Quotas and Gender Gaps in Political Participation among Established Industrial European Democracies: Distinguishing Within- and Across-Country Effects

2017 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 657-672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrine Beauregard
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Gender Quotas ◽  
Gender Gaps ◽  
Subsequent Increase ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Country Effects ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Before And After ◽  
European Values ◽  
And Gender

This paper proposes to investigate the influence of legislative quotas on gender differences in political participation by analyzing the within- and across-country effects of quotas. Gender quotas can signal to women that their presence in politics is welcome, leading to a subsequent increase in their involvement in political activities. This change in political behavior should not be reproduced in men; thus, when gender quotas are present, the gap between men’s and women’s participation narrows. Using the European Values Survey and data from eighteen European democracies, this paper demonstrates that this indeed occurs for some political activities when gender gaps are compared before and after the introduction of quotas within countries. This result, however, is not replicated for across-country analyses. European countries without legislative gender quotas tend to have smaller gender gaps than countries with them. This result is explained by referring to the context of the adoption of gender quotas.

Women, the Parliament and Political Participation in Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cholpon Turdalieva ◽  
Medet Tiulegenov
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Professional Status ◽  
Gender Quotas ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
The Public ◽  
Women's Participation

This paper explores women’s participation in parliamentary elections in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan. Using various methods, it offers an interdisciplinary perspective on factors that affect the likelihood of women participating successfully in parliamentary elections. This study supports the general literature on the effects of gender quotas and proportional representation, but its results on other factors are mixed. The factor of financial resources is significant, though its impact has been reduced with the introduction of gender quotas, while other factors—such as social status—may not be particularly important. The public perception of a woman in politics is not the greatest obstacle to women’s representation, and a female candidate’s professional status may often be attractive to party leaders.

scholarly journals RURAL WOMEN EMPOWERMENT THROUGH LOCAL DEMOCRACY IN INDIA: A CASE STUDY OF GRAM PANCHAYATS IN UTTAR DINAJPUR DISTRICT OF WEST BENGAL

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (01) ◽  
pp. 1065-1073
Author(s):  
Mithun Chandra Sarkar ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Rural Women ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Women Empowerment ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Local Decision ◽  
And Gender

The paper attempts to analyze the praxis of women empowerment and womens political participation of some Gram Panchayats in Uttar Dinajpur rural areas. In present times, the empowerment of women has become one of the most important concerns of the 21st century because of their right to participate in political processes which also impact their family and in turn the society. Many countries are attempting to increase womens political participation and leadership in civil society and now political parties want more women to join in political activities. Women around the world are still largely absent from national and local decision-making procedures. Globally about 20% of women participate in political activities, for women it is very difficult to participate in the civic and political life of their countries due to lack of support and gender discrimination. Strengthening womens rights and addressing obstacles to political participation are critical to achieving gender justice, equality, and women empowerment.

Presence into Participation and Representation

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Sreevidya Kalaramadam
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Family Relations ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Gender Quotas ◽  
Patriarchal Family ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Panchayati Raj

Over the last two decades, women’s ‘political participation’ has emerged as a major marker of democracy around the world. This is frequently operationalized through the policy of ‘gender quotas’ that seek to enhance women’s presence within national and subnational institutions of governance. Since 1993, India has implemented a large programme of decentralization (panchayati raj) and gender quotas, which enabled more than a million elected women representatives (EWRs) to become part of the political process. This article engages feminist theorizations of gender quotas using the Indian context. While affirming the need for gender quotas for increasing presence of women in politics, it argues that the presence of EWRs in local governance does not easily assure their effective political participation or political representation. This is because of the ‘social embeddedness of policy’ in local contexts. Effective participation and representation depend upon the ‘relative agency’ of EWRs who continually negotiate and construct their political subjectivities within everyday life situations, specifically three processes—patriarchal family relations, caste relations at the workplace and discursively produced marked identities.

