Who are the Women? Where are the Women? And What Difference Can They Make? Effects of Gender Parity in French Municipal Elections

Portugal's Quota-Parity Law: An Analysis of its Adoption

“…As Krook (2009: 9-10) reminds us, various case studies highlight the importance of contagion -as party elites often adopt quotas when one of their rivals adopts them (Caul 2001;Meier 2004). Similarly, case studies from Brazil (Htun and Jones 2002) and France (Bird 2003) show that elites may also sometimes use quotas as an empty gesture, 'as a way to demonstrate a degree of commitment to women without actually intending to alter existing patterns of inequality' (Krook 2009: 10). Alternatively, elites may sometimes use quotas 'as a convenient means to achieve other ends, like maintaining control over rivals within or outside the party' (Krook 2009: 10;Panday 2008).…”

Unequals among equals: Party strategic discrimination and quota laws

“…Second, parity advocates defined gender difference as a universal one, accepted by the French constitution (Bereni, 2007, p. 199). Third, many proponents of parity explicitly rejected quotas due to the annulment by the Constitutional Court in 1982 of the 25 per cent quota for municipal elections on the grounds that the equality principle established in the French constitution did not permit to divide the electoral corps by categories (Bird, 2003). In order to overcome opposition to positive action, activists promoted simple equality.…”

“…The public subsidy linked to the number of votes obtained in the first round is reduced by a percentage equivalent to half the difference between the number of candidates of each sex with respect to the total number of candidates. The weakest provision for the National Assembly illustrates the extent to which the main parties were resistant to change the status quo (Bird, 2003), specifically by being unwilling to deselect male incumbents given that they could more easily absorb the losses in state funding than minor parties (Murray et al, forthcoming). 2 Cantonal elections remained unaffected by the 2000 law (Troupel, 2005).…”

“…Likewise, political parties are not gender-neutral structures and institutionalise definitions of femininity and masculinity, arrange gender hierarchies and define gender-appropriate jobs (Lovenduski, 2005). Indeed, research into the implementation of quotas shows that their effectiveness is constrained by several discriminatory manoeuvres that parties use to circumvent the law (Troupel, 2002;Bird, 2003;Murray, 2008;Verge, 2010). Therefore, as Mateo Dı´az and Millns (2004, p. 301) argue, 'even where parity measures are introduced at the highest legal and constitutional levels they have little chance of producing effective outcomes where they operate within a climate of gender biased political structures and do not adjust to national electoral systems '. This article aims at unveiling the broad array of strategic discrimination practices that political parties apply, which diminish the equalising potential of positive action.…”

Gender parity thwarted? The effect of electoral reform on Senate and European Parliamentary elections in France, 1999–2011

“…Clearly, placing males at the head of the party list works to their advantage. Fréchette et al (2008) and Bird (2002Bird ( , 2003 also describe the process of 'party proliferation' in France. In this scenario, incumbent males within a particular party in France recognized that after the 2000 parity law, in the upcoming PR districts, they would have to relinquish the second, and perhaps the fourth, place on the party list to a female candidate.…”