Abstract
The controversy over affirmative action policies, quotas, or reservations for historical injustice constitutes the most salient current battlefront in the conflict over the status of social justice. No debate has been more protracted or more riddled with complex issues. This chapter addresses three themes about the significance of gender in implementing quotas: The first is gender quotas as a form of affirmative action that reverse discrimination and increase women’s participation in political democracy. The second relates to how female legislators become equal players in the policymaking process through gender quotas. The third is the challenges of intersectionality and the gradual withdrawal of the state from some of these policies. The chapter relies upon various significant findings regarding quotas and affirmative action by addressing these themes. It argues that to make this strategy successful, the context in which quotas are debated and implemented has to be explored. The review of research suggests that quotas for women are broadly effective at achieving political equality and opening new avenues for representation. However, political institutions are gendered; therefore, the adoption of gender quotas is linked to the implementation processes. Even while women have access to quota seats, informal norms dilute the impact of the implementation of gender quotas. Breaking through male-dominated institutions often requires the presence of laws attacking gender discrimination. A closer look at explanatory accounts suggest that it might be helpful to encourage women’s participation in many forms of associations and grassroots organizations that can impact their role in decision-making in politics.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adam K (1997) The politics of redress: south African style affirmative action. J Mod Afr Stud 35(2):231–249
Alexander A, Jalazai F (2020) Symbolic empowerment and female heads of states and government: a global, multilevel analysis. Polit Groups Ident 8(1):1–20
Anderson E (2010) The imperative of integration. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Bacchi CL (1999) Women, policy and politics. The construction of policy problems. Sage, London
Bacchi CL (2006) Arguing for and against quotas: theoretical issues. In: Dahlerup D (ed) Women, quota and politics. Routledge, Abingdon, pp 32–51
Baldez L (2002) Why Women Protest: Women’s Movements in Chile. Cambridge, UK: CUP.
Bowen WG, Bok D (1998) The shape of the river: long-term consequences of considering race in college and university admissions. Princeton Press, Princeton
Banaszak LA (2010) The women’s movement inside and outside the state. Cambridge University Press, New York
Beamen L, Duflo E, Pande R, Topalova P (2012) Female leadership raises aspirations and educational attainment for girls: a policy experiment in India. Science 335(6068):582–886
Beamen L, Chattopadhyay R, Duflo E, Pande R, Topalova P (2009) Power women: quotas and affirmative action. Does exposure reduce bias? Q J Econ 124:1497–1540
Bonomi G, Brosio G, Di Tommaso M (2013) The impact of gender quotas on votes for women candidates. Evidence from Italy. Fem Econ 19:48–75
Bush S (2011) International politics and the spread of quotas for women in legislatures. Int Organ 65(1):103–137
Butler J (1992) Feminists theorise the political. Routledge, London
Brule R (2020) Women, power, and property: the paradox of gender equality laws in India. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Chaney EM (1979) Supermadre: women in politics in Latin America. Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas, Austin
Craske N (1999) Women and politics in Latin America. Polity, Cambridge Press
Crenshaw K (1991) Mapping the margins: intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Rev 43(6):1241–1299
Darhour H, Dahlerup D (2013) Sustainable representation of women through gender quotas. A decade’s experience in Morocco. Women’s Stud Int Forum. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2013.04.008
Dahlerup DZ Hilal NK, Kandawasvika-Nhundu R (2013) Atlas of electoral gendered quotas. International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, IDEA, Inter-Parliamentary Union, and Stockholm University. Downloaded 18 Feb 2021
Dahlerup D (ed) (2007) Women, quota and politics. Routledge, London
Devlin C, Elgie R (2008) The effect of increased women’s participation in parliament, the case of Rwanda. Parliam Aff 61(2):237–254
Deshpande A (2013) Affirmative action in India. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Fallon K, Swiss ML, Viterna J (2012) Resolving the democracy paradox: democratisation and women’s legislative representation in developing nations 1975–2009. Am Sociol Rev 77(3):380–408
Foucault, Michel (1980) Power/knowledge: selected interviews and other writings 1972–77 (C. Gordon. ed). Harvester, London
Franceschet S, Piscopo JM (2008) Gender quotas and women’s substantive representation: lessons from Argentina. Polit Gend 4(3):393–342
Fraser, Nancy (1998) Social justice in the age of identity politics: Redistribution, recognition, participation, WZB Discussion Paper, No. FS I 98–108, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB), Berlin https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/44061/1/269802959.pdf
Geisel B, Hust E (2005) Democratic mobilisation through quotas: experiences in India and Germany. Commonw Comp Polit 43(2):222–244
Geisler G (2000) “Parliament is another terrain of struggle”: Women, men and politics in South Africa. Journal of Modern African Studies, 38(4):616–619
Gilardi F (2015) The temporary importance of role models for women’s political representation. Am J Polit Sci 59(4):957–970
Gray T (2003) Electoral gender quotas: lessons from Argentina and Chile. Bull Lat Am Res 22:52–78
Htun M (2002) Puzzles of women’s rights in Brazil. Soc Res 69(3):733–751. https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/558530
Htun M (2003) Women and democracy. In: Dominguez JI, Shifter M (eds) Constructing democratic governance in Latin America. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore
Htun M, Power TJ (2006) Gender, parties and support for equal rights in the Brazilian congress. Latin Am Polit Soc 48(4):83–104
