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As leader of the Conservative party, David Cameron inherited a multi-faceted gender problem: only 17 women MPs; an unhappy women´s organization; electorally uncompetitive policies ´for women´; and a party which was seemingly unattractive to women voters. This book is an account of the feminization of the party since 2005.

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Introduction PART I: WOMEN´S POLITICAL REPRESENTATION Conservatism, Representation and Feminization PART II: WOMEN´S DESCRIPTIVE REPRESENTATION Women Members and the Party´s Women´s Organizations Conservative Legislative Recruitment Reforming Parliamentary Selection: Party Change, Parliamentarian and Party Member Attitudes PART III: WOMEN´S SUBSTANTIVE REPRESENTATION Party Member Attitudes and Women´s Policy (By and For Women?) Sex, Gender and Parliamentary Behaviour in the 2005 Parliament PART IV: FEMINIZATION AND PARTY STRATEGY Feminization and Party Cohesion Feminization and the Electorate Conclusion Methods Appendix References Index

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"Their analysis of the descriptive and substantive representation of women within the Conservative Party is comprehensive, detailed and clearly argued. By situating their analysis within the context of overall party strategy they make a significant and distinctive contribution to the emerging literature on Cameron and the Conservatives." - Timothy Heppell, The Journal of Legislative Studies, 18:3-4, 534-535

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SARAH CHILDS is Professor of Politics and Gender at the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies, University of Bristol, UK. She has published widely on sex, gender and political representation. Her books include New Labour´s Women MPs (2004), Women and British Party Politics (2008) and with Mona Lena Krook, Women, Gender and Politics: A Reader (2010).

PAUL WEBB is Professor of Politics at the Department of Politics and Contemporary European Studies, University of Sussex, UK and has held a number of previous and visiting positions in Britain and abroad, most recently at the Australian National University. He is author or editor of numerous publications, including The Modern British Party System (2000), Political Parties in Advanced Industrial Societies (2002) and The Presidentialization of Politics: A Comparative Study of Modern Democracies (2005). He is currently co-editor of the journal Party Politics.

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