The Transfer of Gender Equality Norms from Europe to Asia Through the Spread of Corporate Gender Quotas

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akshaya Kamalnath ◽  
Annick Masselot
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-117
Author(s):  
Xia Nan JIN

Women’s political participation was initiated as an instrument for gender equality yet now is under research scrutiny. Due to gender quotas and other institutionalization of women’s political inclusion, Rwanda has the highest number of women in its parliament – 67%. But is women’s political participation a real tool for gender equality, or is it one that through the artificial guise of women’s political representation sets up an exclusive political space? Apart from women who work in political institutions, who else are participating in politics and how and where are they engaging with politics? Feminists should claim back this discussion, reject neoliberal approach to ‘empower’ women and propose a more distributive and collective agenda. As part of my PhD project regarding women’s (dis)engagement with politics in Rwanda, female vendors drew my attention during my fieldwork in Rwanda. In Rwanda, female vendors are among the groups who are the ‘furthest’ to participate and influence the political decision-making process, yet are heavily influenced by various political policies on a daily base. For example, the by-law forbidding street vendors was initiated in 2015 and further enforced in 2017 was designed to punish street vendors because they build “unfair competition for customers with legitimate businesses paying rent and taxes” . Consequently, many female vendors face a great deal of violence by local forces. Using feminist ethnography as the methodology, I choose visual methods to tell the stories of female vendors. That is, the photography project is designed to elicit stories of ‘what happened when’, and to encourage participants to ‘remember’ past events, and past dynamics on the street, as well as to express their own opinions and ideas. My task is to reconstruct the process of female street vendor’s engagement with politics and in doing so deconstruct the fake formal image of female political participation in Rwanda.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tetiana Kostiuchenko ◽  
Tamara Martsenyuk ◽  
Svitlana Oksamytna

<p class="EW-abstract"><strong>Abstract:</strong> Post-communist countries undergoing social transformations in the last twenty years needed to implement political and economic reforms. Changes also had to support the principles of equality in the access to power, specifically gender quotas in executive and legislative branches of government and within political parties. The events in Ukraine and Georgia in 2004-2005 known as the “colour revolutions” gave impulse to the promotion of equality and implementation of reforms. However, the number of women participating in national politics in both countries remains low. This paper proposes an analysis of gender equality principles during the parliamentary election campaigns in Ukraine and Georgia in 2012 from the perspective of women’s participation in politics and their self-representation as politicians. This empirical study covers public attitudes towards women in politics and examines networks of female parliamentarians. The findings raise hopes for better representation of women in politics as female politicians promote them from the top down, and mass public perception of gender equality principles set the ground for bottom-up activism.  <strong></strong></p><p class="EW-Keyword">Keywords: Gender Equality, Women Politicians, Public Attitudes, Social Network Analysis (SNA)</p>


2019 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Mari Teigen ◽  
Rune Karlsen

AbstractThis article contributes to both the scholarly debates on the controversies over gender quotas and the body of knowledge on framing effects through an investigation of whether national elites, individuals in top positions across 10 sectors of Norwegian society, are susceptible to positive framing of corporate board gender quotas (CBQs). Elites are thought to be more resistant to framing, and their predispositions are found to be stronger and more consistent than those of the general public. However, few, if any, studies have empirically investigated framing effects on national elites. We report on an experiment embedded in a comprehensive survey of Norwegian national elites. The results clearly indicate that elites are susceptible to framing. When exposed to frames highlighting both male dominance among the business elite and the success of CBQs in achieving gender balance on corporate boards, elites were significantly more likely to support gender quotas. Framing effects were primarily found among men, not women, and contrary to expectation, effects were stronger among the business elite. Thus, we should direct our attention to how the framing of issues also influences key stakeholders, and policy makers should consider opposition to gender equality measures as something that has the propensity to change.


