Descriptive Representation and Political Trust: A Quasi-natural Experiment Utilising Ignorance

This note investigates the claim that descriptive representation can have symbolic benefits. Using data from Great Britain, it uses the opportunity provided by the ignorance of voters about their legislative institutions to examine the effect of different perceptions of the scale of group representation. It tests whether there is a relationship between estimates of the scale of women's political representation and political trust/satisfaction. It finds statistically significant but weak relationships, which become stronger once controlling for a desire to see more women present in the UK House of Commons. The scale of women's representation in the Commons appears not to matter to all women (or to men), but it matters most for those for whom women's representation is an issue. Even with this group, however, the scale of the effects is marginal.