Fifty/Fifty by 20201

Abstract

During the last two decades large numbers of women have entered parliaments in several east and southern African countries. In late 2007, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa in southern Africa and Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda in east Africa all had national legislatures ranging from 25 to nearly 50 per cent women, placing them in the top 26 worldwide. This is far above the Sub-Saharan African and world averages of about 17 per cent women in a single or lower house of parliament. This development is part of a global trend whereby women are using electoral gender quotas to take a ‘fast track’ to equal legislative representation. The six countries identified here share a set of common characteristics explaining women's electoral success, with one important difference. The three southern African cases have all increased their percentages of women in parliament using a proportional representation electoral system and voluntary political party based quotas. The three east African cases have done the same through the use of a mix of electoral systems and mandatory ‘special’ or ‘reserved’ seats for women. This article describes the two alternatives, discusses their impact on women's descriptive and substantive representation in these six African countries and concludes with a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of each type of electoral gender quota.