Make Way for Women: Gender Quotas in American Government Under Dominance Feminist Theory

Abstract

“Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.” - Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary-General Statistically, women have made drastic strides in the past century in American politics. However, the small percentage of female representation in the 2021 American government system shows just how much farther women have to go to get equal representation as to their fellow men. The answer may be mandated change in the form of a gender quota system. While research and public debate speculate the legality of gender quotas under America’s formal equality framework, this paper gender quotas application under Catharine Mackinnon’s dominance feminist theory. This paper first addresses how gender quotas are consistent with the goals of dominance feminism, which attributes women’s inferior societal position to men’s concerted effort to subordinate and control women. Then, the analysis breaks down a gender quota system’s place under the formal equality framework as echoed in the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause. Additionally, a discussion regarding American’s strangeness towards quota systems is addressed. The conversation then moves into types of quota systems and the public policy that supports and encourages gender quota systems. Then, an analysis of international countries' use of quotas systems is discussed as well as the respective country’s success stories. The paper next shifts to the home-front of American states that have enacted “gender-balance laws,” which are loosely constructed gender-quota systems, to encourage gender balance on state boards and commissions. This paper is the first piece of legal academic scholarship that depicts each state’s enacted gender-balance law and discusses the law’s effects on female representation within each state. The research suggests that true gender equality within the American government cannot be quickly or fully achieved under the American formal equality framework because formal equality endorses unequal electoral representation. Thus, formal equality is insufficient for ensuring meaningful gender equality in politics. On the other hand, quota systems are consistent with the goals of dominance feminism because they raise women to the same level of representation as men in historically male-dominated governments. Therefore, gender quota systems as applied under dominance theory are key in correcting the electoral gender imbalance in the American government.