© 2004 European Consortium for Political Research

mona lena krook

In recent years, countries around the world have pursued numerous innovations in political participation. The most common reforms, from a global perspective, have been provisions for the increased representation of women. Today, nearly all countries have pledged to promote gender-balanced decision-making (United Nations, 1995), and more than eighty have witnessed the adoption of quotas for the selection of female candidates[1]. These provisions include reserved seats, which set aside a certain number of seats for women; political party quotas, which aim to increase the proportion of women among party candidates; and national legislative quotas, which require political parties to nominate a certain percentage of women among their candidates. Although these measures exist in countries all over the globe, each type of quota is prevalent in a different part of the world: reserved seats appear mainly in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East; political party quotas are most common in Western Europe; and national legislative quotas are found primarily in Latin America and Africa.

These geographical patterns have led scholars to study candidate gender quotas as regional events and, consequently, to pay little attention to parallel developments taking place in other areas of the world. Integrating research across world regions, I discover four distinct causal stories regarding the actors and strategies behind quota adoption. To temper these universalising claims, I argue for re-conceptualising gender quotas as a global phenomenon, both to highlight the various actors and strategies involved in specific quota debates and to draw connections between different quota campaigns. This approach reveals that certain actors and strategies are more important in some cases than in others and that quota debates in one country always occur within a larger context of quota campaigns. Treating gender quotas as a global phenomenon thus provides scholars with a means for reconsidering actors and strategies that they may have overlooked in their own studies, consequently fostering a more cumulative research agenda.

THE ADOPTION OF CANDIDATE GENDER QUOTAS

The literature on candidate gender quotas has grown exponentially in the last few years. Examined as a whole, this work offers four basic causal accounts as to who supports gender quotas and why these quotas are adopted[2]. The first causal story argues that women are the source of quota proposals, as women come to view quotas as an effective – and perhaps the only – means for increasing female political representation. This research notes that efforts to nominate more women never occur without the prior mobilisation of women, even when male elites are ultimately responsible for the decision to establish quotas. The women who articulate quota demands, however, may vary widely across national contexts and include grassroots women’s movements, women inside the political parties, and women inside the state. Despite emphasising the role of women involved in quota campaigns, this literature often ignores the many women who oppose quota policies. Indeed, women as a group are frequently divided as to the desirability of quotas, with some of the strongest opposition coming from feminists, both inside and outside the political parties, who argue that quotas do not further the cause of female empowerment.

The second causal narrative focuses on political elites and the strategic advantages they perceive in adopting gender quotas. This work observes that political parties often adopt quotas after one of their rivals establishes them, effects which are heightened when parties seek to overcome a long period in opposition or a dramatic decrease in popularity. Elites also embrace quotas for a number of strategic non-electoral reasons, including the possibility of consolidating control over party representatives and political rivals (Chowdhury, 2002; Goetz and Hassim, 2003). Such incentives lead many scholars to conclude that elite support for gender quotas is an empty gesture that allows elites to demonstrate commitment to women’s rights without necessarily altering existing patterns of political representation (Htun and Jones, 2002). In stressing convergence among parties on the issue of gender quotas, however, these accounts often fail to acknowledge the range of elite opposition to gender quotas. Many parties, in fact, either abstain from taking public positions for or against quotas or engage in acrimonious debate over the need to introduce special measures for women (Araújo, 2003; Bruhn, 2003; Sgier, 2003). Others simply disregard women’s demands or opt for non-quota measures, like training and targets, to facilitate women’s access to political office (de Diop, 2002; Freidenvall, 2003). At the same time, various case studies reveal that elite strategies are not exclusively pragmatic, but instead reflect normative concerns to gain social legitimacy or to respond to demands made by the party rank-and-file (Bruhn, 2003; Nechemias, 1994).

The third causal story asserts that quotas are simply an extension of existing or emerging notions of equality and representation. This normative consistency, however, takes a number of different forms, depending on the context in which quotas are discussed. Left-wing parties often frame quota adoption in terms of equality and fair access, while other actors view quota proposals as a question of difference and the need for proportional representation. Still others associate quotas with broader projects of democratic innovation that surface during periods of democratic transition or the creation of new democratic institutions. Again, however, this research is largely silent on cases where proposals for gender quotas encounter intense opposition from various domestic groups. When quotas are treated as a means of promoting equality and fair access, detractors often argue against gender quotas on the grounds that they discriminate against men and, ultimately, hurt both women and men by illegitimately restricting voters’ freedom to elect their own candidates. When quotas are introduced as a question of recognising difference and proportional representation, groups frequently compete amongst each other for the normative and material benefits associated with the acknowledgment of group identity (Jenkins, 1999). Where quotas are proposed in the course of democratic innovation, lastly, reformers often reject special provisions for women by arguing that quotas are fundamentally anti-democratic and thus contrary to the spirit of change (Nechemias, 1994).

