Persistent efforts and opportune moments: women’s groups and gender quota adoption in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

After the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe scholars noted that the percentage of women in CEE parliaments plummeted from previous levels, from 30% in some countries during communism to below 10%. Currently, the average percentage of women in most CEE parliaments is 27%. Gender quotas are partly responsible for this increase. I make the argument here that gender quota adoption in adopter countries has been aided by the efforts of women's networks, women politicians and other actors supportive of women's causes, recognising the effect of women's groups in a region not known for having robust women's organizing.

Female empowerment and masculinity – a cultural trait? Evidence from the CEE countries

“…However, socialist governments were not effective in combating gender inequality; women were required to work, but experienced wage inequality, occupational and sectoral segregation, remaining primarily responsible for household and family duties (Stoilova, 2010). Under this system, women experienced a certain “top-down” form of feminism, initiated and led by the communist governments, granting women rights to – amongst others – abortion and free education, which resulted in the significant reduction or even total absence of women’s movements (Vojvodić, 2021).…”

“…During the post-socialist transformation, female empowerment lost its bearing to a new wave of traditionalism (Dawn Metcalfe and Afanassieva, 2005; Alas and Rees, 2005; Rugina, 2019). Women’s empowerment, as a shared value of the European Union, should finally be revived, however, there is both a rise in populism (Graff and Korolczuk, 2021, p. 16 and next) and more active women’s movements (Vojvodić, 2021), resulting in the CEE countries being the least gender equal in the EU (López-Martínez et al , 2022).…”

The Limits of Presence: Constraints on Women’s Political Representation in Serbia and Montenegro

“…Gender quotas have emerged as an effective way to increase the number of women in political institutions, but they remain controversial and are often met with resistance. Elite political actors, who are often men, are initially very hesitant to pass such measures, which some of them deem as anti-meritocratic, an imposition from "above," or even, in some regions, unwanted relics of a communist past (Krook 2016;Vojvodić 2020).…”

“…Women's networks and groups, such as Palić, are primarily responsible for the many gains women have made in this regard. Some of the early literature in the region post-democratization discussed the adoption of gender quotas, which became a primary goal for the women's movement there (Vojvodić 2021). While elites were initially skeptical about quotas and reluctant to pass them, quotas were eventually passed in all the countries of the former Yugoslavia.…”

“…This is made even more difficult by the reality that Montenegro's women's movement is not as organized or as large as Serbia's. The gender quota adoption process in the country, for example, was aided by civil society but was spearheaded by women politicians, who were working somewhat independently from women's groups (Vojvodić 2021). Although this is evidence of "critical actors" present in Montenegrin politics, examples such as these are relatively rare.…”