Gender Quotas Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Gender quotas are a corrective measure used by political actors (e.g., political parties) to enhance representation of women in political and public institutions such as parliaments, councils, and parties. They require women or female candidates constitute a targeted minimum of the members of a publicly elected or appointed political body. Gender-neutral quotas establish a maximum percentage held by either gender.

Two kinds of quotas exist: legally binding quotas and voluntary party quotas. Legally binding quotas force all parties to nominate a specific percentage of women on their candidate lists as established by a constitution or legislated by electoral laws. There are two subcategories of legally binding quotas: reserved seats and legislative quotas. Reserved seats allocate to women a set percentage of seats in an assembly or council. Legislative quotas oblige parties to nominate a certain number of women on their slates for electoral office. The latter category, voluntary party quotas, is a quota provision that is regulated and enacted at the discretion of the parties. Parties set targets for the nomination of women on candidate slates and/or for offices within each party.

When supported by a variety of international and transnational actors such as the European Union and the African Union, quotas can be an effective way to address the underrepresentation of women. Quota provisions have helped to increase the number of female legislators in the past fifteen years from 11.5 percent of the national legislators in the mid-1990s to 16.9 percent in 2007. Out of the twenty countries with the most female deputies, 90 percent have some kind of quota clauses.

Reserved seats are applied in sixteen (mostly African and Asian) countries. In some of these countries, such as Kenya and Nepal, these provisions are minimal, reserving respectively 3 and 6 percent of the parliamentary seats to women. Other countries, including Rwanda, which has the highest percentage (48.8 percent) of female deputies globally, reserve up to 30 percent of their parliamentary seats for women.

Thirty-nine countries throughout the world have adopted legislative quotas. For some states, such as Armenia and Niger, the required numbers of women nominated are rather low and do not surpass 10 percent. Other countries, such as Brazil and Serbia, require parties to nominate thirty or more women on their candidate lists, but many parties in these states have not completely implemented the quota clauses, and women’s representation in the national assemblies lags at less than 20 percent. However, in countries like Argentina, Belgium, and Costa Rica, women’s representation has dramatically increased due to quota rules. For example, in Belgium, following a 33 percent quota provision, the number of female legislators more than doubled from 15 percent in 1995 to 35 percent in 2005. Generally, parties enact a quota rule if they risk sanctioning for noncompliance. If parties are not punished for not implementing the clause, they are typically lax in following these provisions.

Voluntary party quotas are the most frequently employed gender quotas. In total, 159 parties in sixty-eight countries have adopted this measure. Required percentages of women range from 20 to 50 percent and, depending on the party, are anywhere from minimally to completely implemented. The ruling party’s enactment of quota clauses will directly affect the overall representation of women. For example, the African National Congress in South Africa completely executes its quota rule of 50 percent women and significantly enhances women’s representation in the national assembly, which is at 33 percent. In most cases, party clauses have a direct impact on the number of female legislators of the party that has implemented the clause and an indirect influence on the nomination of women in other parties. The enactment of quota rules by one or more parties may pressure other parties to also include more women on their slates. In general, left and center-left parties are more inclined to adopt quotas than are conservative or center-right parties.

Quota rules are the subject of normative controversy. Supporters of quota provisions generally advocate that quotas benefit women as a group, promote equality of results, and establish gender as a category of political representation. This view sees quotas as a precondition for the effective implementation of mainstreaming strategies such as abortion rights, childcare provisions, or equal pay. Opponents contest quota rules on the grounds that these rules privilege groups over individuals, infringe on the opportunity for equality, and ignore more pressing social issues. Some research also questions the utility of quotas. According to this view, quota rules may limit or detract attention from gender-sensitive policy making and gender differentiated policy outcomes, because women elected through quotas may either not pursue women-friendly policy change, or they may be perceived as merely token representatives who have been put in place solely to fulfill a legislative policy.

Bibliography:

Dahlerup, Drude, ed. Women, Quotas, and Politics. New York: Routledge, 2006.
Freedman, Jane. “Increasing Women’s Political Representation: The Limits of Constitutional Reform.” West European Politics 27, no 1 (2005): 104–123.
Krook, Mona Lena. “Reforming Representation: The Diffusion of Gender Quotas Worldwide.” Politics & Gender 2, no. 3 (2006): 303–327.
Nanivadekar, Medha. “Are Quotas a Good Idea? The Indian Experience with Reserved Seats for Women.” Politics & Gender 2, no. 1 (2006): 119–128.
Quota Project. Global Database of Quotas for Women. quotaproject.org.
Veitch, Janet. “Looking at Gender Mainstreaming in the UK Government.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 7, no. 4 (2006): 600–606.

This example Gender Quotas Essay is published for educational and informational purposes only. If you need a custom essay or research paper on this topic please use our writing services. EssayEmpire.com offers reliable custom essay writing services that can help you to receive high grades and impress your professors with the quality of each essay or research paper you hand in.