STUDY Policy Department C Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs ELECTORAL GENDER QUOTA SYSTEMS AND THEIR IMPLEMENTATION IN EUROPE WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND GENDER EQUALITY SEPTEMBER 2008 PE 408.309 JANUARY 2004 EN i Directorate-General Internal Policies Policy Department C Citizens Rights and Constitutional Affairs Directorate-General for Internal Policies Policy Department C Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs ELECTORAL GENDER QUOTA SYSTEMS AND THEIR IMPLEMENTATION IN EUROPE PE 408.309 ii This study was requested by the European Parliament's Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality. This paper is published in the following languages: EN (original), FR. Authors: Drude Dahlerup and Lenita Freidenvall with the assistance of Eleonora Stolt, Katarina Bivald and Lene Persson-Weiss, WIP, Women in Politics Research Centre, Department of Political Science, Stockholm University, in cooperation with International IDEA. Manuscript completed in September 2008. Copies can be obtained through: Ms Hélène Calers Tel: +32 2 2840768 Fax: +32 2 2832365 E-mail: [email protected] Informations on DG Ipol publications: http://www.ipolnet.ep.parl.union.eu/ipolnet/cms Brussels, European Parliament The opinions expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position of the European Parliament. iii Electoral Gender Quota Systems and Their Implementation in Europe WIP, Women in Politics Research Centre, Department of Political Science, Stockholm University in cooperation with International IDEA Executive summary Although controversial, electoral gender quotas are in use in almost half of the countries in the world today. Until recently, Europe has not been in the forefront of this new development. However, this report shows that five European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA) countries have introduced gender quotas by law – most recently Spain, Portugal and Slovenia – and that in more than half of the EU/EEA countries some of the political parties have adopted voluntary party quotas for their electoral lists. This report maps the diffusion of gender quotas in Europe and lists the many different types of quotas in use. The arguments for and against quotas are studied, and the implementation and effect of gender quotas are scrutinised. In-depth case studies have been conducted of eight countries, four with legislated gender quotas – Belgium, France, Slovenia and Spain – and four with voluntary gender quotas – Germany, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. A questionnaire, which has been sent to all political parties in the EU/EEA countries, illuminates some attitudinal differences concerning gender quotas among the responding parties (the PARQUOTA Survey). The report shows that gender quotas have led to remarkably rapid increases in women’s representation in some cases but also to disappointment in other cases. The main conclusion is that, in order to be effective, a quota system must be compatible with the electoral system in place and that quota rules – for example, of 30 or 40 per cent women on electoral lists – must be supplemented with rules concerning rank order as well as – in the case of legislated quotas – effective legal sanctions. Quotas are only one among many measures for increasing women’s political representation. In general, the political parties are the gatekeepers to gender balance in political decision making because they control ‘the secret garden of nominations’. The study ends with six recommendations for future action. 1. With or without gender quotas, political parties should adopt action plans for recruiting an equal number of women and men as candidates for ‘winnable’ seats and, in general, for making party politics more inclusive. 2. Tools for gender monitoring of nominations and elections should be developed. 3. Multiple measures, such as capacity-building programmes, should be developed and applied. 5. If gender quotas are applied, they must be compatible with the electoral system if they are to be effective. 5. Explicit rules about the implementation of gender quotas, such as rank-ordering rules, legal sanctions for non-compliance (legislated quotas) and a ‘contract’ with the local party organisations (voluntary party quotas) are needed. 6. In the case of legislated quotas, institutional bodies should supervise the implementation. Money should be provided for further research on the implementation and effects of gender quotas. 2 Table of contents Executive summary____________________________________________________ 2 Section A: Mapping and Cross-Country/Cross-Party Analyses 1. Mapping of electoral gender quotas: frequency and types __________________ 8 Introduction _______________________________________________________________ 8 1.1. International recommendations _____________________________________________ 9 1.2. Constitutional reform and rejection_________________________________________ 10 1.3. Mapping the use of gender quotas__________________________________________ 10 1.4. Types of gender quotas __________________________________________________ 13 1.5. Electoral systems and quota design_________________________________________ 16 1.6. Political parties as gatekeepers ____________________________________________ 17 2. Quotas – a hotly debated issue_________________________________________18 2.1. Arguments for and against quotas__________________________________________ 18 2.2. Fast track vs incremental track ____________________________________________ 21 2.3. Quota discourses in the eight case studies____________________________________ 22 2.4. Political party views on quotas ____________________________________________ 24 3. The implementation of gender quotas __________________________________26 3.1. The effects of the electoral system _________________________________________ 28 3.2. Which are best: voluntary or legislated quotas? _______________________________ 29 3.3. Leap change vs gradual change____________________________________________ 30 3.5. Sanctions for non-compliance_____________________________________________ 34 3.6. Quotas and the effectiveness of women politicians ____________________________ 36 3.7. Recommendations ______________________________________________________ 37 Section B: Case Studies Belgium: a best practice put in perspective____________________________________42 France: ‘parité’ under the law ______________________________________________51 Germany: successful quota rules in a gendered society___________________________60 Poland: one step forward, one step back. The Polish dance around a quota system _____72 Slovenia: from voluntary to legislated quotas __________________________________82 Spain: towards a more gender-equal state_____________________________________92 Sweden: small steps, big consequences______________________________________ 100 The United Kingdom: political parties and quota reform ________________________ 110 3 Appendices The methodology of the quota study _______________________________________ 118 About the authors _____________________________________________________ 119 Acronyms and abbreviations _____________________________________________ 121 Tables and figures Figure 1. Mapping of gender quotas at different electoral levels: the eight case studies ________12 Figure 2. Quotas in different stages of the nomination process ________________________15 Figure 3. The incremental track model and the fast track model________________________22 Figure 4. Women’s representation in national parliaments, by type of quota _______________27 Figure 5. Development of the percentage of women in municipal councils in Baden-Württemberg ____________________________________________________________________68 Table 1. Women’s representation in national parliaments in the EU/EEA countries: level of representation, quota type and electoral system (lower house or unicameral parliament) _______ 11 Table 2. Political parties’ views on the importance of gender in candidate selection __________24 Table 3. Political parties’ general positions on gender quotas __________________________24 Table 4. Women’s national representation in the eight case studies through four elections – before and after the introduction of quotas ___________________________________________30 Table 5. The construction and effect of legislated gender quotas in five European countries____33 Table 6. The construction and result of voluntary gender quotas in six social democratic parties in Europe _______________________________________________________________34 Table 7. The percentage of women in the two most recent Belgian elections (for all levels)_____44 Table 8. The percentages of women elected to the political assemblies in France, by voting method and the terms and conditions of the law on parity _________________________________54 Table 9. Percentages of female candidates and women elected to the National Assembly, by parliamentary party, 1997–2007 ______________________________________________56 Table 10. The percentages of male candidates at the legislative elections of June 2007, by the strength of the party in the electoral district in the first round of the presidential election in April 2007 _________________________________________________________________57 Table 11. Women in the German national Parliament (Bundestag) 1949–2007 _____________64 Table 12. The percentage of women in the parliamentary party groups of the Bundestag (Bundestagsfraktion), by political party _________________________________________64