The introduction of quotas can help women overcome certain obstacles to political office that thwart an egalitarian representation. Various countries have recently adopted quota laws in order to grant a gender-balanced composition of political office. However, the effectiveness of quota laws is constrained by several discriminatory manoeuvres that parties use to circumvent the law. This article aims at unveiling the broad array of strategic discrimination practices that parties apply, irrespective of their ideology and the electoral system in use. These practices seriously diminish the equalising potential of positive action measures. The empirical analysis concentrates on France and Spain, two countries where a statutory quota has been recently introduced and already tested on various elections.
The Parity's Divergence. Or What's to be Done to Bypass the Parity Law : the Alpes-Maritimes Case
Aurélia Troupel
Putting parity law into practice, on the occasion of the 2001 local elections in France, had limited results. Actually, this new normative rule thwarting customary rules, has been for the most part neutralized by elected officials. A quantitative study shows that, on the one hand, 2/3 of mayors in the Alpes-Maritimes have used strategies in order to limit the number of women in town councils, especially as deputy mayors ; on the other hand, only 1/3 has gone beyond the letter of the law. The different variables analysed to explain differences between cities obviously favorable or hostile to parity proved irrelevant. Finally, the electoral scheme seems to be the most pertinent variable.
Résumé Étudier les élections municipales dans les très petites communes (moins de 2 500 habitants) offre l’occasion de voir comment les électeurs s’approprient les règles électorales. Le mode de scrutin en vigueur dans ces communes accorde aux électeurs une grande liberté puisqu’ils peuvent par exemple rayer, panacher ou voter pour une liste complète. Cependant, l’enquête réalisée à L. révèle que les subtilités de ces élections sont inégalement connues des habitants ; suivant leur degré d’extériorité (ou d’insertion) au village, les électeurs font un usage différent de ce mode de scrutin.
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