2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 485-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna Adriaanse ◽  
Toni Schofield

A common intervention to address women’s underrepresentation in governance has been the introduction of gender quotas. This study examined the impact of gender quotas on gender equality in governance among boards of National Sport Organizations (NSOs) in Australia. Central to the study was the theoretical concept of a gender regime. Part of a larger study, the research design comprised a comparative case study of five NSOs with data collected mainly through semistructured interviews with directors and CEOs. The findings suggest that a quota of a minimum of three women was a first condition to advance gender equality in governance. It needed to operate, however, in conjunction with other gender dynamics to move toward equal participation by men and women in board decision making. These included women in influential board positions, solidaristic emotional relations between men and women directors, and directors’ adoption of gender equality as an organizational value.


2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 464-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elin Bjarnegård ◽  
Pär Zetterberg

This article investigates the dynamics that gender quota reforms create within and between government and opposition parties in electoral authoritarian dominant-party states. A dominant-party state regularly holds relatively competitive elections, but the political playing field is skewed in favour of the government party. We investigate the circumstances under which gender quotas’ goal of furthering political gender equality within political parties can be reconciled with parties’ electoral concerns. We address these issues by analysing the implementation of reserved seats by the three largest parties in the dominant-party state of Tanzania. The empirical analysis suggests that the uneven playing field leaves an imprint on the specific priorities parties make when implementing candidate selection reforms. Because of large resource gaps between parties, the ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi – (CCM), is able to reconcile gender equality concerns with power-maximizing partisan strategies to a greater extent than the opposition parties.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-217
Author(s):  
Bani Syarif Maula

Abstract: Achieving equal opportunities between women and men in political competition has always been a complex process, even though the government has established affirmative policies to encourage a greater role for women in the political sphere. The issue of patriarchal culture and the challenge of religious conservatism can hamper the achievement of the objectives of the affirmation policy for women in competing for elections to occupy the position of parliament members (DPR-RI). This paper discusses the political contestation of women in reaching political positions as people's representatives and the challenges they face in fighting for issues of gender equality in the parliament. This research answers what factors are hampering women's involvement in political contestation, and what challenges are there in fighting for gender equality issues. This study used a qualitative method with a descriptive analysis approach. The theory used in this study was the concept of affirmative action and the theory of gender equality in politics. The results of the discussion showed that the number of women elected in the 2019 Elections increased. Thanks to the affirmative policy ruled by the Indonesian government. However, affirmative policies to meet gender quotas do not only benefit those who have gender equality agendas, but also those who stand with the anti-feminist movement that represents the voices of conservative groups. The issue they are fighting for is still trapped in the gender ideology proclaimed by a patriarchal culture, which assumes women's problems are identical to those of mothers. Therefore, not all elected women MPs explicitly have a gender perspective. الملخص:إن تحقيق تكافؤ الفرص بين النساء والرجال في المنافسة السياسية كان دائمًا عملية معقدة ، على الرغم من أن الدولة وضعت سياسات إيجابية لتشجيع دور أكبر للمرأة في المجال السياسي.يمكن أن تعوق مسألة الثقافة الأبوية وتحدي المحافظة الدينية تحقيق أهداف سياسة التأكيد للمرأة في التنافس على الانتخابات لشغل منصب أعضاء البرلمان (مجلس النواب لجمهورية إندونيسيا). تناقش هذه الورقة التنافس السياسي للمرأة في الوصول إلى المناصب السياسية كممثلة للشعب والتحديات التي تواجهها في الكفاح من أجل قضايا المساواة بين الجنسين في البرلمان.يجيب هذا البحث عن العوامل التي تعوق مشاركة المرأة في التنافس السياسي ، والتحديات التي تواجهها النساء في الكفاح من أجل قضايا المساواة بين الجنسين. تستخدم هذه الدراسة طريقة نوعية مع نهج التحليل الوصفي.النظرية المستخدمة في هذه الدراسة هي مفهوم العمل الإيجابي ونظرية المساواة بين الجنسين في السياسة. تظهر نتائج البحث أن عدد النساء المنتخبات في انتخابات 2019 زاد بنسبة 22 في المائة. بفضل السياسة الايجابية التي تحكمها الحكومة الاندونيسية.ومع ذلك ، فإن السياسات الإيجابية للوفاء بحصص النوع الاجتماعي لا تفيد فقط أولئك الذين لديهم أجندة للمساواة بين الجنسين ، ولكن أيضًا أولئك الذين يقفون إلى جانب الحركة المناهضة للنسوية التي تمثل أصوات الجماعات المحافظة.إن القضية التي يناضلون من أجلها لا تزال عالقة في الأيديولوجية الجنسانية التي أعلنتها ثقافة أبوية ، والتي تفترض أن مشاكل المرأة مماثلة لمشاكل الأمهات.لذلك ، لم يكن لجميع البرلمانيات المنتخبات منظور جنساني بشكل واضح.Abstrak: Mencapai peluang yang setara antara perempuan dan laki-laki dalam persaingan politik selalu menjadi proses yang kompleks, meskipun negara telah menetapkan kebijakan afirmatif untuk mendorong peran yang lebih besar bagi perempuan dalam ranah politik. Persoalan budaya patriarkal dan tantangan konservatisme agama dapat menghambat pencapaian tujuan kebijakan afirmasi bagi perempuan dalam memperebutkan pemilihan untuk menduduki posisi anggota DPR-RI. Kajian ini membahas kontestasi politik perempuan dalam mencapai posisi sebagai wakil rakyat dan tantangan yang mereka hadapi dalam memperjuangkan isu-isu kesetaraan gender di parlemen. Penelitian ini menjawab faktor-faktor apa yang menghambat keterlibatan perempuan dalam kontestasi politik, dan tantangan apa yang dihadapi perempuan dalam memperjuangkan isu kesetaraan gender. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif dengan pendekatan analisis deskriptif. Teori yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah konsep affirmative action dan teori kesetaraan gender dalam politik. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahwa jumlah perempuan yang terpilih dalam Pemilu 2019 meningkat 22 persen berkat kebijakan afirmatif yang ditetapkan oleh pemerintah. Namun demikian, kebijakan afirmatif untuk memenuhi kuota perempuan tidak hanya menguntungkan mereka yang memiliki agenda kesetaraan gender, tetapi juga mereka yang mendukung gerakan anti-feminis yang mewakili suara-suara kelompok konservatif. Masalah yang mereka perjuangkan masih terjebak dalam ideologi gender yang diproklamasikan oleh budaya patriarki, yang menganggap masalah perempuan identik dengan masalah ibu. Karena itu, tidak semua anggota parlemen perempuan yang terpilih secara eksplisit memiliki perspektif gender.


