Gender Quota Policies Research Articles

Assessing the Probability of Affirmative Action Women’s Quota for Members of the Regional Representative Council (DPD)

Gender quota policies for women in parliament or politics worldwide have developed since the 1990s. Indonesia applies this policy to the House of Representatives (DPR) as a political representation with a 30 (thirty) percent quota. As a fellow national parliamentary institution that is part of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), it turns out that there is a policy vacuum for DPD institutions. The vacuum, in addition to illustrating discriminatory practices, can potentially result in a very minimal representation of women in the institution. This study aims to assess the probability of implementing a similar policy for DPD institutions or provide other recommendations that are more appropriate. This research used normative legal research that uses the statute approach, conceptual approach, and comparative approach. Our data is obtained from a literature study and will be analyzed qualitatively. The results of this study, based on the consideration of nomination inequality and patriarchal culture, comparison of other countries, DPD as part of the MPR, Indonesia's bicameral system, and the correlation of Regional Representation and Women's Issues in Indonesia; DPD has several important and relevant arguments for implementing affirmative gender quota policy. However, against these considerations, there are also arguments that are not important and irrelevant, have no significant impact, or are impossible to apply, which is a challenge to implement affirmative policies such as DPR. Therefore, the most appropriate recommendation for DPD is simply through more massive socialization of candidacy by the General Election Commission (KPU) so that the legal culture in the form of awareness of the existence of female DPD members will grow and concerns about the lack of female DPD members can be prevented.

Legislating gender equality in academia: direct and indirect effects of state-mandated gender quota policies in European academia

ABSTRACT Women have been underrepresented, and even excluded from academic life throughout history. As countries look to address ongoing inequality in academia, state-mandated gender quotas for academic boards and committees have emerged as a recommended practice in Europe. Although an increasing number of countries have adopted this policy model, little is known about its efficacy or consequences. Using country-level panel data from 25 European countries between 2003 and 2018, we explore the consequences of quotas on different measures of gender in/equality in academia. Findings indicate that quotas appear to achieve their intended direct effect of increasing the representation of women on academic boards, and this, in turn contributes to greater equality in academic staff and in senior professorship positions. Despite some concerns, there is little evidence that quotas incite a backlash.

The Added Value of Women in the Board: Evidence From Two-sided Matching Under Gender Quota Policies

The Added Value of Women in the Board: Evidence From Two-sided Matching Under Gender Quota Policies

Can gender quotas break the glass ceiling? Evidence from Italian municipal elections

Do gender quotas promote the election of female mayors? I exploit the roll-out of three gender quota policies governing Italian municipal elections to answer this question. The quotas institute minimum legal levels of female representation in the lists of councilor candidates and in the municipal governments' executive bodies, but do not directly target mayoral positions. Therefore, their ability to promote female political leadership entirely depends on whether they induce a broader increase in female representation in municipal governments beyond that mechanically required by the law. Using event-study and regression discontinuity methods, I decompose the aggregate effects of the quotas into mechanical effects, driven by compliance with the law, and additional impacts, or “acceleration effects.” The reforms have increased the share of female politicians in the less senior government positions beyond the minimum legal level, but there is no evidence of effects on the mayoral position. I also find no evidence of effects on female mayoral candidacies or on electoral support for female mayoral candidates. I conclude that the acceleration effects produced by the quotas have been too weak to advance female political leadership in municipal governments.

Women’s Representation and Implications for Fairness, Trust, and Performance in Local Government: A Survey Experiment in Sri Lanka

How do quotas for women in Sri Lanka’s local government institutions affect key governance indicators such as perceived fairness, institutional trust, and perceived performance? These dimensions of governance are underexplored in the context of gender quota policies in patriarchal societies like that of Sri Lanka. The study hypothetically varied the quota provision for women (decrease to 10%, increase to 45%, or keep at the current 25%) in local government, and then tried to understand people’s opinions about the three governance indicators. When examining the results of the experiment (around 1,200 samples), it was found that perceived fairness, institutional trust, and perceived performance increased along with the greater quota provision. Possible mechanisms for the increases in institutional trust and perceived performance may be associated with the signal of fairness generated by the increase of quota provision for women.