The fourth and final causal account centres on the role of international norms and trans-national information sharing in the rapid diffusion of candidate gender quotas around the globe. This research locates the origin of gender quotas in international recommendations committing member states to improve women’s access to decision-making. The impact of these recommendations is magnified by the emergence of new trans-national actors – including non-governmental organisations, groups formed under the auspices of international institutions, and informal and formal trans-national networks – who share information across national borders, thus enabling domestic campaigns to learn new tactics for reform and to import strategies from other countries into their own. Although numerous countries adopt gender quotas in the wake of international recommendations, this literature rarely traces the explicit causal connections between international and trans-national trends and domestic quota campaigns. Instead, most scholars mention these effects only in passing and limit their observations to a restricted number of well-known international and trans-national events, like the Beijing Platform for Action produced at the United Nations’ Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. Individual case studies, however, reveal a host of other influences beyond the nation-state, including instances where international actors play a direct role in adopting quotas for women, demonstration effects spur quota campaigns via trans-national information sharing, international events act as catalysts to domestic campaigns already in progress, and international actors are pivotal to the rejection – rather than the promotion – of quotas as a measure to foster women’s political representation (Krook, 2004b).

GENDER QUOTAS AS A GLOBAL PHENOMENON

The existing literature on candidate gender quotas thus identifies four distinct causal narratives with regard to the actors and motivations behind quota adoption. Taken individually, these stories are both confirmed and disconfirmed by case study evidence. Taken collectively, they contradict one another, pitting grassroots movements against elite actors and local and national projects against international and trans-national trends. These accounts, however, base their conclusions on a limited range of cases, viewed largely in isolation from developments in other countries and at other moments in time. This approach is problematic, as candidate gender quotas span world regions, political systems, levels of development, cultural characteristics, and prior levels of female representation (Krook, 2004a). Arguing that gender quotas are global phenomenon, I propose that the four causal stories capture elements present within the larger universe of quota campaigns, but ones which appear only in some cases and often in combination with other actors and strategies. This perspective suggests that individual campaigns often follow distinct trajectories to quota adoption, involving diverse combinations of local, national, international, and trans-national actors, as well as a variety of principled and pragmatic reasons for supporting or opposing quota reforms.

To facilitate comparative analysis in light of this diversity, I draw on a range of existing case studies to develop some basic tools for recognising actors and strategies involved in particular quota debates. I begin by categorising participants according to three distinct action locations: civil society, which includes women’s movement organisations, cross-party alliances among women, and women’s sections inside political parties; the state, which incorporates national leaders, governing coalitions, parliamentary factions, and judges; and the international and trans-national sphere, which includes international organisations, regional associations, trans-national NGO’s, and trans-national networks. Applying these categories, I observe that actors and action locations are not engaged in the same way in all quota campaigns, with certain actors being more involved in some countries than in others. Perhaps more interestingly, I discover that groups of actors often form alliances amongst each other, spanning action locations and frequently pitting actors against one another within and across these locations. Looking at actor motivations, further, I find that each set of actors responds to various incentives to pursue gender quotas, including electoral considerations, empty gestures, normative concerns, extension of representational guarantees, international pressure, and trans-national diffusion. Combining these insights, I ascertain that actors often support or oppose quotas for entirely different reasons, but debates frequently result in the definitive adoption or rejection of gender quota policies, given the strategic alliances that actors forge within and across action locations.

Actors and strategies vary enormously across national contexts, but a number of common patterns emerge. Among those who favour candidate gender quotas, the most consistent actors across all campaigns are women’s movement organisations, who generally pursue gender quotas for normative reasons by framing quotas as a matter of justice and the general good. Conscious of the need to find allies, these activists variously collaborate with groups who share these same normative concerns, including civil society actors, like women’s sections inside political parties; state actors, like female elites and women’s policy agencies; and international and trans-national actors, like international organisations, trans-national NGO’s, and women’s movements and female politicians in other countries. Women’s movement organisations, however, also occasionally find allies among national leaders, who support gender quotas in light of electoral considerations or as an empty gesture (Craske, 1999; Jones, 1996; Mossuz-Lavau, 1998), and judges at the national and local levels, who draw on proposals for quotas as an opportunity to demonstrate their independence from other political leaders (Baldez, 2004).

Among those who object to gender quotas, alliances are usually much less systematic, with opponents coming together in more contingent ways and mobilising against quotas for entirely different reasons. These groupings include alliances among state actors, like individual male politicians and the courts; state and civil society actors, like conservative political parties and prominent female politicians, activists, or academics; and state and international actors, like male political elites and international organisations. Although all of these actors openly question the constitutionality or legality of quota provisions, they variously embrace this position to avoid being eliminated as potential candidates, to uphold current interpretations of the law, to maintain ideological consistency, to pursue other means of female empowerment, and to block the establishment of precedents for future elections (Pires, 2002; Varikas, 1995). These patterns, in particular, reveal that actors and strategies often combine in a number of different ways, clearly casting doubt on one-dimensional explanations focused exclusively on single groups of actors and uniform motivations.

