Transcript Women’s Political Representation – goals and strategies
Women’s Political Representation – goals and strategies
Stockholm March 23, 2012
Drude Dahlerup, professor of Political Science, Stockholm University
The agenda for this morning
1. Women’s political representation in the world today – and in the Arab region 2. Electoral gender quotas – does it work? 3. Group work 4. Discussion about strategies to break male dominance in political desicion-making
Egypt – what went wrong?
Election 2010 - 13 % women Quotas in the form of reserved seats – 2 women per gouvenerate.
Free election 2011-12.
Only 11 women elected (1,8 %) No gender quotas system, only that each parties should have a minimum of one woman on their list. But 50 % quotas for farmers/workers
Many blamed the women voters for the result But instead they should blame the political parties and the electoral rules.
Different arguments for increasing women’s political representation
1. The justice argument
Women’s right to equal representation
2. The experience argument
Women’s experiences should also be represented
3. The conflict of interests argument
On some or many political issues women’s and men’s interests are not identical
This were the main arguments during the suffrage campaign, and they are still used today.
Arguments, cont.
4. The democracy argument - A political system which excludes women – or other under-represented groups – can not be considered legitimate.
The Beijing Platform for Action, 1995, introduces the democracy argument
5. The utility argument - It is inefficient for society not to use women’s talents
The link between the inclusion of women and processes of democratization.
UN ‘Platform for Action’, Beijing 1995:
“Achieving the goal of equal participation of women and men in decision-making will provide a balance that more accurately reflects the composition of society and is needed in order to strengthen democracy and promote its proper functioning”
(Art. 183).
A new discourse by contemporary women’s movements European Women’s Lobby under the slogan
‘No Modern European Democracy without Gender Equality’.
2008 campaign “The current under-representation of women in most elected assemblies in Europe, including in the European Parliament, is a serious democratic deficit threatening the legitimacy of European institutions and political parties”. ( www.womenslobby.org
).
African Union, Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality 2007
Ensure
the full and effective participation and representation of women in peace process including the prevention, resolution, management of conflicts and post-conflict reconstruction in Africa as stipulated in UN Resolution 1325 (2000) and to also appoint women as Special Envoys and Special Representatives of the African Union;
Democracy and Representation.
Is democracy possible without equal representation of men and women?
Is equal representation possible without democracy? Does the inclusion of women create democracy/ contribute to democratization?
Variations in women’s representation
How to explain the differences?
Top of the world rank order 1997
1. Sweden 40.4 % 2. Norway 3. Finland 39.4 % 33.5 % 4. Denmark 33.0 % 5. The Netherlands 31.3 %
The only five countries with over 30 % women in parliament in 1997
Women’s Parliamentary Representation Globally
World Average 2012: 19.7 (single or lower houses of parliament) Nordic countries: Americas: All Europe, excl. Nordic: Sub-Saharan Africa: Asia: Pacific: Arab countries:
www.ipu.org
42.0 % 22.6 % 20.8 % 20.4 % 18.3 % 12.4 % 11.3 %
Why Scandinavia is no longer the only model?
Through the Scandinavian
incremental track
it took 100 years to reach 40-47 % women in parliament. Even in Scandinavia fast track policies are now being adopted in some areas. Many countries around the world, especially post-conflict are using electoral gender quotas in order to include women in political decision making using the
fast track.
TOP 18 - Lower/single Houses
1. Rwanda 2. Andorra 3. Sweden 4. Seychelles 5. Cuba 6. South Africa 7. Iceland 8. Finland 9.Netherlands 10.Nicaragua
56.3 (2008) 50.0 (2011) 45.0 (2010) 43.8 (2011) 43.2 (2008) 44.5 (2009) 42.9 (2009) 42.0 (2011) 40.7 (2010) 40.2 (2011) Legal Quotas No Quotas Party Quotas No Quotas NA Party Quotas No Quotas No Quotas Party Quotas No Quotas 11. Norway 12.Belgium
13. Mozambique 14. Denmark 39.6 (2009) 39.3 (2010) 39.2 (2009) 39.0 (2011) Party Quotas Legal Quotas Party Quotas No Quotas 15 Costa Rica 16. Argentina 17. Angola 18. Spain 38.6 (2010) 38.5 (2009) 37.3 (2008) 36.3 (2008) Legal Quotas Legal Quotas Legal Quotas Legal Quotas
Election day figures. Might therefore slightly deviate from www.ipu.org
PR PR PR PR PR PR PR PR PR Mixed PR Mixed Plurality/maj PR PR PR PR PR
50,0% 45,0% 40,0% 35,0% 30,0% 25,0% 20,0% 15,0% 10,0% 5,0% 0,0%
Women’s Representation in the Swedish Parliament 1921-2010
(Freidenvall 2006)
Share of women in the first and the second chamber respectively (1922-1969) and in the singel-chamber parliament (1970-2010)
Andel kvinnor i första kammaren Andel kvinnor i andra kammaren Andel kvinnor i enkammarriksdagen
The historical trend
Progress since the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing 1995.
