Women’s right to full and equal participation in the public and political life of their country is recognized by the 1979 United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The proportion or number of parliamentarians who are women – also referred to as the descriptive representation of women – is often used to measure the achievement of this right. Beyond the statistics though, women and diverse groups are represented in political institutions in other ways (formalistic, descriptive, symbolic and substantive representation), some of which are examined in this HillNote.
Political Theories of Representation
Political theories of representation are often traced back to the work of scholars, such as Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan and John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government, among others. Political theorists and representation scholars continue to expand and explore these theories. For example, Hanna Pitkin’s The Concept of Representation is considered a highly influential theoretical work on political representation. In her book, Pitkin describes four specific types of political representation: formalistic, descriptive, symbolic and substantive. These types of representation are widely used today to analyze how various groups are represented in and participate in political institutions.
Figure 1 – Forms of Political Representation
Source: Infographic prepared by the Library of Parliament.
The institutions, rules and procedures through which political representatives are selected are the essence of formalistic representation. Hanna Pitkin specifies that this form of representation also pertains to the representative activity that these institutions enable, particularly due to the rules and structures that allow citizens to hold representatives accountable. The three other types of representation are discussed in greater detail below.
Women in Parliament: The Numbers
“Descriptive representation” is the measure of the numerical presence of one group of people within a larger group.It can be a useful tool to quickly assess the representation of women in politics and can highlight differences between representation of a group in politics and representation of that group in the general population. A 2025 publication, Elections in Canada: People, Players, and Processes, argues that these differences in representation “may be a clue that systemic bias and prejudice are barriers that make it harder for members of that group to participate in politics.”
Consider the example of the 45th federal general elections to examine the representation of women in the House of Commons. One of the first steps to gaining a seat in the House of Commons is making the decision to run for office. According to data received from Elections Canada, in the 45th federal general election, among candidates who indicated their gender on their nomination forms, 30% self-identified as women. This is a decline from the preceding federal general elections in 2021, when 37% of candidates identified as women. The proportion of candidates who self-identified as a gender other than “woman” or “man” over the same period was 0.7% in 2025, up from 0.5% in 2021.
On election day, women won 104 of the 343 seats in the House of Commons, or 30.3% of the seats. As of 22 September 2025, no member of Parliament (MP) publicly identified as a gender other than woman or man. Progress toward achieving gender parity in the House of Commons is gradual, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2 – Representation of Women Among Candidates and Elected Individuals in Federal General Elections since 1921
Source: Figure prepared by the Library of Parliament based on data obtained from Parliament of Canada, “Women Candidates in General Elections,” Parlinfo, Database; and Parliament of Canada, “Elections and Candidates,” Parlinfo, Database.
As of 1 August 2025, Canada ranked 71st worldwide in terms of women’s representation in national lower or single houses of parliament.
Existing data show that diversity in the House of Commons has been increasing over time and that, as a group, women MPs are more diverse than men MPs. According to an analysis of the diversity of candidates and MPs conducted in 2025, 18% of all MPs elected in the 45th federal general election were “visible minorities,” of whom 35% are women, a higher percentage than the 30.3% seats in the House held by women as a group. As well, in terms of Indigenous representation in the House of Commons, four women MPs are Indigenous (3.8% of all women MPs), compared to eight men MPs who are Indigenous (3.3% of all men MPs).
Data on the diversity of electoral candidates and MPs are still limited and cannot always be fully disaggregated. Future updates and additions to existing data on candidates in federal general elections will hopefully allow for more detailed analyses of diversity among the candidates and the MPs.
Multiple barriers affect women’s political participation, including sexism, racism and gender-based stereotypes, violence against women in politics, lack of access to financial resources or networks, and the electoral systems.
With regard to the representation of women in the Senate, as of 22 September 2025, women hold 55 of the 103 occupied seats (53.4%) in the Red Chamber. Since the 1980s, women’s representation in the Senate of Canada has been higher than in the House of Commons, and the Red Chamber has achieved gender parity in recent years. Women are also well represented in leadership roles in the Senate: the Speaker of the Senate is a woman, the Honourable Raymonde Gagné, and just under 70% of Senate leadership positions are held by women.
Diversity in the Senate has increased in the past decade, particularly in terms of racial, gender and Indigenous representation. For example, as of 28 August 2025, 12 senators are Indigenous (11.5% of all senators), eight of whom are Indigenous women (14% of all women senators).
Women in Parliament: Beyond the Numbers
Increasing the number and proportion of women represented in politics is important for achieving greater gender equality in Canada and globally. However, the descriptive representation of women in parliaments is not the only way to analyze their political representation. It is also possible to focus on symbolic or substantive representation.
In her description of “symbolic representation” , Hanna Pitkin focuses on how political representatives embody a group or community through symbols, images and performative acts. She adds that this representation’s effectiveness depends on whether groups accept that the representatives embody their values and identities.
Lastly, substantive representation refers to the actions of representatives and how they advance the interests or act on behalf of those they represent. This type of representation considers what the representatives do, including their decisions in Parliament and their advocacy, as opposed to their identity or how they are perceived. Researchers have identified three forms of substantive representation [access to parliamentary network required] that can serve to represent women in Parliament: speaking for women in parliamentary debate, advocating for women in the policy-making process and winning for women in achieving positive policy outcomes.
Effects of Representation
Many representation theorists agree that all four types of representation in politics matter. However, there are differing opinions on which type of representation is the most crucial to democracy. For example, Pitkin’s school of thought suggests that substantive representation is the most important. She explains that descriptive and symbolic representations can enhance civil society’s perception of legitimacy and trust in their government; however, without substantive actions that serve people’s interests, representation carries less meaning and impact.
In contrast, some feminist and critical theory scholars have argued that descriptive representation is essential, in other words, the presence of women and other marginalized groups in politics is most crucial [access to parliamentary network required], as lived experiences of marginalization and discrimination shape a political representative’s perspectives in important ways. Other experts have suggested that representation is not solely about action, but that in fact, symbolic and performative aspects are central to the representation of women and other groups (see, for example, the publications The Representative Claim and Representation as ‘Spokespersonship’: Bruno Latour’s Political Theory).
The ability of parliamentarians to represent women’s interests can be significantly affected or hindered by the institutional context. For example, senators, whom are appointed, may have more freedom to champion women’s issues, when compared to MPs, whom are elected, in part because they face fewer obligations from political parties and geographical constituents. Researchers such as Melanee Thomas have shown that the election of women in Parliament can affect the types of issues that are debated: women speak on issues concerning women more than men do. She noted in a 2024 publication that women parliamentarians “were at the forefront of advocating for women.”
At the same time, women are a diverse group and do not share the same values, backgrounds and perspectives. While descriptive representation offers a simple way to measure the political representation of women, there is no single way to assess and measure the other three forms of representation (formalistic, substantive and symbolic) presented in this note. Regardless, efforts to measure the political representation of women are key to achieving women’s right to full and equal participation in public and political life.
Additional Resources
House of Commons, Standing Committee on the Status of Women. Elect Her: A Roadmap for Improving the Representation of Women in Canadian Politics. Fourteenth report, April 2019.
Raney, Tracey (ed.) and Collier, Cheryl N. Gender-based violence in Canadian politics in the #MeToo era, 2024.
Rayment, Erica. What women represent: the impact of women in Parliament, 2024.
Tremblay, Manon. LGBQ Legislators in Canadian Politics: Out to Represent, 2022.
Wagner, Angelia. The candidacy calculation: challenges to running for elected office in Canada 2025.
By Clare Annett and Dominique Montpetit, Library of Parliament