Author(s):  
Sigtona Halrynjo ◽  
Mary Blair-Loy

Despite increasing gender-equality in many areas, corporate power is still strongly male-dominated. Prevailing research often relies on the cognitive, demand-side mechanism of in-group favoritism based on single-country studies to produce generalized explanations of men’s dominance in top management and to recommend remedies, such as gender quotas on boards. However, existing research findings are mixed. We contribute to the research field by analyzing original data from 457 large companies in Norway and the US, examining associations of the gender-composition on boards and in the actual Executive Committees. The predictions of in-group favoritism are partly supported in the US, but largely not supported for Norwegian companies with gender-balanced boards due to quotas. We argue that in-group favoritism is an incomplete explanation. We call for research examining the organizational and societal processes curtailing the supply of qualified women for top-executive positions, across national and regulatory contexts and organizational levels.


Author(s):  
Dr. Sher Muhammad ◽  
Dr. Muhammad Waris Awan ◽  
Misbah Hussain

This paper intends to explore the “backlash“   impact of gender equality policies such as gender quotas in the shape of the resistance, provoked by male parliamentarians against their female colleagues. Such resistance exists in different shapes, such as sexist remarks, intimidation, or harassment. It is important to understand the nature and the motive behind such violence, and the effect of this violence on the performance of women legislators. The study is primarily based on semi-structured interviews with 15 female members of the National Assembly of Pakistan. It is evident from the findings of the paper that patriarchy, socio-economic structures, and the political power configurations are key elements that lead to this type of violence and it is not peculiar to only women elected on reserved seats.


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