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Prof. Dr. Carla Hoetink and Team: Gender and Parliament: An Exploration of Sources, Methods and Concepts for Research Into the Gendered Power Structures of the Dutch States-General

This paper studies the gendered character of representative assemblies in the period 1700-1950. By consciously adopting a long-term perspective, it aims to uncover the patterns of continuity and change concerned with aspects of gender in the – predominantly male-centred – parliamentary culture of the past three centuries. Taking the States-General of the Netherlands as our main case-study, we discuss how and by what means such patterns may be examined by historians, and what types of sources may offer important clues in this regard. 
Throughout the early modern period the Dutch States-General was populated by male representatives only. While acknowledging the relevance of research into the institute’s culture of masculinity, our paper zooms in on the multiple (formal and informal) ways in which women were able to call on, appeal to, or interact with its members, or even allowing them to become actively involved in the decision-making process. Although the twentieth century marked a turning-point in women’s formal access to the Dutch States General – since the 1910s women were both entitled to vote and eligible for election –, the informal mechanisms of influence still remained an indispensable resource of female political participation. 
We explore the opportunities and strategies women of various backgrounds used to gain access to the political institution from which they were either formally excluded or in which they merely had a marginal voice. What practices and discourses did they deploy and how did these change throughout the centuries? Rather than presenting definite answers to these complex questions, this paper sets out to unravel how and with what existing (digital) tools historians can approach these questions.