本文从探究代表的概念及其历史的演进、女权主义主义对代表的关切、对描述性代表的概念及其演变入手，为女性政治代表权进行辩护。现有的自由主义代表制存在很多问题，“一人一票”的形式平等原则和利益集团多元主义理论只注重从形式上对所有人的代表，但是忽视了边缘化群体的处境，不能满足少数群体代表的需要。女性在历史上处于不利地位，受到了不平等的待遇，所以女性是被挑选出来的需要特殊代表的群体。女性的描述性代表对于实现女性群体代表权的意义体现在两个层面，一个是提升实质层面的合法性、另一个是有助于实现心理层面的合法性。就实质层面而言，女性的描述性代表能够代表女性的利益、增加多元的意见；就心理层面而言，能够消除历史上对女性的固有偏见和发挥榜样的作用。但对女性描述性代表的辩护不可避免地陷入一些争议。主张某个群体的代表一定要由本群体的成员担当，陷入了“本质主义”的谬误。只强调对代表身份的注重，不关注对代表行动的关切，造成了与实质性代表的偏离。本文尝试梳理和分析围绕这些争议点展开的相关论辩，就女性代表权的意义及局限等问题给出一些回应。为了克服“本质主义”的问题，艾利斯·杨提出“连续群体”的概念，说明女性的社会群体是从社会地位的角度而不是从身份特征的角度来看的，不追求一个共同的身份。女性代表可能不仅仅局限在立法机构中，女性运动和女性政策机构成为了可替代立法机构的甚至是更有效的代表权场所，与真正为女性行动的“关键行动者”相结合，为与女性的实质性代表有关的活动在形式、内容和地点方面提供了一系列新的思考。据此，女权主义者制定了一种新的方法，增加了代表行为发生地点的关注，这对于真正提升女性的实质性代表起着至关重要的作用。

This paper defends women's political representation by exploring the concept of representation and its historical evolution, feminist concerns about representation, and the concept of descriptive representation and its evolution. The existing liberal system of representation is problematic, with the formal equality principle of 'one person, one vote' and interest group pluralism theories focusing on the formal representation of all, but ignoring the situation of marginalised groups and failing to meet the needs of minority representation. Women have been historically disadvantaged and treated unequally, so women are a select group in need of special representation. The significance of women's descriptive representation for the realisation of women's group representation is manifested on two levels, one to enhance the substantive level of legitimacy and the other to conform to the psychological level of legitimacy. On the substantive level, women's descriptive representation can represent women's interests and increase the plurality of opinions; on the psychological level, it can eliminate the historical prejudices against women and can act as a role model. Inevitably, however, the defence of female descriptive representation has been mired in some controversy. To argue that a group must be represented by a member of that group is to fall into the fallacy of 'essentialism'. The focus on the identity of the representative, rather than on the action of the representative, has led to a departure from substantive representation. This essay attempts to sort out and analyse the debates surrounding these controversial points, in order to provide some responses to questions about the meaning and limits of women's representation. In order to overcome the problem of 'essentialism', Iris Young proposes the concept of a 'serial collective', which suggests that women's social groups are seen in terms of social status rather than identity characteristics, and do not seek a common identity. Women's representation may not be confined to the legislature, with women's movements and women's policy institutions becoming an even more effective alternative to the legislature for representation, combined with 'critical actors' who are truly acting for women, offering a new range of thinking about the form, content and location of a wider range of activities related to women's substantive representation.Accordingly, feminists have developed a new approach that increases the focus on where the act of representation takes place, which plays a crucial role in truly prompting substantive representation of women.