Party penalties for parity: less than meets the eye

Payments and Penalties for Democracy: Gendered Electoral Financing in Action Worldwide

“…“Legal restrictions” are government-led top-down approaches that penalize or pay parties through public funding to make parties comply with a given gender-balance goal. They are initiated and implemented by the government, often involving women’s policy agencies, and in many cases operate in conjunction with legislated quotas, like in France (Achin et al 2020; Mazur et al 2020). The “positive attention” strategy is bottom-up, as Beetham implies.…”

“…Nonetheless, the country-based studies do provide some insights. Research on top-down initiatives suggests that when public funding is significant for parties, the door is opened for fines to be given for noncompliance with a gender-balance target (Buckley and Gregory 2020; Achin et al 2020). Top-down strategies may also occur in countries with limited public support for campaigning or party activities.…”

Gender bias in candidate turnover: A longitudinal analysis of legislative elections in Flanders/Belgium (1987–2019)

“…Women candidates may face more obstacles in the party when they attempt to gradually strengthen their position by running time and again (Krook, 2010; Krook and Norris, 2014; Norris and Lovenduski, 1995). Party selectorates, which are often “old boys’ clubs” may be less appreciative toward female candidacies (Norris, 2004) and more inclined to reward strong and persistent male politicians with reselection, while disregarding a similar trajectory among women (Mazur et al, 2020: 28). Cheng and Tavits (2011) show that the gender composition of selectorates even affects women’s initial motivation to run for office.…”

“…However, it might also be the case that such women politicians exist in abundance, but have not been granted sufficient opportunities as candidates by male dominated selectorates prior to the introduction of quotas (e.g. Mazur et al, 2020: 28). As quota rules create an increased demand for women candidates and incentivize parties to keep women on their candidate lists, selectorates are now obligated to give women politicians the career opportunities which they were reluctant to grant before.…”

“…Matters could even be worse if the electoral capital built up through elections is valued unequally across gender (Mazur et al, 2020: 28). On the basis of previous research (André et al, 2017) it can be expected that candidates who perform strongly in electoral terms will be re-selected time and again by the party, and hence survive longer as a candidate.…”