Gender Quotas and Democratic Participation

Davidson-Schmich, Louise K.

doi:10.3998/mpub.8137405

Cited by 52 publications

(22 citation statements)

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“…Although individual political attitudes, especially among women, may be affected by gender quotas and the related higher representation of women (Geissel and Hust, 2005), quotas do not seem to result in gender-equal political ambition, even about two decades after the introduction of the first quota law. The findings are in line with Davidson-Schmich's (2016) results showing a gender gap among potential aspirants, even within German parties using quotas. The fact that young women continue to report lower levels of nascent political ambition compared with men implies that political parties have to actively search for women candidates (Cross, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Preferences for and perceptions about politicians’ goals and how they impact women’s and men’s political ambition

Coffé

Devroe

Vandeleene

et al. 2022

European Journal of Politics and Gender

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Women consistently report lower levels of nascent political ambition than men, which causes problems for the recruitment of women in politics. The aim of this study is to better understand the mechanisms behind this gender gap by simultaneously studying the extent to which gender differences in preferences for and perceptions about the typical goals attained through a political career (power, independence and communal goals) can explain gender differences in political ambition. Using data collected among Belgian political and social sciences students (N = 322), our results provide a strong confirmation of the gender gap in political ambition. We also find substantial gender differences in preferences for and perceptions about goals pursued through political careers. However, these individual-level differences in preferences and perceptions only marginally reduce the gender gap in political ambition, emphasising the need for active political recruitment.<br />Key messages<ul><li>There is a gender gap in political ambition, even among political and social sciences students.</li><br /><li>Women are less attracted to the independence and power goals of a political mandate than men.</li><br /><li>Women are interested in achieving communal goals but believe that they are not central to a political mandate.</li><br /><li>Preferences for and perceptions about power goals explain political ambition but not the gender gap.</li></ul>

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Preferences for and perceptions about politicians’ goals and how they impact women’s and men’s political ambition

Coffé

Devroe

Vandeleene

et al. 2022

European Journal of Politics and Gender

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“…Current research supports this argument, showing that parties with a commitment to gender equity are more like to adopt quotas than are other parties (Kittilson 2006;Krook 2009;Murray, Krook, and Opello 2012;Opello 2006). Davidson-Schmich (2016) argues, however, that the adoption of quotas by parties across the ideological spectrum in the German case suggests that ideology alone is not sufficient to explain party quota adoption in all contexts.…”

Section: Understanding Quota Compliancementioning

confidence: 97%

“…Murray (2007) argues that the funding penalties for quota non-fulfillment in France push smaller parties, who cannot afford losses in party funds, to abide by the quota, but not larger parties, which can afford the losses. Davidson-Schmich (2016) notes that while the voluntary party quotas enacted by German parties are written to be legally binding, the quota rules of many parties contained loopholes that allowed them to avoid fulfilling them under certain circumstances.…”

Section: Understanding Quota Compliancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, quota laws often contain punishments for parties that fail to abide by them. Research finds that quotas with stronger enforcement mechanisms are more likely to be followed than others (e.g., Davidson-Schmich 2016;Schwindt-Bayer 2009;Baldez 2002;Htun and Jones 2002;Murray 2007). Yet, empirical studies of the effects of quotas on women's representation find that quotas with no punishments or weak ones are still correlated with increases in women's representation (Schwindt-Bayer 2009).…”

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confidence: 99%

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When Are Gender Quotas Fulfilled? Party Strategy and Historical Memory in Ukrainian City Elections

Thames¹,

Bloom²

2022

Pol & Gen

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Many studies have investigated why countries adopt gender quotas for their elections. In this article, we answer a different question: why do political parties comply with gender quotas when the costs of noncompliance are absent or minimal? To answer this question, we analyze data from 1,600 party lists and 106 parties competing across 121 cities in the 2015 municipal elections in Ukraine. Our subnational approach tests whether contextual factors flagged by the broader gender literature explain variation in compliance across localities. The results of our models support our contention that Ukrainian political parties behaved strategically in terms of nominations and quota compliance. We find that urbanization and female incumbency fueled quota compliance. Parties, however, were less likely to comply with quotas in cities with more Ukrainian speakers. We suggest that the politics of memory explain this outcome, as Ukrainian speakers are more likely to remember of the costs of Soviet rule.

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“…Scholars have studied the ‘classical’ mechanisms that the mainstream literature identifies as explanatory factors for the political inclusion and exclusion of disadvantaged groups in elected office (Mügge and Erzeel, 2016). Mechanisms that have been scrutinized are the influence of candidate recruitment and selection (Bejarano, 2013; Freidenvall, 2016; Hardy-Fanta, 2013), electoral systems, quotas (Bird, 2016; Davidson-Schmich, 2016), and identity networks (Beckwith, 2000; Evans, 2014; Laperrière and Lépinard, 2016). While early work has predominantly focused on the intersection of gender and ethnicity or race, forthcoming work includes other identities such as religion (Hughes, 2016; Murray, 2016), age (Randall, 2016), generation (Mügge, 2016b), ability, and sexuality (Evans, 2016).…”

Section: The Intersectional Paradigmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Whose equality? Measuring group representation

Celis

Mügge

2017

Politics

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Presence, of bodies and ideas, is often taken as the primary indicator of political equality and, hence, democratic health. Intersectionality and constructivism question the validity of measuring presence. Turning theory into practice, we propose a comparative reflexive design guided by two research questions: (1) Who are the groups? and (2) What are their problems? This reveals both prototypical and non-prototypical groups and interests, from the perspectives of politicians (from above) and citizens (from below). We suggest concrete qualitative and quantitative methodological strategies to study these questions empirically.

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Gender Quotas and Democratic Participation

Cited by 52 publications

References 0 publications

Preferences for and perceptions about politicians’ goals and how they impact women’s and men’s political ambition

Preferences for and perceptions about politicians’ goals and how they impact women’s and men’s political ambition

When Are Gender Quotas Fulfilled? Party Strategy and Historical Memory in Ukrainian City Elections

Whose equality? Measuring group representation

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