The Irish legislative gender quota: The first election

Abstract

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.

Money matters: The impact of gender quotas on campaign spending for women candidates

“…With the quota in place, the number of women seeking election nearly doubled and the proportion of women elected to the Dáil increased from 15.1% to 22.2%. Though women made gains under the quota, Brennan and Buckley (2017) identify trends to suggest that the two largest and oldest parties, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, selected women as sweeper candidates to shore up votes to be transferred to a lead male incumbent party colleague. In addition, Mariani et al (2021) found Fine Gael engaged in a 'sacrificial lamb' strategy under the quota, increasing the number of women nominated to no-hope races and selecting significantly less-experienced women candidates compared to prior elections.…”

‘An unfinished democracy’: gender and political representation in the Republic of Ireland

“…Buckley, Mariani, and White (2014) argued prior to its implementation that such success would be possible so long as political parties embraced the measure by selecting women and by running them where they can win rather than fielding them in seats that are unwinnable. It is clear that political parties did largely embrace the quota, but some pockets of resistance remain (Brennan & Buckley, 2017;Mariani, Buckley, McGing, & Wright, 2021) and it will likely require a number of electoral cycles before the quota is fully embedded (Buckley, Galligan, & McGing, 2016).…”