Dr Stefanie Reher
Reader
Politics
Personal statement
Personal statement
I joined the School of Government and Public Policy in 2017 as a Chancellor's Fellow and became a Senior Lecturer in 2019. Before moving to Glasgow, I was a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen. I completed my DPhil at the University of Oxford, Nuffield College. My research focuses on political representation, behaviour, and attitudes. I use quantitative methods to study how well public policy reflects the preferences and views of citizens, what explains differences in representation between different social groups and countries, and how it affects individuals' attitudes towards their political system. My current work focuses in particular on access to politics for disabled people; I hold an ESRC New Investigator grant to study how voters perceive disabled election candidates. You can find further information about my research on my website: http://mwpweb.eu/StefanieReher/.
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Prize And Awards
- Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies Fellowship
- Recipient
- 1/9/2023
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Publications
- Someone like me? Disability identity and representation perceptions
- Reher Stefanie, Evans Elizabeth
- Political Behavior Vol 47, pp. 689-709 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-024-09969-z
- Gender, disability and political representation : understanding the experiences of disabled women
- Evans Elizabeth, Reher Stefanie
- European Journal of Politics and Gender Vol 8, pp. 430-447 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1332/251510823x16779382116831
- Public opinion towards interest groups : the differential impact of ties to cause and business groups
- Rasmussen Anne, Reher Stefanie
- European Journal of Political Research Vol 64, pp. 900-914 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12716
- Voting for disabled candidates
- Reher Stefanie
- Journal of Politics Vol 87, pp. 790-794 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1086/732994
- Challenges facing MPs
- McKinnon Margaret, Reher Stefanie, Weinberg James
- Exploring Parliament (2025) (2025)
- No level playing field : barriers to disability representation in politics
- Reher Stefanie, Evans Elizabeth
- Political Quarterly Vol 95, pp. 679-683 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.13463
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Professional Activities
- Contributor, to report Breaking down barriers: Empowering disabled women in politics
- Contributor
- 4/2025
- Uncovering Politics Podcast: Disability Representation in Politics
- Interviewee
- 27/2/2025
- Centenary Action - Disabled Women in Politics Online Roundtable
- Speaker
- 29/1/2025
- Centenary Action (External organisation)
- Advisor
- 21/1/2025
- Intersecting Identities: How Voters Perceive Disabled Election Candidates
- Speaker
- 17/12/2024
- Written evidence to House of Commons Modernisation Committee
- Contributor
- 16/12/2024
Projects
- Why so few working-class women in politics? A comparative case of British and Scottish Elections
- Sylvester, Christine (Principal Investigator) Reher, Stefanie (Academic) Alexiadou, Despina (Academic)
- In the UK, less than three percent of members of parliament (MPs), and none of those newly elected in the 2017 and 2019 elections, have a genuine working-class background, which unfavourably compares to the 34 percent of the British population with a working-class background. At the same time, while women are still underrepresented in politics their share of MPs has been constantly rising, constituting now 34% of all MPs compared to 3% in 1979. Nonetheless, the significant changes in the socio-economic profiles of elected politicians have mostly gone unnoticed. These changes have resulted in a fundamental shift in political representation. Though politicians never closely mirrored society, over time there is even less resemblance between political assemblies and society in socio-economic terms.
This project will explore gender and class inequalities within representative institutions in the UK and Scotland. To do this, the project will first, provide a new theory on the intersection of gender and social class. How should we best conceptualise and measure women candidates’ social class? Second, the project will analyse and code data on Westminster candidates from 1974 to 2015. These data, which include information on candidates’ education and profession, have been collected by professors Rosie Campbell and Jennifer Hudson and shared with Dr Alexiadou. This analysis will be the first time we will record temporal changes in the numbers of top candidates and British MPs in terms of both their gender and social class. To this day, there is no report of the socio-economic backgrounds over time of the men and women that run for office and/or have entered parliament. Finally, the project will be the first to collect data for the latest election in Scotland on the top candidates and MSPs in the latest Scottish elections, in terms of both their gender and social class. - 03-Jan-2024
- How do voters perceive disabled candidates (New Investigator)
- Reher, Stefanie (Principal Investigator)
- How do voters perceive disabled candidates
- 01-Jan-2019 - 30-Jan-2023
- Tender for a Reserch Project: Barriers to Political Representation: Disability and the Enable Fund Project Ref: GEO2018/03
- Reher, Stefanie (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2018 - 31-Jan-2020
- The Role of Disability in Evaluations of Political Candidates
- Reher, Stefanie (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2018 - 30-Jan-2019