Projects per year
Personal profile
Expertise
Silvia Erzeel is Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science and the VUB Centre for Democratic Futures. Between 2021-2024, she is chair of the program board of the VUB programs in Political Science (Bachelor Politieke Wetenschappen, Master Democratie en Leiderschap and Master European and International Governance).
Her research interests focus on the causes and consequences of gender and social inequalities in representative democracy, and how representative democracy is innovated to include the views and needs of all. She often studies these topics from a comparative perspective, using survey research and/or in-depth interviewing.
She has a keen interest in how gender shapes key processes of representative democracy:
- Her PhD (VUB, 2012) dealt with the substantive representation of women in national and regional parliaments in Europe.
- Her postdoctoral project (funded by F.R.S-FNRS, UCLouvain) focused on the feminization of right-wing parties, both in relation to the electorates of these parties and the initiatives and strategies of parties to involve women.
- She has also studied the effects of gender quotas, especially in relation to how parties deal with, value and implement quotas and the intersectional aspects of these considerations.
In recent years, Silvia also studies how representative actors and institutions (such as parties and parliaments) navigate the so-called crisis of representative democracy, and how they respond to it in innovative ways. She is particularly interested in innovations aimed at the inclusion of traditionally underrepresented groups, such as women, young people, and educational groups.
Her methodological background is situated within domain of comparative research and methods. Several recent publications offer methodological reflections on the opportunities and challenges of comparative research in addressing issues of gender equality, inclusion and intersectionality.
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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FWOTM1182: Keeping women out of politics? The (in)direct impact of violence against women in politics
Celis, K., Van Bavel, A. & Erzeel, S.
1/11/23 → 31/10/27
Project: Fundamental
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FWOAL1083: Ambiguity in the positions of political parties: what causes it and how does it affect voters’ party preferences?
1/01/23 → 31/12/26
Project: Fundamental
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OZRIFTM15: Getting Closer to Citizens? Political Parties and Participatory Democracy
1/10/22 → 30/09/26
Project: Fundamental
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FWOTM1060: Holding together or tearing apart? Exploring cross-ethnic voting and vote-seeking in Brussels
Blanckaert, B., Caluwaerts, D. & Erzeel, S.
1/11/21 → 31/10/25
Project: Fundamental
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OZR3907: Bilateral cooperation within the framework of a joint doctoral project: benchfee for joint PhD VUB - ULB, LEGEIN Thomas
29/01/21 → 28/01/25
Project: Fundamental
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Angry Men and Angry Women: Gender, System-Directed Anger and Populist Radical Right Voting in Belgium
Erzeel, S., Fieremans, M., Van Bavel, A., Blanckaert, B. & Caluwaerts, D., 2024, In: Frontiers in Political Science. 6, p. 1-12 12 p., 1401601.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile32 Downloads (Pure) -
Beyond Numbers - Stories of Gender Equality in and through Parliaments: INTER PARES Handbook
Ahrens, P., Erzeel, S. & Johnson, H. (ed.), 2024, Stockholm: International IDEA. 222 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book
Open Access -
Explaining politicians’ ambiguous communication: the role of gender and issue type
Fieremans, M., Erzeel, S. & Lefevere, J., 2024, (Unpublished).Research output: Unpublished contribution to conference › Unpublished paper
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Intensifying Gender Inequality: Why Belgian Female Students (Sometimes) Gain Less Internal Political Efficacy from Citizenship Education Than Male Students
Matthieu, J., Erzeel, S. & Caluwaerts, D., 30 Jul 2024, In: Politics & Gender.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile5 Downloads (Pure) -
Methodological Reflections on Studying Gender‐Sensitive Parliaments Cross‐Nationally: A “Most Significant Change” Approach
Ahrens, P., Erzeel, S. & Fieremans, M., 2024, In: Politics and Governance. 12, 18 p., 8117.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access1 Citation (Scopus)
Prizes
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Angry men and women: How emotions do not explain the gender gap in radical right voting in Belgium
Merel Fieremans (Presenter), Silvia Erzeel (Contributor), Anne Van Bavel (Contributor), Didier Caluwaerts (Contributor) & Benjamin Blanckaert (Contributor)
27 Jun 2023 → 29 Jun 2023Activity: Talk or presentation › Talk or presentation at a conference
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Comparative perspectives on gender equality in parliaments and the benefit of combining different approaches
Merel Fieremans (Speaker), Silvia Erzeel (Speaker) & Petra Ahrens (Speaker)
17 Oct 2023Activity: Talk or presentation › Talk or presentation at a conference
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State of the Federation 2022 – Brussels 22 December 2022
Didier Caluwaerts (Chair), Silvia Erzeel (Chair), Benjamin Blanckaert (Chair), Karen Celis (Chair), Dimokritos Kavadias (Chair), Dave Sinardet (Chair) & Anne Van Bavel (Chair)
2022Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Participation in conference
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Hearing the voiceless? The substantive representation of future generations
Daan Vermassen (Speaker), Didier Caluwaerts (Contributor) & Silvia Erzeel (Contributor)
2021Activity: Talk or presentation › Talk or presentation at a conference
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Speaking for the voiceless? The political representation of future generations
Daan Vermassen (Speaker), Didier Caluwaerts (Contributor) & Silvia Erzeel (Contributor)
2020Activity: Talk or presentation › Talk or presentation at a conference