Effect of Gender Quotas on Female Underrepresentation
According to Bacchi's definition, gender quotas in the realm of politics are "a sort of affirmative action, aiming at expanding women's participation in elected legislative bodies" (2006, 32). The three forms of quotas that are employed the most frequently are voluntary party quotas, statutorily mandated candidate quotas, and statutorily mandated reserved seats (IDEA, 2013). The term "voluntary party quotas" refers to the practise of certain political parties establishing a quota in order to "ensure the nomination of a specified number or proportion of women" (Chen, 2010). This practise may be observed in nations like Sweden and the United Kingdom. This is in contrast to other types of candidate quotas, such as those that are legislated, in which the constitution or party statute dictates the required minimum proportion of female candidates, as is the case in Ireland, Belgium, or France. Last but not least, there are legislatively reserved seats, which refer directly to the number of seats that women are to take up within a parliament; despite being the type of quota that is used the least frequently, 36 countries have adopted this system, and they range from countries like Tanzania and Rwanda to countries like Pakistan (IDEA, 2013). Essay writing Services of Academic Master is providing help to world wide people in their works for increasing performance.
Since the Fourth World Conference for Women, which took place in Beijing in 1995, there has been an undeniable and significant increase in the use of quotas. The purpose of this conference was to address the disparities that exist in women's access to political decision making within power structures (Dahlerup & Friedanvall, 2008). However, there is still the question of whether or not they alleviate the problem of underrepresentation. The term "representation" can be taken either in a descriptive sense, in which case it would refer to the total proportion of women in the political arena, or it can be taken in a substantive sense, in which case it would refer to women politicians who expressly advocate for women's interests. Quotas are considered as "steps that target gender bias in the candidate selection process, with the goal of boosting women's descriptive representation" in the majority of situations (Franceschet & Piscopo, 2008). The presumption here is that these women will represent the needs of other women in their actions. However, it is important to note that the descriptive representation of women in parliaments does not automatically translate into substantive representation or even effective descriptive representation. Rather, representation is frequently influenced by a wide variety of factors in addition to quotas, and this is something that must be taken into consideration. This can take the form of institutional variables like the voting system that is already in existence, for example. In addition to this, socio-cultural norms surrounding the role that women are expected to play in society, as well as contradicting concerns such as the mandate effect and the label effect, all have an effect on how quota women are seen, which in turn reduces their efficacy. In addition to this, the design and implementation factors are massively influential in determining the success of quotas and how they merge with the current electoral system. This can be seen through the differences between a proportional representation (PR) system and a majoritarian system as well as the effectiveness of enforcement methods used for non-complying parties. As a consequence of this, the extent to which quotas solve the problem of women's underrepresentation is limited, as their success is largely dependent on additional factors. This demonstrates that the use of quotas alone is not sufficient to solve problems surrounding underrepresentation, both in terms of descriptive and substantive solutions.
The rising usage of quotas is a response to the United Nations Fourth Conference on Women, which took place in Beijing in 1995. At that time, only ten percent of seats in national legislatures were held by women, and an even lower percentage occupied ministerial posts (UN, 1995). Currently, quotas are aimed towards enhancing the representation of women in politics through their descriptive qualities (Franceschet & Piscopo, 2008). This is in reference to increasing the number of women who are members of parliaments in the expectation that this will eventually become a "critical mass" that will aid in determining the outcomes of public policy. This is brought to light by the work of individuals such as Lovenduski, who argued that "when a group reaches a certain size, critical mass theory suggests that there will be a qualitative change in the nature of group interactions, as the minority starts to assert itself and thus transform the institutional culture, norms, and values." This highlights the fact that critical mass theory suggests that there will be a change in the nature of group interactions when a group reaches a certain size. (2005, 142) Therefore, improving the descriptive representation of women in politics will automatically translate into a change of attitudes, culture, and policy outcomes, which will assist in an increase in policy outcomes that benefit women, which will lead to a positively increased substantive representation. Quotas, on the other hand, are frequently successful in improving the descriptive representation of women, as can be seen in Latin America, where Mexico, Nicaragua, Argentina, and Bolivia are all among the top twenty countries for women's representation in Parliament. Nevertheless, despite the fact that quotas are frequently successful in improving the representation of women in descriptive terms (IPU,2017). This descriptive representation has not been effectively transformed into effective substantive representation, in which women policy makers would act in such a way that will benefit women constituents. Consequently, this representation is ineffective. Argentina is an interesting case study from this point of view because despite having a strong descriptive representation at 38.9 percent (IPU, 2017), the country does not have a strong substantive representation. As a result, many of the bills that have been introduced that would have a positive impact on women are not passed.
