Gender and political process in the context of devolution : a case study of Wales

To explore how those organising in civil society around family and child welfare and/or equality issues perceive themselves to be affected by the different gender balance amongst political representatives at local and regional levels of government and the extent to which they organise on the basis of explicitly gendered collective identities. 5. To develop a common analytic framework so that meaningful comparison can be made between gendered political processes in different parts of the UK.

The research drew on a range of methods including semi-structured interviews, observation, and documentary analysis. We carried out interviews with: 31 AMs, during the Assembly’s second term (2003-7), 27 councillors and senior officials (9 in each case study area), 30 representatives of civil society organisations at local and national level (8 in each case study area), 4 senior civil servants and 1 statutory equalities body.

We conducted 20 observational sessions at National Assembly plenary sessions and committee meetings, council meetings, and Welsh political conferences of the four main parties: Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Plaid Cymru.<br><br>Data record consists a zip data archive, a zip archive of interview schedules, the consent form accompanying the interviews, and a readme file for the data. The data consist of transcripts of 91 in-depth interviews and the interview guides.

The interviews are with 29 Assembly Members, 30 local councillors and local authority officers and 30 representatives of local and all-Wales NGOs. There are 3 different interview guides: 1 for use with AMs, one for use with local government, one for use with local and all-Wales NGOs. In addition there are 6 specialised interview guides.

For more information please see the readne file attached. Access to data is safeguarded according to the UK Data Service definition and requires a free UK Data Service registration to access.