Htun M, Weldon SL (2010) When do governments promote women’s rights? A framework for the comparative analysis of sex equality policy. Perspect Polit 8(1):207–216
Jones M (1997) Legislator gender and legislator policy priorities in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies and the United States House of Representatives. Policy Studies Journal 25(4):613–629
Kittelson MC, Schwindt-Bayer LA (eds) (2012) The gendered effects of electoral institutions: political engagement and participation. Oxford University Press, New York
Krook ML (2009) Quotas for women in politics: gender and candidate selection reform worldwide. Oxford University Press, New York
Krook ML, Childs S (eds) (2015) Women, gender and politics: a reader. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Lazar M (2005) Politicizing gender in discourse: feminist critical discourse analysis as political perspective and praxis. In: Lazar M (ed) Feminist critical discourse analysis. Macmillan Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230599901_1
Lister R (2003) Citizenship: feminist perspectives. Macmillan, Palgrave
Liu S-JS, Banaszak LA (2017) Do government positions held by women matter? Polit Gend 13(1):132–162
Mansbridge J (1999) Should blacks represent blacks and women represent women? A contingent yes. J Polit 61:628–657
Miguel LG (2008) Political representation and gender in Brazil: quotas for women and their impact. Bull Lat Am Res 27:197–2014
Meier P (2008) A gender gap not closed by quotas. Int Fem J Polit 10:329–347
Molyneux M (2001) Women’s movements in international perspective: Latin America and beyond. Palgrave, New York
Mustafa S (2020) Shaheen Bagh and the Idea of India. Writings on a movement for justice, liberty, and equality. Speaking Tiger Books LLP,125-A, Shahpur Jat, New Delhi
Nagel T (1973) Equal treatment and compensatory discrimination. Philos Public Aff 2(4):348–363
Nir L, McClurg SD (2015) How institutions affect gender gaps in public opinion expression. Public Opin Q 79(2):544–567
Novi Rusnarty Usu. (2010). Affirmative action in Indonesia: the Gender Quota system in the 2004 and 2009 elections, ASIA ONLINE. Downloaded https://www.catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4979285 on 19 February 2021
Parpart J, Connelly P, Barriteau E (2000) Theoretical perspectives on gender and development. The International Development Research Centre, Ottawa
Paxton P, Hughes MM, Barnes TD (2020) Women, politics and power: a global perspective. Rowman and Littlefield, Maryland, USA and London, UK
Pitkin H (1967) The concept of representation. The University of California Press, Berkeley
Piscopo JM (2011) Do women represent women? Gender and policy in Argentina and Mexico, Phd Thesis, University of California, San Diego, CA
Ruddick S (1995) Maternal thinking. Towards a politics of peace. Beacon Press, Boston
Sawer M, Tremblay M, Trimble L (2006) Representing women in parliament. A comparative study. Routledge, London
Sawer M (2002) The representation of women in Australia: meaning and make-believe. In: Ross K (ed) Women, politics and change. Oxford University Press, New York, 5–18
Schwindt-Bayer LA (2006) Still supermadres? Gender and policy priorities of Latin American legislators. Am J Polit Sci 50(3):570–585
Sharma K (1998) Power vs. representation: feminist dilemmas, ambivalent state and the debate on reservation for women in India. Occasional paper no 28. CWDS, Delhi, pp 1–22
Susan F, Jennifer M. Piscopo (2008) Gender Quotas and Women’s Substantive Representation: Lessons from Argentina. Politics and Gender, 4(03): 393–405.
Tamerius K (1995) Sex, gender and leadership in the representation of women. In: Georgina-Lahti D, Kelly RM (eds) Gender, power and leadership, and governance. Michigan Press, Ann Arbor
Thomson JJ (1973) Preferential hiring. Philos Public Aff 2:364–384
Tremblay M (ed) (2008) Women and legislative representation: electoral systems, political parties, and sex quotas. Routledge, London
Tremblay M (2007) Democracy, representation, and women: a comparative analysis. Democratization 14(4):533–553. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510340701398261
Tripp AM, Kang A (2008) The global impact of quotas on the fast track to increased female legislative representation. Comp Polit Stud 41(3):338–361. https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414006297342
Tronto J (1993) Moral boundaries. Routledge, Great Britain
Turnbull B (2019) Quotas as opportunities and obstacles: revisiting gender quotas in India. Polit Gend 17:1–25
Viterna J, Fallon K (2008) Democratization, women’s movements, and the gender equitable states: a framework for comparison. Am Sociol Rev 73(4):668–689
Verma V (2012) Non-discrimination and equality. Contesting boundaries of social justice in India. Routledge, London. (2017 Paperback edition for South Asia Routledge)
Verma, Vidhu (2002) Malaysia: State and Civil Society in Transition. Lynne Rienner Publishers, Colorado, USA
Weldon SL (2002) Beyond bodies: institutional sources of representation for women in democratic policymaking. J Polit 64(4):1153–1174
Young I (1990) Justice and the politics of difference. Princeton University Press, Princeton
Zettererg P (2009) Do gender quotas foster women’s political engagement? Lessons from Latin America. Polit Res Q 62(4):715–730
Reports
The Mahbub al Haq Human Development Centre (MUH) (2004) Human development in South Asia 2003. The employment challenge. Oxford University Press, Oxford
CDEAW (1979) United Nations Convention for the Implementation of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
MDGR (2013) The Millennium Development Goals report (MDGR), UNDP, New York
Inter-Parliamentary Union (2020) Women in National Parliaments, 1 October 2020
https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/leadership-and-political-participation/facts-and-figures. Downloaded 18 February 2021
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Verma, V. (2022). Gender Quotas and Representation in Politics. In: Deshpande, A. (eds) Handbook on Economics of Discrimination and Affirmative Action. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4016-9_43-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4016-9_43-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-33-4016-9
Online ISBN: 978-981-33-4016-9
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences