SEMINAR: QUOTA POLITICS POL612 April 10, 2018 1840559440 DO WE NEED QUOTA? •How do you understand quota? What does it mean? •Why is this controversial? •What about quota and democracy? •What is the dominant discourse in your country? •Quota: yay or nay? • • MANSBRIDGE, JANE: QUOTA PROBLEMS: COMBAT THE DANGERS OF ESSENTIALISM • MANSBRIDGE, JANE: QUOTA PROBLEMS: COMBAT THE DANGERS OF ESSENTIALISM •Descriptive representation necessary for substantive and symbolic representation •Lower than proportional representation caused by discrimination against the group •Quotas are the most effective way to achieve desc.rep. •Group interests cannot be effectively represented when: •Representatives who are member of the group tend to respond to group relevant issues with greater concern than others (concern) •They can communicate better among themselves, with other representatives, constituents from that group (communication) •Major challenge: quota reinforce stereotypes and essentialism •What is the way to fight essentialism? (representation of women/men, what about different women?) •To talk about the ways in which the differences between groups are caused by structural biases • BALDEZ, LISA: THE PROS AND CONS OF GENDER QUOTA LAWS: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU KNOCK MEN OUT AND LET WOMEN IN? • BALDEZ, LISA: THE PROS AND CONS OF GENDER QUOTA LAWS: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU KNOCK MEN OUT AND LET WOMEN IN? •Quota fever since 1990s •Quota effect: increase of number of women (in the right conditions) •But how about democratization of process of candidate selection? •Quotas can challenge the status quo, destroy monopoly of (male) dinosaurs •But in centralized nomination processes it can strengthen the current structures as well (new legitimacy to the old process) •Gender quota n Latin America strengthen highly centralized undemocratic process •More women, but the dynamics remains the same •Example: Mexico 2002 (70:30%), in case of primary elections quotas don‘t apply •The effects are not straightforward •But it can „fuel our political imagination“ • • KROOK, MONA LENA: GENDER QUOTAS, NORMS, AND POLITICS • KROOK, MONA LENA: GENDER QUOTAS, NORMS, AND POLITICS •More countries adopt quota despite normative objections •Increase in women‘s representation despite social and economic prerequisites •Broad shift in international norms, quota as global trend •Normative concerns: political equality and representation vs. privilege of one group, undermining equality of opportunities ignoring more salient cleavages •Objections: •Quota women can‘t pursue women-friendly policy change •Undermining female actors even those who won on their own •Quota lead to broad positive changes (political agenda, ender consciousness,, engagement of female constituencies) •Holding office has effects on 1) women who believe they have not been victims of discrimination, 2) second-class citizens •Quota show the biases of prior recruitment processes •Shift in responsibility for women‘s underrepresentation from women to political elites • • • • • POLITICS OF GENDER QUOTA •Some type of quota in over half of the countries in the world •Increase of women in elected offices after 2000 •Project IDEA Source: www. IDEA.int TOP 10 COUNTRIES RIGHT NOW • DEFINING QUOTAS •Affirmative measure which ensures that there should be certain number or proportion of women among those who are nominated or elected •Numbers and percentages •Fast-track policy goal •Quotas either for women or gender neutral TYPES OF QUOTAS •PARTY CANDIDATE QUOTA •LEGISLATIVE QUOTA •RESERVED SEATS QUOTA MEASURES •Most common in PR electoral systems •France and Mexico – plurality systems, single-member constituencies •Rank order rules (double quota): placement of mandates on the list •Legal sanctions for non-compliance, refusing of list is the most effective • QUOTA DISCOURSE •Traditionalists deny that there is a problem of underrepresentation •Resistance to quota, conviction that its women's‘ free choice •Quota, affirmative action etc. = special treatments •VS. •Promotion of justice in society •International organizations support affirmative action •“Temporary special measures” (UN CEDAW 1975) •“Measures against discriminative practices” (UN Beijing Action Platform 1995) •High legitimacy of these documents • ARGUMENTS PRO AND AGAINST QUOTA (DAHLERUP 2017) SHOULD THERE BE QUOTAS FOR MEN??? •Rainbow Murray 2014 •Need to reframe the debate •Problem of overrepresentation of men! •There is no merit in current system THE BIG QUOTA CONTROVERSY •A Czech female Senator (ongoing research): •“We are thinking about (intra-party) mechanisms, how to bring them (women) there. We don‘t want quotas. I don‘t think that would be the ideal model. But our ideal model is to have at least one third of eligible positions occupied by women. That is, when the six first positions are eligible, there should be at least two women.“ WAVES OF QUOTA MEASURES •1st wave: 1970s and 1980s Scandinavia (and Communist regimes) •2nd wave: after 1991 (Argentina) in Latin America, Beijing Action Plan 1995 •3rd wave: current reforms of quota measures (to make them effective) • QUOTAS WORLD WIDE •Reserved seats: Asia, Middle East, North Africa •Legislative quota: Latin America, Europe, Africa •Party quota: Europe, South Africa • •EU countries form party to legislative quota: France, Belgium, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Croatia, Poland POLISH CASE DRIVING FORCES •1) regional adoption of gender quotas •2) international organizations •3) domestic women‘s movement, intervention within parties • •Number of structural factors not important • •(Gender Quota Database 2014) • EFFECTIVENESS QUOTA RESISTANCE (KROOK 2016)