75(4)1360–1373

©TheAuthor(s)2022

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DOI:10.1177/10659129211066124

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TheAppointmentofMenas

RepresentativestotheUnitedNations

CommissionontheStatusofWomen

ElizabethL.Brannon

1



Abstract

TheUnitedNationsCommissionontheStatusofWomen(CSW)wasoneofthefirstinternationalbodiesdevotedto

genderissuesandhasplayedafoundationalroleinthepromotionofgenderequalityglobally.Inthisarticle,Iexplore

representationalpatternsattheCSWandquestionwhenandwhystateschoosetosendmenrepresentatives.Noveldata

showsthatwhilethecommissionwascomposedentirelyofwomenrepresentativesinitsearlydecades,men’srep-

resentationhassteadilyincreased—reachingparityin2000.Thispaperarguesthatappointmentchoicecanbeexplained

bydomesticlevelsofwomen’spoliticalempowerment.Theempiricalresultsdemonstrateanon-linearrelationship

betweenwomen’spoliticalempowermentandappointment.Stateswithhigherlevelsofwomen’spoliticalempow-

ermentaremorelikelytoappointwomenrepresentatives,untilathreshold.Atthehighestlevelsofempowerment,

statesbecomeagainmorelikelytoappointmen.Iarguethatthisreflectsapositivetrend,inwhichmenaretakingamore

activeroleindeconstructingpervasivegenderinequalities.Thispaperhasrelevantimplicationsforunderstandingsof

women’srepresentationininternationalinstitutions.

Keywords

UnitedNations,women’spoliticalrepresentation,commissiononthestatusofwomen,genderequality

Introduction

InJuneof1946,themembersoftheUnitedNations

formedtheCommissionontheStatusofWomento

“preparerecommendationsandreports...onwomen’s

rightsinpolitical,economic,social,andeducational

fields”andtoaddressurgentissuesinwomen’srights

(Luchsinger2019).Atthetimeofitsfounding,andfor

manydecadesfollowing,theCommissionontheStatusof

Women(CSW)wasoneofthefewinternationalbodies

devotedtogenderissues(Coliver1987;Galey1979).

Further,thecommissionofferedanopportunityfor

womentoengagepoliticallyandrepresenttheirstateina

periodwhensuchanoccurrencewasrare.

Initsfirst20years,everyrepresentativeappointedtothe

CSWwasawoman(Coliver1987;Galey1979;Luchsinger

2019).However,inthetimesince,theCSWhasexperi-

encedsignificantvariationintheproportionofwomen

representativesappointedandisnolongerabodycon-

sistingofuniquelywomenrepresentatives.Originaldata

presentedinthispaperdemonstratethatby2000,menon

averagemadeupmorethan50%ofrepresentatives—

makingwomenaminorityinanorganizationdedicated

toimprovingtheirstatus.Thisbegsthequestion:whydo

statesappointmentorepresentwomen’sissues?

SincetheCSW’sfounding,women’spoliticalstatushas

changedsignificantly,includinganexpansionofwomen’s

politicalrepresentationandrights.Increasesinwomen’s

representationgloballyareatoddswithdecreasesin

women’spresenceattheCSW.Scholarsofgenderand

politicshaveattributedincreasesofwomen’spoliticalrep-

resentationtofactorslikegenderquotas,women’smobili-

zation,internationalpressures,andchanginggendered

norms(HughesandPaxton2008;Hughesetal.2015;

Paxtonetal.2006).However,itisunclearwhetherthese

patternsarepresentattheinternationallevel.Whilescholars

havededicatedsignificantattentiontounderstandingthe

1

TheSi´

eCh

´

eou-KangCenterforInternationalSecurity&Diplomacy,

UniversityofDenver,Denver,CO,USA

CorrespondingAuthor:

ElizabethL.Brannon,TheSi´

eCh

´

eou-KangCenterforInternational

Security&Diplomacy,UniversityofDenver,2201S.GaylordSt,

Denver,CO80208,USA

Email:elizabeth.brannon@du.edu