‘Female Martyrdom Operations’

Martyrdom ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ihab Saloul
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Social Climate ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Significant Challenge ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Palestinian Society ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Military ◽  
Politically Active ◽  
Women's Political Participation

Ihab Saloul investigates the phenomenon of ‘female martyrdom operations’ in relation to the issue of women’s agency in society, particularly women’s political participation and gender roles in contemporary Palestinian society. In the context of the conservative social climate promoted by the Islamists through their emphasis on the religious rather than the nationalist dimensions of martyrdom operations, female martyrs had nationalist motivations and aimed at restoring their position as politically active participants in Palestinian society. Three operations in 2002 (Wafa Idris, Dareen Abu Aysheh and Ayat Al Akhras) managed to open up new spaces for women’s participation on the nationalist front and women were indeed accepted as active participants in the military struggle. On a religious level, these three female martyrdom operations represented a significant challenge to the interpreted religious notions of women’s political participation in relation to contemporary Islamic discourse of martyrdom and warfare. A fourth operation (Hanadi Jaradat, 2003) was carried out on behalf of the Islamic Jihad Movement, which justified her operation also from a religious point of view.

scholarly journals The Influence of Gender Quotas on Women’s Participation in Legislative Processes in the National Assembly of the 11th Parliament of Kenya (2013 -2017)

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (II) ◽  
pp. 260-279
Author(s):  
Felogene Gor Anumo ◽  
Florence Okemwa Pacificah
Keyword(s):  
Affirmative Action ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Gender Quotas ◽  
National Assembly ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Key Informant ◽  
Legislative Processes ◽  
Depth Interviews

This study sought to explore whether indeed the increase in number of women occasioned by Affirmative Action principles in the 2010 Constitution of Kenya has enhanced women’s political participation in the National Assembly. The specific objectives were: to analyze the levels of women parliamentarians’ participation on agenda setting and policy output in the National Assembly; to assess the effectiveness of gender quotas as a political tool for ensuring pursuance of the gender agenda in the National Assembly and to discuss constraints faced by women parliamentarians as they seek to influence policy output and enact laws. The March 4, 2013 General Elections which ushered in the 11th Parliament were considered landmark owing to the fact this it was the first General Election to incorporate affirmative action seats. As the term of the 11th Parliament came to a close, it was highly important to find out how effective gender quotas have been in achieving meaningful change for women representatives. The study was guided by Hanna Pitkin’s (1967) framework that she employed in her work “Conception of Women’s Political Representation”. The study was additionally informed by Dahlerup (1988) “Critical Mass theory”. The study made use of cross-sectional descriptive study design. The study was done with members of KEWOPA from the National Assembly of the Parliament of Kenya. The membership of the association consists of all the women Members of Parliament from all the political parties both elected and nominated. The target population of the study were the 68 KEWOPA members from the National Assembly with a sample size of 40 respondents calculated using the Yamane model. Questionnaires were used as the main data collection tool alongside key informant interviews and in-depth interviews. Validity and reliability of the instruments were measured to ensure accuracy and consistency. The study data was analysed thematically. A descriptive approach was involved where direct quotes and selected comments from informants have been used to explain the trends. Triangulation of data was done by looking into complementary and divergent opinions across the key informant interviews and in-depth interviews. The findings of the study suggest that there is still need to create and expand opportunities for women parliamentarians to enable them become more active and effective participants in the legislative processes of the National Assembly. The findings raises the question on what current efforts are being put in place by political parties and the Registrar of Political parties to ensure that the Affirmative Action. The findings are useful to assess the gains of women political representation and inform the lessons; experiences and can be harnessed to strengthen effective women’s political participation in legislature and policy making. They will contribute to informed public debate and critique on the effectiveness of women’s affirmative action for increased participation and visibility on political platforms. Finally, legislators in parliament and policy makers in government will benefit from insights into what it takes to effectively support women’s participation in legislative processes and how to leverage their numbers in parliament to the country’s advantage. Women aspirants need to be made aware of the challenges they expect to face at the National Assembly. It is also critical to raise awareness among women aspiring politicians and other members of the community to create awareness and address the stereotypes that have continued to ensure only a handful of women succeed in the legislative space. As women and women’s organisations continue to agitate for an increase in number of women legislators, they should equally work to transform the ideology of patriarchy and retrogressive institutional culture in Parliament. This is an open-access article published and distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License of United States unless otherwise stated. Access, citation and distribution of this article is allowed with full recognition of the authors and the source.

