Louise Luxton
@louiseluxton.bsky.social
560 followers 770 following 18 posts
Research Associate at the University of Strathclyde working on the ParliView project | Visiting researcher at the University of Manchester | Gender, political communication, political parties, text analysis (She/her)
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louiseluxton.bsky.social
What do women’s parties want? And how do their platforms differ?

Very happy to share the first paper from my PhD out now in @politicsgenderj.bsky.social! In it, I present a comparative empirical analysis of European women’s parties’ issue concerns in 30yrs of party manifestos. 🧵⬇️
Reposted by Louise Luxton
cerifowler.bsky.social
Delighted to say I'm chairing a section at ECPG 2026 with @jess-smith.bsky.social @rosieshorrocks.bsky.social @gefjonoff.bsky.social and @liranharsgor.bsky.social on Elections, Parties, and Voters! Please send your abstracts in - full info here: ecpr.eu/Events/Event... @ecprgender.bsky.social
louiseluxton.bsky.social
We welcome diverse quant, qual & mixed methods approaches and particularly encourage intersectional analyses & perspectives from beyond Western Europe & the US.

Submit your papers/panels here: ecpr.eu/Events/343

@ecprgender.bsky.social
European Conference on Politics and Gender, Newcastle University, 15-17 June 2026
European Consortium for Political Research
ecpr.eu
louiseluxton.bsky.social
We invite empirical research on:
🔹 Communication by political actors
🔹 Communication about political actors
🔹 Communication about gender(ed) issues
louiseluxton.bsky.social
🔔 Call for papers for ECPG 2026 is now open! 🔔

Submit your empirical gender & political communication papers/panels to our section by Nov 7th.

Full info here: ecpr.eu/Events/Event...
A screenshot of the overview of the ‘Gender and Political Communication: Empirical Perspectives’ section. The image shows the section title, section chairs - Louise Luxton and Daphne van der Pas - and a few lines do the section abstract.
Reposted by Louise Luxton
jamesdgriffiths.bsky.social
Interested in Labour's lost voters since the 2024 UK GE?

Want to get a sneak peak at some of the results from wave 30 of the BESIP before it is released?

Then we have a new blog for you! 👇👇
britishelectionstudy.com
🚨New Research 🚨

Ahead of the release of Wave 30 of the BES Internet Panel, the team has examined Labour's decline since the 2024 GE.

Labour's support has splintered into mostly indecision or left-liberal parties, but they've also lost their few right-wing voters.

🧵⬇️

tinyurl.com/3m62exph
Looking for Labour’s lost voters - The British Election Study
www.britishelectionstudy.com
Reposted by Louise Luxton
sespjournal.bsky.social
Have you seen our #SpecialCollection on...

📚 #Gender and #Sexuality in Southern Europe?

Explore 14 #FreeAccess articles on topics of growing prominence in the journal
#Equality #LGBTIQ* #Sexism #Feminism #Rights
🔗 www.tandfonline.com/journals/fse...
Gender and Sexuality in Southern Europe
Explore the article collection: Gender and Sexuality in Southern Europe. Published in South European Society and Politics.
www.tandfonline.com
Reposted by Louise Luxton
ralphscott.bsky.social
📣 NEW PAPER ALERT! 🚨

"School subject choices in adolescence affect political party support"

Just published in @wepsocial.bsky.social with @nspmartin.bsky.social and @rolandkappe.bsky.social.

doi.org/10.1080/0140...

🧵👇
Article abstract, which says:

The educational cleavage is restructuring electoral competition in many democracies, yet there has been insufficient attention on how variation in educational content affects this. In order to address this, this article combines English administrative school records with a unique representative panel of adolescents to estimate the within-individual effect of studying different subjects at school on political party preference. This analysis finds that studying arts and humanities subjects leads to greater support for socially liberal parties, whilst studying business and economics increases support for economically right-wing parties. Students who study technical subjects become more likely to support socially conservative and economically right-wing parties. These relationships between particular subjects and party support also persist into adulthood. As such, this article provides new evidence on the importance of subjects taken in secondary school for political socialisation, during the impressionable years of adolescence.
louiseluxton.bsky.social
These findings:

🔹Provides a foundation to assess women’s parties’ impact on party competition over gender issues

🔹Highlights how different visions of SRW translate into substantive policy agendas & raises important Qs of challenges women’s parties face in consolidating an electoral base
louiseluxton.bsky.social
Key finding: Contemporary feminist parties uniquely emphasise transnational concerns:

🔹Frame gender equality as a global structural issue
🔹Promote intersectional feminism incl. LGBTQ+ rights, anti-racism & economic justice
🔹Efforts to org. a unified European movement to counter the far-right
louiseluxton.bsky.social
These distinctions are empirically evident in parties’ platforms:

🔹Essentialist women’s parties = higher emphasis of democratic & civil rights & economic redistribution

🔹Feminist parties = greater emphasis on gender-based violence & transnational issues e.g., climate, asylum & foreign policy
louiseluxton.bsky.social
Building on theoretical literature, I distinguish two types of women’s parties that emphasise different issues:

🔹Essentialist women’s parties - emphasise women’s dem rights & material conditions

🔹Feminist parties - emphasise structural gender inequalities & broader cultural/political concerns.
louiseluxton.bsky.social
First, I find common ground. Across diverse contexts, women’s parties’ manifestos consistently emphasise:

🔹 Gender equality
🔹 Social justice
🔹 Childcare and social policy

However, there is significant variation in how these issues are framed and which additional issues are prioritised.
louiseluxton.bsky.social
In this article, I address that gap by analysing 45 manifestos from 20 women’s parties in 18 countries, 1990–2020.

Using a mixed-method design (topic modeling + thematic analysis), I examine both commonalities and differences in issue salience and framing.
louiseluxton.bsky.social
Women’s parties have consistently emerged across European democracies to improve women’s political representation and politicise gender issues.

Despite their potential influence we lack systematic knowledge of what these parties actually emphasise in their platforms.
louiseluxton.bsky.social
What do women’s parties want? And how do their platforms differ?

Very happy to share the first paper from my PhD out now in @politicsgenderj.bsky.social! In it, I present a comparative empirical analysis of European women’s parties’ issue concerns in 30yrs of party manifestos. 🧵⬇️
louiseluxton.bsky.social
Really enjoyed this! It’s a quick read but with some brilliant deep insights on gender and the 2024 UK GE.
cerifowler.bsky.social
New from me, @annasanders.bsky.social , @profrosiecamp.bsky.social and Rosie Shorrocks: some first reflections on gender & the 2024 UK election @politicalquarterly.bsky.social . More to come from the same team too- watch this space! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
louiseluxton.bsky.social
Parties’ stances on trans rights have shifted too. Tory manifestos 2015-19 only mention tackling trans hate crime. By 2024, they propose banning puberty blockers, mandating single-sex spaces & amending the Equality Act. I wrote about this for the Elections Analysis Report:
shorturl.at/aonwe
edhodgsoned.bsky.social
Pretty striking from the British Social Attitudes Survey: In 2016, 58% of Brits supported trans people's right to change their legal sex; by 2022 that number had halved to just 31%
Reposted by Louise Luxton
genelectnet.bsky.social
🎓✨Here’s your starter pack for experts on gender and its intersections in elections, public opinion, political parties, and the women in the EPOP discipline. 💡📚

Nominate yourself and others! 📣 📣

go.bsky.app/HC7Pvbd