KETERWAKILAN POLITIK PEREMPUAN DI PARLEMEN PERIODE 2019-2024: PERAN PARTAI POLITIK

Political parties have an important role in efforts to increase women's political representation in parliament. The most significant function of political parties as gatekeepers is to carry out the recruitment, selection and candidacy of candidates for members of parliament in the general election contestation. This study aims to explain both internal and external factors that influence the role of political parties in increasing women's political representation in parliament in the 2019 election. The research method used is literature study by referring to previous research and secondary data sourced from books, journals, online news, and laws and regulations. The findings of this study reinforce previous research that political parties have a major role in efforts to increase women's political representation in parliament. The role of the party refers to the process of recruitment, selection and candidacy of women, the involvement of women in the organizational structure of the party, and the ideology of political parties. The role and policies of political parties in increasing women's representation are also strongly influenced by gender quota policies, electoral systems and party systems, and women's movement activists.

Antiwomen But Proquota: Disaggregating Sexism and Support for Gender Quota Policies

Previous research on support for gender quotas focuses on attitudes toward gender equality and government intervention as explanations. We argue the role of attitudes toward women in understanding support for policies aiming to increase the presence of women in politics is ambivalent—both hostile and benevolent forms of sexism contribute in understanding support, albeit in different ways. Using original data from a survey conducted on a probability‐based sample of Australian respondents, our findings demonstrate that hostile sexists are more likely to oppose increasing of women's presence in politics through the adoption of gender quotas. Benevolent sexists, on the other hand, are more likely to support these policies than respondents exhibiting low levels of benevolent sexism. We argue this is because benevolent sexism holds that women are pure and need protection; they do not have what it takes to succeed in politics without the assistance of quotas. Finally, we show that while women are more likely to support quotas, ambivalent sexism has the same relationship with support among both women and men. These findings suggest that aggregate levels of public support for gender quotas do not necessarily represent greater acceptance of gender equality generally.

Is Gender Diversity a Threat or an Opportunity? Unpacking Firm Responses to a Societal Imperative

Papers in this symposium examine the responses to, and the consequences of, growing institutional and stakeholder demands for gender equality and inclusion in the labor market. While some firms substantively embrace the value of diversity, others do so only symbolically. Using formal theory, computational models, verbal reasoning, and empirical evidence, we aim to shed new light on the mechanisms and mediators that influence how firms respond to the societal imperative to embrace gender diversity. Intersectionality and Pay Equity Presenter: David Gaddis Ross; U. of Florida A Competitive-Conformity Explanation for Gender Diversity in Professional Service Firms Presenter: John Mawdsley; HEC Paris Presenter: Lionel Paolella; U. of Cambridge The Value Added of Women in the Board: Evidence from Two-Sided Matching Under Gender Quota Policies Presenter: Denisa Mindruta; HEC Paris Presenter: Elena Lizunova; HEC Paris Saris on Boards: The Consequences of Mandated Gender Quotas in Emerging Markets Presenter: Venkat Kuppuswamy; Northeastern U. Presenter: Rahul Anand; HEC Paris Gender Network Gap: When and How Do Women-Owned Firm Network Differently than Male-Owned Firms? Presenter: Shweta Gaonkar; Johns Hopkins U.

The Influence of Corporate Elites on Women on Supervisory Boards: Female Directors’ Inclusion in Germany

Although we can observe noticeable progress in gender diversity on corporate boards, these boards remain far from gender balanced. Our paper builds on social identity theory to examine the impact of corporate elites—men and women who sit on multiple corporate boards—on board diversity. We extend the main argument of social identity theory concerning favouritism based on homophily by suggesting that boards with men with multiple appointments are unwilling to include female board members to protect the monopoly value generated by their elite status. The empirical analysis, based on DAX 30 firms in the period of 2010–2015, shows that the presence of multi-board men is negatively associated with women’s participation, while the presence of multi-board women and other women on management boards is positively related to gender diversity on boards. Furthermore, robustness tests support and confirm our conclusion that multi-board men have a significant association with board diversity, even with small size (i.e. 1 or 2). Additionally, we find a significant effect arising from pressure related to the introduction of gender quotas in Germany, effective in 2016, indicating the effectiveness of gender quota policies for board gender diversity.

Foreign aid, democracy, and gender quota laws

ABSTRACTWhy do so many developing countries have gender quota policies? This article argues that foreign aid programmes influence developing countries to adopt policies aimed at fulfilling international norms regarding gender equality. This relationship is driven by two causal mechanisms. On the one hand, countries may use gender quotas as a signal to improve their standing in the international hierarchy, possibly as an end unto itself, but more likely as a means towards ensuring future aid flows. On the other, countries may adopt gender quotas as a result of successful foreign aid interventions specifically designed to promote women’s empowerment. I test these two causal mechanisms using data on foreign aid commitments to 173 non-OECD countries from 1974 to 2012. The results suggest that while programmes targeting women’s empowerment may have some influence on quota adoption, developing countries dependent on United States foreign aid are also likely to use gender quotas as signalling devices rather than as a result of ongoing liberalization efforts.

