![]()
INTRODUCTION: GENDER QUOTAS AND WOMENâS REPRESENTATIONâNEW DIRECTIONS IN RESEARCH
Mona Lena Krook and Pär Zetterberg
This article introduces the special issue and places the contributions in context. It begins with a brief discussion of main trends in quota research to date, focusing on major findings in relation to gender quotas and womenâs political representation. It then presents an overview of the articles in the special issue, detailing their research strategies and theoretical and empirical findings. The final part of the section addresses the implications of these studies â and work on gender quotas more generally â for forging new research agendas on political representation.
Electoral gender quotas have emerged as one of the critical political reforms of the last two decades, having now been introduced in more than 130 countries worldwide (Krook 2009).1 While the majority of these provisions have been adopted by individual political parties, a significant and growing proportion involve changes to constitutions or electoral laws requiring that all parties select a certain percentage of female candidates. The recent and global nature of these developments has sparked both scholarly and popular interest in gender quota designs, origins and effects (Dahlerup 2006; Krook 2009; Tremblay 2008). The result has been the consolidation of a broad body of knowledge on the origins and technical aspects of quota implementation, highlighting the actors mobilising for quota reform in various countries (Anderson and Swiss 2014; Bush 2011; Krook 2006) and the factors shaping the effectiveness of quotas in increasing the numbers of women elected (Jones 2009; Krook 2009; Paxton et al. 2010; Schwindt-Bayer 2009; Tripp and Kang 2008). This has led to widespread recognition by international actors of the role of well-devised gender quotas in spurring the dramatic jumps witnessed in recent years in terms of the proportions of women elected to national parliaments around the globe (Inter-Parliamentary Union 2013), even if not all countries at the top of this list apply formal quota policies (Krook 2014).
A new wave of quota research takes this work forward by observing that quotas are not simply about increasing the numbers of women elected (Franceschet et al. 2012; Krook and Messing-Mathie 2013; Zetterberg 2009b). Inspired by competing claims put forward during debates for quota adoption, this âsecond generationâ of quota research largely focuses on the implications of quotas for a wide variety of representative processes. In terms of descriptive representation, scholars explore what kinds of women are elected as a result of quota policies, finding that âquota womenâ are often asâand sometimes even moreâqualified as their non-quota counterparts, both male and female (Josefsson 2014; Murray 2010; OâBrien 2012; Sater 2012), while also enhancing diversity in legislator backgrounds (Bird 2003; Franceschet and Piscopo 2012; Hughes 2011), even if gendered norms of recruitment continue to circumscribe womenâs political careers (Franceschet and Piscopo 2014).
With regard to substantive representation, studies ask whether an increase in the numbers of women elected as a result of gender quotas leads to greater attention to womenâs issues in the policy-making process. Evidence from a diverse range of countries provides mixed conclusions. Some studies find a clear impact on policy discourses and outcomes (Barnes 2012; Bauer and Burnet 2013; Childs 2004; Wang 2013; Xydias 2007; Yoon 2011), while others observe that quotas do not appear to eliminate all barriers to the articulation of womenâs concerns (Larson 2012; Tønnessen and al-Nagar 2013; Zetterberg 2008). In a seminal article, Franceschet and Piscopo (2008) argue that these distinct patterns may be due in part to contradictory pressures on women elected through quotas, requiring them to navigate between a âmandate effectâ, a feeling of obligation to act on behalf of women, and a âlabel effectâ, a sense of stigma associated with their mode of election leading them to be apprehensive about advocating for the rights of women (cf. Childs and Krook 2012).
A final group of analyses considers the impact of quotas on symbolic representation, posing a variety of creative questions regarding the potential transformative nature of gender quotasâon women, politics, or society more generally. Some of this work gauges whether the introduction of gender quotas has created sustainable gains in womenâs representation that would endure if quotas were withdrawn (Bhavnani 2009; Darhour and Dahlerup 2014)âor, alternatively, whether quota adoption has produced a spillover effect increasing womenâs nomination and election in political offices not governed by quota regulations (Davidson-Schmich 2010; Shin 2014). Related research maps whether quotas for women in politics inspire the introduction of quotas in other spheres, for example on corporate boards (Franceschet and Piscopo 2013; Meier 2014). Other work examines what quotas have meant in terms of womenâs political engagement (Zetterberg 2009a) and womenâs empowerment more broadly, whether inside political parties (Verge and de la Fuente 2014), within society (Beaman et al. 2009, 2012), or inside the home (Burnet 2011).
The contributions to this special issue seek to expand these research agendas further, taking the quota literature in a variety of new directions and presenting novel approaches to the study of political representation. The topics taken up include additional paths to quota adoption, as well asâin the wake of quota introductionâchanges (or not) to existing dynamics of candidate selection and the status and role of women in legislative institutions. Expanding the scope of quota studies, the articles also address trends across different political parties and levels of government, as well as the effectiveness of quotas in democratic and non-democratic settings. The final, more critical article raises questions as to whether there may be non-quota mechanisms that could be pursued together with, or in lieu of, gender quotas to increase womenâs political representation.
The first two articles address the introduction of gender quotas, expanding the focus to new contexts and in relation to other social groups. The contribution by Kerryn Baker considers how the implementation of the French parity laws in the French Pacific collectivities fits in with established discourses of quota adoption. Calling into question assumptions that quotas by definition represent an âexogenous shockâ to the political system, she proposes a theoretical distinction between endogenous and exogenous tracks to quota introduction. She signals how the French parity law stretches beyond the borders of mainland France, and thereby is imposed from the outside rather than developing internally within the local political system. For this reason, however, these islands constitute outliers within the Pacific region, which has the lowest average level of female political representation in the world.2
Elin BjarnegĂĽrd and Pär Zetterberg also take up the issue of quota adoption, but focus on states where quotas exist for both women and minority groups, comparing similarities and differences across these policies. Going beyond work mapping the presence of quotas for women and minorities (Hughes 2011; Krook and OâBrien 2010), they qualify the concept of âquota typesâ by focusing on whether the quota implies the creation of a special constituency. Their analysis reveals substantial differences in the philosophy behind quotas for these two groups. Minorities tend to be guaranteed representation via the creation of special constituencies, whereas gender quotas more commonly imply integration into pre-existing constituencies (cf. Bird 2014; Htun 2004). The authors conclude on this basis that gender quotas and quotas for minorities seem to rest on somewhat different underlying normative motives.
The next two contributions ...
