Thirty Years of Gender Quotas in Germany: Policy Adoption between Mainstreaming and Minimal Compliance

Abstract

and the U.K. They were presented and discussed in earlier versions at a workshop held in September 2014 at the EUI. Based on the workshop method, all working papers have reflected on similar aspects raised by their country case, concerning: 1) domestic/national preconditions and processes of adoption of gender quotas; 2) transnational factors; 3) legal and constitutional challenges raised by gender quotas in both the political and economic spheres; and 4) new frontiers in the field.The working papers will be also made available on the blog of the workshop, where additional information on the experts and country information sheets can be found, and new developments can be shared. https://blogs.eui.eu/genderquotas. AbstractThis paper reviews three decades of gender quota policies in Germany and assesses policy adoption in parties, public administration, as well as on corporate and public boards. Germany was an early adopter of quotas for women in political parties and in public administration. Even though both measures were controversial when first enacted in the 1980s and early 1990s, they have since become rather low-profile gender equality strategies. A recent initiative to adopt quotas for women on corporate and public boards, by contrast, produced substantial public discussion. The mainstreaming of positive action plans in public institutions that include decision quotas, fixed quotas and goal quotas has given gender advocates formally strong leverage to advance a gender equality agenda. At the same time, a culture of minimalist compliance has pervaded the public sector and parties. Male institutions and organizations tend to exhibit more passive resistance than vocal opposition, thus making it difficult for feminists to engage effectively with non-compliance. A lack of sanctions as well as intricate strategies to circumvent quota decisions add to a sense among German feminist activists that quotas are one, but by no means the only strategy for gender equality in public life.

Backlash after Quotas: Moral Panic as a Soft Repression Tactic against Women Politicians

“…Backlash may take different forms. The elites may intentionally challenge or refuse to comply with affirmative action policies (Lang 2015;Lee and Shin 2016), resort to overt force such as violence or threats of violence against women politicians (Berry, Bouka, and Kamuru 2020;Matfess, Kishi, and Berry 2022) or employ soft repression tactics (Faree 2005;Mansbridge and Shames 2008). Soft repression involves the use of cultural mechanisms to repress or exclude collective identities, such as women politicians, or ideas that challenge dominant groups in society, such as gender parity in politics (Faree 2005;Mansbridge and Shames 2008).…”