The paradoxes of an activist institution

Based on a study of the Women’s Rights Delegation of the National Assembly from 2012 to 2017, this article analyzes the institutionalization of the advancement of women in the French Parliament through the dual prism of the institutional resistance opposed to women’s activists and the strategic uses of the delegation by its members. The highlighting of three ideal-typical postures of the deputies in the delegation (the inactive ones, the intermittent ones, the spokespersons) makes it possible to think about the conditions of its strategic uses.