Privilege and Gendered Violence in the Canadian and British Houses of Commons: A Feminist Institutionalist Analysis

The Canadian and British Houses of Commons have both recently adopted formal rules to address the problem of sexual misconduct in their parliaments. Using Feminist Institutionalism, we examine how these rules have been constrained or enabled by parliamentary privilege in both countries. As a result of their divergent historical approaches to privilege, we argue that the British House of Commons’ new rules are better suited to address this issue relative to its Canadian counterpart. This outcome has differential consequences for women and minorities who are the most vulnerable to abuse in each parliament.