International IDEA and Stockholm University’s Department of Political Science launches new global database website on Electoral Quotas for Women. www.quotaproject.org [2]

This website is the first overview of the use of electoral quotas for women worldwide and is a joint project on the collection of global information on quotas between International IDEA and SU’s Department of Political Science. It is a collaborative research project leading to produce comparative knowledge and resources on electoral quotas for women and provides information on the various types of quotas in existence today, detailing the percentages and targets in countries where they are applicable.

According to Drude Dahlerup, Professor of Political Science at Stockholm University, “This is the first global comparison of the use of quotas, and it is shown that an unexpectedly high number of countries have introduced some electoral gender quota. Indeed, we can even talk of a quota fever.”

The representation of women in national parliaments currently stands at 15 percent worldwide although it is shown that 76 countries have introduced some type of gender quota. Given the slow rate by which the number of women in politics is growing, quotas have come to be seen as an important mechanism to increase the political representation of women, with more and more countries legislating the introduction of quotas for women. The most recent example comes from Indonesia, where last month a bill legislating that political parties seek to forward 30% women candidates forwarded for election passed through parliament. Of the countries that have some form of a quota, 11 countries have quotas provisions contained in the constitution. Interestingly, some 121 political parties in 59 countries have adopted quotas to ensure that women are selected as candidates for electoral competition.

The core idea behind quota systems is to recruit women into political positions and to ensure that women are not only a few tokens in political life. Some quota systems are, however, constructed as gender-neutral, which means that they aim to correct the under-representation of both women and men and establish a maximum for both sexes. In this case, the requirement may be that neither gender should occupy more than 60 per cent and no less that 40 per cent of the seats. A fifty-fifty quota is in its nature gender neutral, and it also sets a maximum for women's representation, which the minimum requirement quota for women does not do.

The widespread use of Quotas around the world is best demonstrated by the different adaptations of quotas into the many levels of political life. For example, Constitutional Quota for National Parliament, in which quota provisions are mandated in the constitution of the country, are currently in place in Nepal, the Philippines and Uganda while the Election Law Quota or Regulation for National Parliament, quotas that are provided for in the national legislation or regulations of the country, are widely used in Latin America, and are gaining prominence in other regions.

In some countries, many political parties have adopted some type of quota provisions for electoral candidates, as seen in countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Germany, Norway, Italy and Sweden. In this context, rules or targets are set by political parties to include a certain percentage of women as election candidates. It is shown that if the majority party in a country uses quotas, like African National Congress in South Africa, this may have a substantial effect on the overall representation of women. Yet, many political parties do not apply any quota system at all, sometimes because quotas may be viewed as interference in the prerogatives of the local party organization to select their own candidates.

Because of its relative efficiency, the hope for a dramatic increase in women's representation by using this system is strong. At the same time the introduction of quotas can be controversial, raising serious questions and, in some cases, strong resistance. An electoral gender quota regulation may, for example, require that at least 40 per cent of the candidates on the electoral lists are women. “A minimum requirement for women implies a maximum set for the representation of men”, says Drude Dahlerup.

For more information on the comparative global data on quotas for women in politics, please visit the Quota Website at www.quotaproject.org [2] or www.idea.int/quota [3]

For further information contact:
International IDEA: Julie Ballington, Gender Officer at +46+8+698-3732 or [email protected] [4]

The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Sweden with 20 member states and 4 international NGO associate members that exists to sustain and promote democracy around the world. Global in membership and scope, independent of specific national interests, and quick in its response, International IDEA is an organization with a unique mandate – to support the growth of genuine, sustainable democracy.