Making Space for Women: Explaining Citizen Support for Legislative Gender Quotas in Latin America

Gender quotas have been adopted in over a hundred countries in an effort to address gender disparities in national legislatures. Yet the determinants of citizen support for gender quota policies remain largely understudied. We develop a theory that emphasizes the impact of institutional performance and political values to explain citizen support for gender quotas and how these two factors differentially influence men’s and women’s quota support. Based on data for 24 Latin American countries, we find that citizens in countries with relatively good governance quality who express a strong preference for government involvement to improve citizens’ well-being show the highest levels of quota support. Further, whereas good governance increases quota support at a higher rate among men than women, preferences for government involvement exert a stronger influence on women’s support for quotas. Consequently, good governance quality reduces the gender gap in quota support by substantially increasing men’s support fo...

On the Fast Track: The Spread of Gender Quota Policies for Elected Office

What has driven the worldwide adoption and subsequent revision of gender quota policies? This study argues that this phenomenon can be best understood as exemplifying ‘glocalization’ – with policies adopted due to a combination of changing international discourses and regional diffusion combined with domestic political activists. Moreover a process of policy learning is evident; where the initial policies were relatively ineffective, by failing to ensure a more equitable gender balance in elected office, this spurs subsequent revisions. Empirical analysis supporting this interpretation draws on a new comprehensive cross-national dataset, The Gender Quota Database (GQD, Release 1.0 May 2014). Part I of the paper provides the theoretical framework and literature review. Part II summarizes the research design, data and evidence. Part III describes the use of the main types of gender quotas in politics in various regions of the world (as of May 2014), and discusses trends (waves) in the adoption and amendment of quotas. Part IV presents the results of the analysis of drivers behind the initial adoption of legal gender quotas. Both regional and domestic forces play a role in the initial adoption of gender quota policies, controlling for fixed socio-economic, political and cultural conditions. Part V considers policy-learning processes leading to subsequent revisions strengthening quota laws, focusing upon the lack of success when implementing earlier policies. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and considers their implications.

Thirty Years of Gender Quotas in Germany: Policy Adoption between Mainstreaming and Minimal Compliance

This paper reviews three decades of gender quota policies in Germany and assesses policy adoption in parties, public administration, as well as on corporate and public boards. Germany was an early adopter of quotas for women in political parties and in public administration. Even though both measures were controversial when first enacted in the 1980s and early 1990s, they have since become rather low-profile gender equality strategies. A recent initiative to adopt quotas for women on corporate and public boards, by contrast, produced substantial public discussion. The mainstreaming of positive action plans in public institutions that include decision quotas, fixed quotas and goal quotas has given gender advocates formally strong leverage to advance a gender equality agenda. At the same time, a culture of minimalist compliance has pervaded the public sector and parties. Male institutions and organizations tend to exhibit more passive resistance than vocal opposition, thus making it difficult for feminists to engage effectively with non-compliance. A lack of sanctions as well as intricate strategies to circumvent quota decisions add to a sense among German feminist activists that quotas are one, but by no means the only strategy for gender equality in public life.

Debates on Women's Representation in Austria. Or: The Development of the Pitfalls of a Conservative Gender Regime

Nearly 30 years after the first gender quota regulation was introduced in Austria and the establishment of gender equality legislation and institutions, the proportion of women in public offices rose within this time, but has stagnated roughly at 30% for the recent years. To understand this cleavage of the gender equality claim and the stagnation regarding women’s participation in decision-making processes, we will critically explore the gender quota policies in Austria from the perspective of substantive equality and gender democracy. Gender quota claims inherently entail the potential to deepen democracy and transforming societies towards more substantive justice and equality. To be able to analyse if and how gender quota regulations can become transformative measures, we would like to argue for a stronger theorization of the concept of gender regime to more deeply and precisely understand the workings and specifics of power relations within a society supporting gender inequalities as well as to assess possibilities of change. Taking Austria’s debates about women’s representation as an example, the paper will develop the argument that a conservative gender regime with elements fostering an corporate, breadwinner model and difference-narrative orientated topography will very unlikely implement gender quota regulations as transformative measures, but will try to integrate and shape them accordingly, unless the meaning of quota regulations are framed and understood to support the logic of the gender regime or an element of the gender regime in the process of changing. As a conclusion, the reverberations of Austria’s conservative gender regime will be assessed in regards to the implementation of its quota regulations, suggesting that transformative politics needs to include and consider the specific relational logic of the gender regime to transmit its transformative leverage.

