Thematic Review: When Access Is Not Enough: Poverty of Representation and Violence against Women in Politics [Review of: K. Celis, S. Childs (2020) Feminist democratic representation; M.L. Krook (2020) Violence against Women in Politics]

Equal access for women in politics is crucial, but it is not enough to secure fair and just representation. It is as important to understand what happens when women are politically present. Two new books tackle exactly this challenge. In their book, Karen Celis and Sarah Childs combat what they call “the poverty of women's representation,” or women's poor political representation. They take us on a journey from classical scholarship on political representation and more recent work to their final destination: Feminist Democratic Representation. In Violence against Women in Politics, Mona Lena Krook scrutinizes what happens once women enter the political corridors, the different forms of violence they may experience, and how to stop this. In what follows, we offer a review of each book. In our concluding comments, we reflect on common threads and future questions and challenges.