^aDepartment of History, Philosophy and Political Science, The City University of New York — Kingsborough Community College, 2001 Oriental Boulevard, Brooklyn, NY 11235, USA. E-mail: katherine.opello@kbcc.cuny.edu

Abstract

In this paper, I examine the policies of the regional council of Brittany, France to determine whether the recent dramatic increase in the number of female officeholders resulted in an increase in women's substantive representation. I question whether the number of women-friendly policies rose after the number of female officeholders increased and if so, whether this increase is attributable to the sheer number of female councilors or to something else. I find that the number of women-friendly policies in Brittany increased when women held a majority of regional council seats, but that these policies were primarily due to the critical acts of certain male and female officeholders operating within a specific regional, national, and international political context.