World avarage 1997 11.3
World avarage 2011 19.5
Elections 2009 to 54 parliamentary chambers in 48 countries: In 57 % the chambers increase In 17% of the chambers stagnation In 26 % of the chambers decline
The importance of the electoral system
.
Majoritarian systems: 10.5 % Mixed systems: 13.6 % PR systems
Why this difference?
19.6 %
Electoral gender quotas – a world-wide trend.
Controversial, yet popular!
Electoral Gender Quotas
52 countries have introduced electoral gender quotas in their constitution or electoral law.
In around 50 other countries some political parties make use of voluntary party quotas for their electoral list
A global overview:
Drude Dahlerup (ed): “Women, Quotas and Politics”. Routledge 2006.
The global web site: www.quotaproject.org
Our theories of the connection between socio-economic development and women’s political representation are challenged by actual developments, especially by the use of quotas.
The richer a country, the higher representation of women? No.
The introduction of quotas
Pressure from women’s movements (broad coalitions) Many different motives, not just feminist
It is male dominated parliaments that have adopted gender quota laws
.
”To look like a modern nation”
Women/gender is increasingly being used as an indicator of the status of the country.
Many women in political decision-making is today seen as a symbol of being modern The international image of a country has become increasingly important
Arab countries
Gender Quotas Type Tunisia 27 % Iraq 25 % Yes Yes Candi.
Candi.+ Palestine 13 % Morocco 17% Yes Lebanon 3% Egypt 2% Yes Candi.
Res.seat
No No (one woman)
Frequency of gender quotas
Electoral gender quotas have been introduced in democratic countries, semi democratic countries as well as non democratic countries.
Frequency of gender quotas
in different electoral systems
One fourth of all countries in the world with plurality/majority electoral systems use gender quotas today In contrast to Three fourth of all countries with PR systems.
Consequently, the gap between the two systems in terms of women’s representation will probably increase in the future.
Defining quotas
Gender quotas are an equality policy measure (affirmtive action). Quotas imply setting a fixed goal for the recruitment of women or other under represented groups in order to rapidly change an unwanted inequality Quotas may be gender neutral or for women
Many different types of gender quotas
A quota system has to match the electoral system in the country.
Ineffective quota system: France Unpopular quota systems: Many!
The Role of Political Parties
The political parties are the gatekeepers to elected positions.
Political parties control who gets selected, nominated, and finally elected.
The political parties have the power to change women’s historical under-repesentation
Many types of quotas
A. Legislated or voluntary party quotas?.
B. At what level in the electoral process?
B.1 Aspirant quotas - the pool of candidates B.2 Candidate quotas – candidate lists B.3 Reserved seats – the elected (
with or without election)
Legal
Gender Quotas: regional preferences
Aspirants Candidate Reseved seats Primaries (Panama) Latin America Balkans Arab world Asia, Africa (sub-sah) Voluntary UK (short lists) Nordic countries Southern Africa Western Europe (Morocco)
Some best cases
1. Reserved seats, increasingly based on elections
Ex: Rwanda. Reserved seats system – 2 women to be elected from each district (24). 56.3 % women in parliament. no 1 in the world. See also India, local level.
2. Party quotas for own candidate lists
Ex.: Sweden. Most parties practice ‘every second a woman’, that is 50% voluntary party quotas for candidate lists. 45.0 % women in parl. No 3 in the world. Also SA.
3. Legislated candidate quotas for all parties
: Ex: Costa Rica. 40 % legal candidate quota.
(‘eligible seats’) 38,6% women, no 15.
Tunisia election Oct. 23, 2011
Electoral system: PR in 27 constituencies Quota: parity and zipper (every second woman or man) Result: 49 women, e.g. 23 % women (28 % women in Ben Ali’s parliament!) Most of the elected women (42) stood for the Islamist party, Ennahda.
Why this result? Over 100 new parties. Women top candidate only on 7 % of the lists.
Kosova - controversal
Combination of candidate quotas and reserved seats (guarantee seats) Candidate quota: minimum 30% of each gender among the candidates + one of each gender for every group of 3 on each party list. Combined with 30 % guarantee seats among those elected on each party. Elected men are replaced by the most voted (’best looser’) women candidate.
Rank-order rules are necessary
Candidate quotas:
1. Zipper system – alternation throughout the list (Most Green parties, most parties in Sweden, Costa Rica from next election) 2. The top two cannot be of the same sex (Belgium ´ + 50 % for whole list) 3. 40:60 for every 5 posts on the list. If less than 5 ’eligible’ posts, as close to 40:60 as possible (Spain).
4. One out of every group of 4 candidates must be a woman (East Timor)
Sanctions for non-compliance:
legal quota systems:
1. Rejection of the list (Costa Rica, Spain, Slovenia, East Timor, France at the local level) 2. Places shall remain empty (Belgium) 3. Financial penalty (France at the national level, Portugal)
The diagnosis
Why are women under-represented?
The diagnosis is important for the strategy