scholarly journals Springing into Action: A Consideration of Policies Encouraging Female Political Participation in Tunisia and Egypt

Elements ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Oviatt Stateler
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Arab Spring ◽  
Female Employment ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Gender Quotas ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Muslim Brotherhood ◽  
Female Literacy ◽  
Gender Quota ◽  
The Arab Spring

What causes women to have higher political participation? There are several competing arguments as to why some countries experience higher female political participation than others. These include the introduction of gender quotas, a country’s cultural norms, and widespread social/political movements within a country. In a case study comparing Egypt and Tunisia leading before and after the Arab Spring, Tunisia has repeatedly reported higher levels of female political participation. Both these countries participated in the Arab Spring, have similar societal perception of females bound to their traditional roles, and report similar socioeconomic statistics regarding female literacy rates and female employment-to-population rates. Tunisia, however, was successful in increasing female political participation after the implementation of a gender quota under a new government after the Arab Spring. This differs from Egypt, where the post-Arab Spring government, the Muslim Brotherhood, revoked the country’s gender quota and experienced a decrease in female political participation.

scholarly journals Digitalization and Gender Differences in Political Participation among Hungarian University Students

Intersections ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dániel Oross ◽  
Andrea Szabó
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
University Students ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Background Characteristics ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Online Forms ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Politically Active

Similarly to with the debate in western societies, concern about the disengagement of young people in political life is present in Hungarian politics. Traditional party-based politics is less and less appealing to younger cohorts of Hungarian society. However, empirical evidence supports the claim that university students are the most politically active strata of society, and online political participation has been identified as a potential avenue for connecting young people to politics. The present paper aims to reveal whether the characteristics of those students who are active online differ significantly from the background characteristics of students who take part in offline activities. In order to describe university students’ activity in online forms of participation and assess the chronological trends thereof, the paper uses data that covers the period between 2015 and 2019 – i.e. research rounds three and four of the dataset collected by Active Youth in Hungary Research. We use latent class analysis (LCA) to assess whether individuals who participate most actively in traditional offline activities are also those who are most active in terms of online participation. The results of the research reveal that distinct groups of university students are drawn to specialize in online versus offline repertoires of political participation, indicating that online political activities are not exclusively the purview of those who are most active in traditional offline activities.

Lymph nodes detection and the mesorectal excision quality evaluation

2019 ◽  
Vol 98 (5) ◽  
pp. 200-206
Keyword(s):  
Lymph Nodes ◽  
Neoadjuvant Therapy ◽  
Quality Evaluation ◽  
Rectal Resection ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Cooperative Groups ◽  
Mesorectal Excision ◽  
Proper Number ◽  
Before And After ◽  
And Gender

ntroduction: Detection and examination of proper number of lymph nodes in patients after rectal resection is important for next treatment and management of patients with rectal carcinoma. There are no clear guideliness for minimal count of lymph nodes, variant recommendations agree on the number of 12 (10−14) nodes. There are situations, when is not easy to reach this count, mainly in older age groups and in patients after neoadjuvant, especially radiation therapy. As a modality for improvement of lymph nodes harvesting seems to be establishing of defined protocols originally designed for mesorectal excision quality evaluation. Methods: The investigation group was formed by patients examined in 2 three-years intervals before and after implementation of the protocol. Elevation in count of harvested lymph nodes was rated generaly and in relation to age groups and gender. Results: The average count of lymph nodes increased from 10 to 15 nodes, in subset of patients whose received neoadjuvant therapy from 7 to al- most 14 nodes. The recommended number of lymph nodes was obtained in all investigated age groups. By the increased number of lymph nodes, rises also possibility of positive nodes found, that can lead to upstaging of the disease, in subset of patients whose received neoadjuvant therapy it is more than 4%. Conclusion: Our conclusions show, that forming of multidisciplinary cooperative groups (chiefly surgeon-pathologist), implementation of defined protocol of surgery, specimen manipulation and investigation by detached specialists lead to benefit consequences for further management and treatment of the patients with colorectal cancer.

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