Electoral Gender Quotas: Between Equality of Opportunity and Equality of Result

Dahlerup, Drude

doi:10.1080/00344890701363227

Cited by 137 publications

(110 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…This assertion is frequently contested by quota advocates, who sometimes even argue that women have to be significantly more deserving than men to overcome the many barriers to women's presence (Dahlerup 2007;Escobar-Lemmon and Taylor-Robinson 2009;Franceschet and Piscopo 2014). A much less commonly aired argument is that men receive an unfair advantage in accessing politics.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, men's competence is rarely called into question, and their traits and qualifications are seldom subjected to close scrutiny qua men. Conversely, women frequently find themselves needing to prove their worth qua women; they do not benefit from the same presumption of competence, and indeed may find themselves having to disprove gendered preconceptions of inadequacy (Dahlerup 2007;Kanter 1977;Stevens 2012).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Quotas for Men: Reframing Gender Quotas as a Means of Improving Representation for All

2014

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Gender quotas traditionally focus on the underrepresentation of women. Conceiving of quotas in this way perpetuates the status of men as the norm and women as the "other." Women are subject to heavy scrutiny of their qualifications and competence, whereas men's credentials go unchallenged. This paper calls for a normative shift towards the problem of overrepresentation, arguing that the quality of representation is negatively affected by having too large a group drawn from too narrow a talent pool. Curbing overrepresentation through ceiling quotas for men offers three core benefits. First, it promotes meritocracy by ensuring proper scrutiny of politicians of both sexes. Second, it provides an impetus for improving the criteria used to select and evaluate politicians. Third, neutralizing the overly masculinized environment within parliaments might facilitate better substantive and symbolic representation of both men and women. All citizens would benefit from these measures to increase the quality of representation.

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confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Quotas for Men: Reframing Gender Quotas as a Means of Improving Representation for All

2014

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“…In a sense, this is not surprising, as this quota type is the only one that actually guarantees a certain number of women in legislative bodies (c.f. Dahlerup, 2007). 4 Second, quotas to candidate lists are effective mainly when their wording highlights two aspects ): requirements about the rank order of the candidates and sanctions for noncompliance (legislative quotas).…”

Section: Gender Quotas and Their Effectivenessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Today, approximately 100 countries -democratic and undemocratic -have introduced some form of electoral gender quota (Dahlerup, 2007). 1 In the debate on quotas, they are often referred to as temporary measures, or 'jump-start mechanisms', to be removed once the political playing field for men and women has been levelled (e.g.…”

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confidence: 99%

Removing Quotas, Maintaining Representation: Overcoming Gender Inequalities in Political Party Recruitment

Bjarnegård¹,

Zetterberg²

2011

Representation

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Abstract:Gender quotas are often referred to as temporary measures to be removed once the barriers for women's political representation have permanently been broken. This article explores theoretically the potential for different quota types to be removed whilst maintaining a high level of women's representation. We find that implemented party/legislative quotas with rank order specifications is the quota type that is most likely to both increase women's numerical representation and to reform political parties' recruitment practices in a gender-equal way.

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“…Research demonstrates that gender quotas work, but to do so, political parties must engage with them in 'goodwill' (Matland, 2006), be 'well-intentioned' (Dahlerup, 2007) or place women in 'winnable seats' (Murray et al, 2012). Essentially, to be effective, parties must 'fully embrace' gender quotas (Buckley et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Irish legislative gender quota: The first election

Brennan

Buckley

2017

Administration

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In 2012 legislative gender quotas were introduced as part of the Fine Gael/Labour coalition government's political reform agenda. The legislation specifies that payments to political parties 'shall be reduced by 50 per cent, unless at least 30 per cent of the candidates whose candidatures were authenticated by the qualified party at the preceding general election were women and at least 30 per cent were men'. The 30 per cent gender threshold came into effect at the 2016 general election. Research demonstrates that gender quotas work to increase women's political descriptive representation, but to do so, political parties must engage with them in 'goodwill', be 'wellintentioned' or place women in 'winnable seats'. This article examines if this was the case at the 2016 general election. Using statistics, as well as drawing from interviews with party strategists, the article assesses the impact of gender quotas on women's candidate selection and election. We conclude that parties did embrace the spirit of the gender quota law but resistance remains.

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Electoral Gender Quotas: Between Equality of Opportunity and Equality of Result

Cited by 137 publications

References 10 publications

Quotas for Men: Reframing Gender Quotas as a Means of Improving Representation for All

Quotas for Men: Reframing Gender Quotas as a Means of Improving Representation for All

Removing Quotas, Maintaining Representation: Overcoming Gender Inequalities in Political Party Recruitment

The Irish legislative gender quota: The first election

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