Exploring the relationship between democratization and quota policies in Africa

Muriaas, Ragnhild L.; Tønnessen, Liv; Wang, Vibeke

doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2013.05.010

Cited by 39 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…On the one hand, less democratic countries may wish to bolster their democratic credentials by increasing women in their assemblies via quotas (Towns ; Bush ; Muriaas et al. ). On the other hand, expanded political rights and civil liberties may fuel grassroots campaigns in favor of gender quotas (Dahlerup and Freidenvall ).…”

Section: Theories Of Quota Adoptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By 2008, more than 60 states had altered their constitutions or electoral laws to mandate that a certain proportion of women be included as candidates or legislators. Quota adoption occurs across diverse countries, including those with different levels of development and different degrees of democratization (Dahlerup ; Krook ; Muriaas, Tønnessen, and Wang ). In addition to their impact on the numbers and diversity of women elected (Hughes ; Paxton, Hughes, and Painter ; Schwindt‐Bayer ; Tripp and Kang ), quotas influence a wide range of political dynamics, including party strategy (Murray ), legislative behavior (Xydias ), public opinion (Beaman, Chattopadhyay, Duflo, Pande, and Topalova ), and political engagement (Zetterberg ).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Transnational Women's Activism and the Global Diffusion of Gender Quotas

2015

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The rapid global spread of quotas for women constitutes one of the most significant political developments of the last thirty years. It transformed the composition of legislatures worldwide. Yet we lack a solid understanding of the forces driving quota diffusion. In this article, we consider how global pressure from the international women's movement affects national gender quota adoption. In the first quantitative analysis of this question on a global scale, we use event history techniques to examine global, transnational, and national influences on quota adoption in 149 countries between 1989 and 2008. Contributing to work on international norm diffusion, we find a crucial role for women's activism, but uncover a negative interaction between increased global pressures and domestic ties to women's transnational organizing. We suggest global pressure to adopt quotas may be weakened by the diverse agendas of women's activist organizations, by perceived threats to male elites posed by women's agitation, or both.

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Section: Theories Of Quota Adoptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Transnational Women's Activism and the Global Diffusion of Gender Quotas

2015

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“…First, many of the African regimes in which gender quotas have been introduced are de facto authoritarian (Muriaas et al., ). Although featuring the formal institutions associated with democracies, the actual political power in these regimes is highly centralized in the executive, the actions of which are largely unconstrained by other branches of government (Bratton and van de Walle, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When Ethnicity Beats Gender: Quotas and Political Representation in Rwanda and Burundi

Guariso¹,

Ingelaere²,

Verpoorten³

2018

Development and Change

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This article examines the impact of electoral gender quotas in post-war Burundi and Rwanda on women's political representation. First, it looks at the evolution in descriptive representation by studying the number of female representatives and the prestige of their positions in the legislative and executive branches of government. The results show that, in both Rwanda and Burundi, the number of female political representatives significantly increased with the introduction of gender quotas, with their presence in parliament and ministries consistently exceeding 30 per cent. While women disproportionally end up in ministries of relatively lower prestige, the gap with men has been closing over time, as more women have joined the executive branches of power. The study considers whether such an increase has been accompanied by a positive evolution in the way ordinary women perceive their political representation. Despite a general improvement in perceived political representation across the population, the article finds there is not a significant difference between women and men and the study explains this finding by analysing the intersectionality of ethnicity and gender.2. See https://freedomhouse.org

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“…Partly because of this war-induced change, many African countries have introduced gender quotas in order to guarantee female representation in their political systems, and they have consequently experienced a large upturn of women in their national and subnational legislatures (Muriaas et al 2013). To date, 27 African countries have introduced legislated candidate quotas or reserved seats for female politicians in parliament, and Africa features seven times on the list of the world's top-20 countries with the largest share of female legislators.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The scepticism relates to four arguments. First, while the rationale for gender quotas is embedded in the democracy discourse, many of the African regimes in which gender quotas have been introduced are de facto authoritarian (Muriaas et al 2013). Although featuring the formal institutions associated with democratic regimes, the actual political power in these regimes is highly centralized in the executive, the actions of which are largely unconstrained by other branches of government (Bratton and van de Walle 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Female political representation in the aftermath of ethnic violence: A comparative analysis of Burundi and Rwanda

Guariso¹,

Ingelaere²,

Verpoorten³

2017

WIDER Working Paper

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We study the impact of electoral gender quotas in post-war Burundi and Rwanda on women's political representation. First, we look at descriptive representation by studying the number of female representatives and the prestige of their positions in the legislative and executive branches of government. Second, we focus on political representation as perceived by ordinary women, before, during, and after the introduction of gender quotas. We find that, both in Rwanda and Burundi, descriptive female political representation significantly increased with the introduction of gender quotas, with the share of women in parliament and ministries consistently exceeding 30 per cent. While women still disproportionally end up in ministries of relatively lower prestige, the gap with men is closing as more women have joined the executive branches of power. We do not find any tangible effect on women's perceived political representation. Among the possible explanations, we discuss the authoritarian nature of the regime and the crowding out of gender identity by ethnic identity. We argue that these explanations are not entirely consistent with our data and put forward a third explanation, i.e. that the perception of political representation depends on the implementation of policies-thus substantive representation, not descriptive representation-and that men and women are to a very large extent appreciative of the same policies.

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Exploring the relationship between democratization and quota policies in Africa

Cited by 39 publications

References 10 publications

Transnational Women's Activism and the Global Diffusion of Gender Quotas

Transnational Women's Activism and the Global Diffusion of Gender Quotas

When Ethnicity Beats Gender: Quotas and Political Representation in Rwanda and Burundi

Female political representation in the aftermath of ethnic violence: A comparative analysis of Burundi and Rwanda

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