CONCLUSIONS: MULTIPLE ACTORS AND STRATEGIES

Understanding candidate gender quotas as a global phenomenon thus highlights the various – and sometimes conflicting – actors and strategies engaged in quota debates around the world. In doing so, it challenges the emerging conventional wisdom on quota adoption, centred broadly around four – seemingly unrelated – causal accounts. While this perspective calls into question the universality of these claims, however, it does not reject their importance for understanding and analysing quota campaigns. Rather, it draws on these existing causal stories to construct causal accounts that incorporate multiple narratives to situate quota debates within a larger sequence of events occurring both within and beyond national borders. Women’s mobilisation usually precedes and influences elite decision-making, for example, while international and trans-national norms often affect democratic innovation at the local and national levels. At the same time, elite decision-making in one region occasionally shapes the development of global norms which, in turn, influences women’s movements in another region to mobilise for change. These four accounts, therefore, are better conceived as stories operating within multiple causal trajectories, crossing regions and unfolding over extended periods of time.

Recognising quotas as a global phenomenon, however, also offers an important first step for discovering and disaggregating the elements of individual quota debates. By calling attention to the local, national, international, and trans-national dimensions of all quota campaigns, it provides scholars with a means for reconsidering actors and strategies that they may have overlooked in their own studies. These common tools help to promote a more cumulative research agenda by enabling scholars to draw parallels across countries and to situate individual cases within the wider universe of quota debates. Awareness of developments beyond single cases, further, helps to nuance generalising claims by revealing that individual campaigns often follow a number of different paths to quota reform, initiated at various levels of existing representation. These insights thus call on scholars to move away from singular accounts of quota adoption to theorise instead the multi-dimensional processes shaping the spread of gender quotas worldwide.

references

Araújo, C. (2003), ‘Quotas for Women in the Brazilian Legislative System’, paper presented at the International IDEA Workshop, ‘The Implementation of Quotas: Latin American Experiences’, Lima, Peru, 23-24 February.

Baldez, L. (2004), ‘Elected Bodies: Gender Quota Law for Legislative Candidates in Mexico’, Legislative Studies Quarterly, 29:2, 231-58.

Bruhn, K. (2003), ‘Whores and Lesbians: Political Activism, Party Strategies, and Gender Quotas in Mexico’, Electoral Studies, 22, 101-119.

Chowdhury, N. (2002), ‘The Implementation of Quotas: Bangladesh Experience – Dependence and Marginality in Politics’, paper presented at the International IDEA Workshop, ‘The Implementation of Quotas: Asian Experiences’, Jakarta, Indonesia, 25 September.

Craske, N. (1999), Women and Politics in Latin America, New Brunswick, Rutgers University Press.

de Diop, A. (2002), ‘Les quotas en Afrique francophone: Des débuts modestes’ in J. Ballington and M. J. Protais (eds), Les Femmes au parlement: Au-del du nombre, Stockholm, International IDEA.

Freidenvall, L. (2003), ‘Women’s Political Representation and Gender Quotas – The Swedish Case’, paper presented at the General Conference of the European Consortium for Political Research, Marburg, Germany, 18-21 September.

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Jenkins, L. D. (1999), ‘Competing Inequalities: The Struggle Over Reserved Seats for Women in India’, International Review of Social History, 44, 53-75.

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Krook, M. L. (2004a), ‘Politicizing Representation: Campaigns for Candidate Gender Quotas Worldwide’, PhD dissertation, Columbia University.

Krook, M. L. (2004b), ‘Reforming Representation: The Diffusion of Candidate Gender Quotas Worldwide’, paper presented at the Annual Convention of the International Studies Association, Montreal, Canada, 17-20 March.

Mossuz-Lavau, J. (1998), Femmes/hommes pour la parité, Paris, Presses de Sciences Po.

Nechemias, C. (1994), ‘Democratization and Women’s Access to Legislative Seats: The Soviet Case, 1989-1991’, Women and Politics, 14:3, 1-18.

Pires, M. (2002), ‘East Timor and the Debate on Quotas’, paper presented at the International IDEA Workshop, ‘The Implementation of Quotas: Asian Experiences’, Jakarta, Indonesia, 25 September.

Sgier, L. (2003), ‘Political Representation and Gender Quotas’, paper presented at the Joint Sessions of Workshops of the European Consortium for Political Research, Edinburgh, Scotland, 28 March-2 April.

United Nations (1995), Platform for Action and the Beijing Declaration, New York, United Nations.

Varikas, E. (1995), ‘Une répresentation en tant que femme? Réflexions critiques sur la demande de la parité des sexes’, Nouvelles questions féministes,16:2, 81-127.

notes

1. Details on these policies are available online in the Global Database of Quotas for Women at http://www.quotaproject.org.
2. I offer an extensive list of citations and examples in Krook (2004a).