Increasing women’s representation in the Cameroon parliament: do numbers really matter?
Increasing women’s representation in the Cameroon parliament: do numbers really matter?

Summary/Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between increasing the number of female legislators in Cameroon and it impact on gender-related policy, from a critical analysis of the participation of individual parliamentarians in influencing parliamentary proceedings and decisions within existing parliamentary structures. The study uses the concept of descriptive and substantive representation within the framework of the critical mass theory to investigate the extent to which an increase in the presence of women in the Cameroonian parliament will affect the quality of women‘s issues presented to parliament. Eleven female parliamentarians were interviewed. The study reveals that an increase in the number of women does not significantly enhance substantive representation or women’s issues. It noted that while the profiles of female parliamentarians influence their participation in decision making structures within parliament, party discipline and the parliamentary system has more influences on the issues and policies debated and voted in parliament than numbers.

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