Are populist parties fostering women’s political representation in Poland? A comment on Kostadinova and Mikulska

Abstract

In a recent contribution to Party Politics, Kostadinova and Mikulska analyze women's political representation by populist parties in Poland and Bulgaria. The presented findings for Poland suggest that the main right-wing populist party PiS (1) elected more women to parliament, (2) nominated more women to promising ballot positions, and (3) that voters of PiS were more likely to support women in the elections compared to leftists parties. We disagree with all three findings. While the first finding is due to an error in the descriptive statistics, we argue that the other two findings are the result of an inappropriate research design. We replicate the analysis based on an altered research design and show that PiS did not elect more women to parliament, did not nominate more women to promising ballot positions and that voters of PiS were not more likely to vote for female candidates.

Voting for locals: Voters’ information processing strategies in open-list PR systems

“…McElroy and Marsh, 2010;Gorecki and Kukolowicz, 2014;Jankowski and Marcinkiewicz, 2016). The observed effects in these analyses are often very small and the interest of these studies is not necessarily on explaining the electoral success of candidates comprehensively.…”

Ineffective and Counterproductive? The Impact of Gender Quotas in Open-List Proportional Representation Systems

“…One aspect that is frequently discussed as a potential source of gender discrimination is the electoral system (see, e.g., Fortin-Rittberger and Eder 2013; Fortin-Rittberger and Rittberger 2014; Roberts, Seawright, and Cyr 2013; Schwindt-Bayer, Malecki, and Crisp 2010; Thames and Williams 2010; Valdini 2012; Vengroff, Nyiria, and Fugiero 2003). In particular, it has been shown how electoral systems that allow voters to cast preferential votes for individual candidates, such as open-list proportional representation (PR) systems, impact women's political representation (e.g., Allik 2015; Golder et al 2017; Górecki and Kukołowicz 2014; Holli and Wass 2010; Jankowski and Marcinkiewicz 2016; Kukołowicz 2013; Matland 1994; McElroy and Marsh 2010).…”

“…Despite a viable and large corpus of literature about gender effects in open-list PR systems, findings regarding women's political representation remain ambiguous. While some scholars have found evidence of a potential gender bias against women in voters’ decision-making process and candidates’ electoral success (e.g., Górecki and Kukołowicz 2014; Kukołowicz 2013; Millard 2014; Sanbonmatsu 2002), others have not observed such effects and argue that women are not disadvantaged at the ballot box (e.g., Jankowski and Marcinkiewicz 2016; McElroy and Marsh 2010). Some even argue that open-list systems have a positive effect on women's election chances, at least in specific contexts (e.g., Golder et al 2017; Kostadinova and Mikulska 2015; Kunovich 2012; Stegmaier, Tosun, and Vlachova 2014).…”

Women in parliament: assessing the effectiveness of gender quotas in Poland

“…Party regional authorities are obliged to shape the regional lists of candidates for deputies in such a way that: 1) The number of women candidates and the number of men candidates may not be less than 35% of the total number of candidates for each constituency list. 2) Out of the first five places in each constituency list neither men nor women can occupy more than three places, 3) Of the first three places in each constituency list neither men nor women can occupy more than two places (Civic Platform, 2015 (Jankowski and Marcinkiewicz, 2016). In fact, on many occasions PiS deputies have expressed their negative opinions on gender equality (see Jankowski and Marcinkiewicz, 2016).…”

“…2) Out of the first five places in each constituency list neither men nor women can occupy more than three places, 3) Of the first three places in each constituency list neither men nor women can occupy more than two places (Civic Platform, 2015 (Jankowski and Marcinkiewicz, 2016). In fact, on many occasions PiS deputies have expressed their negative opinions on gender equality (see Jankowski and Marcinkiewicz, 2016). For example, Law and Justice voted against the ratification of the Council of Europe's 'Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence.'…”