Diversity and Gender Quotas in Politics: International Trends and the Canadian Case

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Gender Quotas ◽  
International Trends ◽  
And Gender

The Combination of Gender and Ethnic Quotas in Electoral Politics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie M. Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
Ethnic Minorities ◽  
Minority Women ◽  
The Political ◽  
Gender Quotas ◽  
Ethnic Minority Women ◽  
Multicultural Feminism ◽  
Ethnic Quotas ◽  
And Gender ◽  
National Legislatures

Around the world, countries are increasingly using quotas to enhance the diversity of political representatives. This chapter considers the histories and policy designs of ethnic and gender quotas that regulate national legislatures. Most countries with quotas target only one type of under-represented group—for example, women or ethnic minorities. Even in countries with both gender and ethnic quotas (called ‘tandem quotas’), the policies typically evolved separately and work differently. Women and ethnic minorities are treated as distinct groups, ignoring the political position of ethnic minority women. However, a handful of countries have ‘nested quotas’ that specifically regulate the political inclusion of ethnic minority women. The second half the chapter focuses explicitly on nested quotas. It lays out how nested quotas work, where and how they have been adopted, and the prospect for their spread to new countries in the future. The chapter concludes with reflections on the promises and pitfalls of nested quotas as a vehicle for multicultural feminism.

Party organization and gender in European elections

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 675-688 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea S Aldrich
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Candidate Selection ◽  
Gender Quotas ◽  
Selection Procedures ◽  
European Elections ◽  
Party Strategy ◽  
Promote Gender Equality ◽  
Level I ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Elected Office

Political parties often monopolize the flow of politicians into elected office making it important to understand when, and under what conditions, parties are more or less likely to promote gender equality in representation. This article argues that party choices to nominate women in elections are conditional on the centralization of candidate selection within the party. Gender quotas and characteristics of the electoral environment have differential effects on candidate lists across party types. Leveraging data at the party level, I test when it is electorally feasible and organizationally possible for parties to nominate women for office. I find that candidate selection procedures condition the effects of party strategy and characteristics of the electoral environment on the percentage of women on electoral lists. The results provide insight into how strategic party choices, attenuated by electoral considerations and organization, impact the diversity of representation in political institutions.

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.

Mandated Representation: Exploring the Consequences of Gender Quota Design on Parliamentary Activity

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva-Maria Euchner ◽  
Elena Frech
Keyword(s):  
Negative Binomial ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Negative Binomial Regression ◽  
Gender Quotas ◽  
Binomial Regression ◽  
Interdisciplinary Framework ◽  
Research Gap ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Gender Quota ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Although the scholarship on legislative behaviour widely agrees that electoral rules determine parliamentary activities, surprisingly little is known on the impact of gender quotas. We contribute to this research gap by developing an innovative interdisciplinary framework and by exploring it based on a unique dataset on varying gender quota designs throughout EU countries and parties running for the 7th term of the European Parliament (2009–2014). Based on the scholarship on gender diversity in management teams and the research on gendered processes in political parties, we argue that especially mandated gender quotas stimulate processes of social categorisation, intergroup biasing and competition due to a normative mis-fit between conceptions of gender equality and gender quotas, which in turn influences coordination and communication and hence, parliamentary activity more generally. Combining negative-binomial regression models and expert interviews, we indeed find that mandated gender quotas promote ‘individual’ parliamentary activities (e.g. speeches) and tend to impede ‘collaborative’ parliamentary activities (e.g. reports).

Public expenditure choices and gender quotas

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Indira Rajaraman ◽  
Manish Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Public Expenditure ◽  
Gender Quotas ◽  
And Gender

scholarly journals Effects of Iraq’s Parliamentary Gender Quota on Women’s Political Mobilization and Legitimacy Post-2003

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 41-62
Author(s):  
Huda Al-Tamimi
Keyword(s):  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
Political Agency ◽  
Gender Quotas ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Gender Quota ◽  
The Impact

Parliamentary gender quotas have become increasingly prevalent since the 1990s, yet in-depth research illuminating their effects on women’s political agency remains scarce. Iraq’s political evolution offers a unique perspective on feminist, democratization, and gender quota scholarship as related to Middle Eastern women in politics since the US and allied invasion of Iraq in 2003. Throughout Iraq’s modern history, Iraqi women’s ability to pursue legitimate political agency has fluctuated with changes in the country’s political climate. The 2003 invasion set in motion sweeping reforms to the judicial, legislative, and executive governing powers. Women’s potential role in the emerging polity was enhanced by enactment of an electoral gender quota stipulating no less than twenty-five percent of seats in the Iraq parliament to be filled by women. This article presents research that sought to elucidate the impact of that quota on women’s political mobilization since 2003. Data collected included televised interviews, reports, and media articles that were qualitatively analyzed using a critical literary theory approach. Analysis was aided by NVivo qualitative analysis software. The findings indicate that although the gender quota has nominally increased descriptive representation, it has proven insufficient to support women’s substantive and symbolic representation. Issues of women’s socioeconomic position, lack of cooperation among female members of parliament, and ongoing security threats must be addressed for women to achieve full political legitimacy.

scholarly journals Incumbents' Interests, Voters' Bias and Gender Quotas

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillaume R. Frechette ◽  
Francois Maniquet ◽  
Massimo Morelli
Keyword(s):  
Gender Quotas ◽  
And Gender

GENDER ISSUES AND THE NIGERIAN CONSTITUTION: A RAY OF LIGHT, OR TWILIGHT ON THE HORIZON?

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-132
Author(s):  
Iyabode Ogunniran
Keyword(s):  
Gender Issues ◽  
Gender Quotas ◽  
Constitutional Amendments ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Gender Policy ◽  
Participation Of Women ◽  
Positive Rights ◽  
The Government ◽  
To Come ◽  
And Gender

The consensus in modern democracies is that constitutions should be based on inclusivity. However, the Nigerian constitution is replete with provisions which are interpreted to either deny the realities of women or outright discriminate against them. This article examines the intersections of gender, law and the Nigerian constitution. It argues that women have played a minimal role in the history of constitution making. The inclusion and interpretation of equality; non-discrimination; negative vs. positive rights and gender quotas are biased. The article posits that a conscious effort to give women presence in the polity started in the Nigerian Fourth Republic. The National Gender Policy mainstreamed gender to increase the participation of women in politics and hoisted favourable economic strategies. In addition, in 2014, President Goodluck Jonathan inaugurated a national conference, where far-reaching resolutions were made on gender issues. Consequently, some of the socio-economic rights have been made justiciable and imputed in the latest Constitutional Amendments Bill. An impasse between the president and the National Assembly led to his refusal to assent. The tenure of the government has ended and the resolutions of the conference may not be revisited for some time to come. In contrast to the earlier position, the Nigerian Supreme Court, in two notable decisions, strongly condemned discriminatory inheritance customary practices. The author’s finding is that constitutional amendments and a continuous active stance by the courts, amongst others, offer leeways for women’s development.

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