Representing gender in parliamentary dialogue

To understand the emergence of gender roles in parliamentary interaction, it is useful to compare the ways in which female and male MPs use and misuse addressing strategies. Behaviours and interactional performances are interpreted in significant ways: by being acknowledged and appreciated, by being ignored, by being turned to ridicule.This chapter focuses on the gendered co-construction of institutional roles and power relationships in the UK Parliament and the Swedish Riksdag, and more specifically on: (1) how female and male MPs address each other during debates; (2) how (same-gender and mixed-gender) addressing strategies impact on interaction outcome; (3) how the effects of addressing strategies influence the ways in which female and male MPs are evaluated and reacted to. Keywords: gender; parliamentary dialogue; addressing strategies; power; cross-cultural; master suppression techniques; UK Parliament; Swedish Riksdag