GENDER QUOTAS IN MOROCCO: LESSONS FOR WOMEN'S DESCRIPTIVE AND SYMBOLIC REPRESENTATION

More than 100 countries have adopted gender quota policies worldwide and a growing literature attempts to evaluate their impact. This article focuses on the Moroccan experience and investigates the effect of quotas on women's descriptive and symbolic representation at the party level. More precisely, I examine whether the Moroccan social-democratic party underwent changes since the 2002 introduction of reserved seats for women in parliament. The findings draw on the perceptions of members of the women's section of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (SUPF) and show that written rules expanding women's rights do not automatically lead to more gender equality in practice. The article discusses these findings in the light of international experience of gender quotas and points towards conditions that are important for ensuring different dimensions of women's political representation.

The Rise of Gender Quota Laws: Expanding the Spectrum of Determinants for Electoral Reform

The seminal work of Arend Lijphart, Electoral Systems and Party Systems (1994), limits the definition of electoral reforms to those affecting electoral formulas, district magnitudes, assembly size, or electoral thresholds. Following this definition, studies on electoral reform have put political parties and their motivations at centre stage. Expanding the definition of electoral reform, however, requires a move beyond parties to explore the multiple possible sources of change. This article examines the most common reforms ofrecent years, electoral gender quota policies, and points to at least four explanations for the adoption of gender quota laws. Based on extensive data from gender quota campaigns, the article suggests that the literature on this topic would benefit from efforts to broaden the analytical focus to include the role of agency, group interests, anddiscursive struggles, and to call attention to the possibility of causal diversity by revealing different routes to electoral reform.

Women, parties and platforms in post-industrial democracies

Will women transform party politics? As a group of relative newcomers to parties, women may contribute to shaping parties’ policy agendas and to changing party rules. A party-level perspective allows for examination of the national- and party-level contextual influences that condition the effect of women on party platforms. Systematic analysis of a broad range of 142 political parties in 24 post-industrial democracies from 1990 to 2003 illuminates the dynamic relationship between women’s political power and party politics. Drawing on the Comparative Manifestos Project data and original party-level data, the multi-level analyses reveal that women’s rising numbers among a party’s parliamentary delegation and among its leadership committee contribute to an emphasis on social justice in the party programme, and to the adoption of gender quota policies. Furthermore, for welfare state expansion, the effect of women MPs is amplified by the presence of a women’s organization within the party.

Candidate gender quotas: A framework for analysis

Abstract. Quotas for women in politics have diffused rapidly around the globe in recent years, with political parties and national legislatures in more than a hundred countries adopting – or debating the adoption of – reserved seats, party quotas or legislative quotas to increase the selection of female candidates to political office. These developments have sparked an explosion of research on candidate gender quotas. However most of this work focuses on single cases and reflects little awareness of developments in other countries around the world. As a result, the findings in one case are often contradicted in other studies, revealing few clear patterns with regard to the origins and outcomes of gender quota policies. To foster a more cumulative research agenda, this article approaches quotas as a global phenomenon and elaborates a framework for analyzing and comparing the actors, motivations and contexts at work in specific quota reforms.

Reforming Representation: The Diffusion of Candidate Gender Quotas Worldwide

In recent years, more than a hundred countries have adopted quotas for the selection of female candidates to political office. Examining individual cases of quota reform, scholars offer four basic causal stories to explain quota adoption: Women mobilize for quotas to increase women's representation, political elites recognize strategic advantages for supporting quotas, quotas are consistent with existing or emerging notions of equality and representation, and quotas are supported by international norms and spread through transnational sharing. Although most research focuses on the first three accounts, I argue that the fourth offers the greatest potential for understanding the rapid diffusion of gender quota policies, as it explicitly addresses the potential connections among quota campaigns. In a theory-building exercise, I combine empirical work on gender quotas with insights from the international norms literature to identify four distinct international and transnational influences on national quota debates: international imposition, transnational emulation, international tipping, and international blockage. These patterns reveal that domestic debates often have international and transnational dimensions, at the same time that they intersect in distinct ways with international and transnational trends. As work on gender quotas continues to grow, therefore, I call on scholars to move away from simple accounts of diffusion to a recognition of the multiple processes shaping the spread of candidate gender quotas worldwide.I would like to thank Judith Squires, Sarah Childs, Ewan Harrison, and participants in the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy Graduate Fellows Workshop at Columbia University, as well as the editors and three anonymous reviewers at Politics & Gender, for their helpful comments. Earlier versions of this article were presented as a paper at the International Studies Association Annual International Convention, Montreal, Canada, March 17–20, 2004, and at the British International Studies Association Annual Conference, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK, December 20–22, 2004.