Growth in women's political representation: A longitudinal exploration of democracy, electoral system and gender quotas

Abstract

The expansion of women's formal political representation ranks among the most significant trends in international politics of the last 100 years. Though women made steady political progress, substantial country‐level variation exists in patterns of growth and change. In this article, longitudinal theories are developed to examine how political factors affect women's political representation over time. Latent growth curve models are used to assess the growth of women in politics in 110 countries from 1975 to 2000. The article investigates how electoral systems, national‐level gender quotas and growth of democracy – both political rights and civil liberties – impact country‐level trajectories of women's legislative representation. It is found: first, national quotas do affect women's political presence, but at a lower level than legislated by law; second, the impact of a proportional representation system on women's political representation is steady over time; and third, democracy, especially civil liberties, does not affect the level of women's political representation in the earliest period, but does influence the growth of women's political representation over time. These findings both reinforce and challenge prior cross‐sectional models of women's political representation.

Gender Quotas and Women's Political Leadership

“…As these reforms have spread around the world, there is increasing interest in their broader impacts (Franceschet, Krook, and Piscopo 2012). A large body of work has explored their effectiveness in increasing women's presence in legislatures worldwide (Jones 2009;Krook 2009;Matland 2006;Paxton, Hughes, and Painter 2010;Schwindt-Bayer 2009;Tripp and Kang 2008). Other research documents their influence on the representation of women's interests (Devlin and Elgie 2008;Franceschet and Piscopo 2008;Chattopadhyay and Duflo 2004;Beaman et al 2009).…”

Cuotas de género, leyes electorales y elección de legisladoras en américa latina

“…por el contrario, el acceso de las mujeres en los sistemas de listas abiertas no tiene un piso asegurado, por lo cual su valor mínimo potencial es siempre 0%. sobre esta base, la mayor parte de la literatura (htun y Jones, 2002;krook, 2009;Larserud y taphorn, 2007;norris, 2004;paxton et al, 2010;schwindt-Bayer, 2010, entre otros) sostiene que, ceteris paribus, la combinación de cuotas con mandatos de posición y listas de candidatos cerradas debe dar lugar a un mayor número de mujeres legisladoras electas que cuando las cuotas son implementadas sin mandatos de ubicación en sistemas de listas abiertas. no obstante, la literatura no es unánime en este sentido: más recientemente, algunos trabajos (matland, 2006; schmidt, 2009) han puesto en duda la supuesta superioridad de la combinación de cuotas y listas cerradas.…”

The Effectiveness of Foreign Aid to Women's Equality Organisations in the MENA

“…Studies generally identify three types of barriers to women's political participation: political, socio-cultural and socio-economic obstacles (Shvedova, 2007;Paxton et al, 2010;Waring, 2010;Beauregard, 2014). Political barriers often reflect the fact that existing political systems and environments are male-centred, as Shvedova (2007) notes, '[p]olitical life is organized according to male norms and values, and in some cases even male lifestyles'.…”