Electoral gender quotas systems and their implementation in Europe

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3.4. Representation of women in other bodiesIn Poland there is no legal mechanism which would make it obligatory to work towards ensuringequal participation of men and women in power. However, a slow process is observable wherebythis has been transformed into a political issue. For many years, both before 1989 and after thetransformation, either there were no women in government or there was one token woman. Forthe first time women held five ministerial positions in Jerzy Buzek’s government (1997–2001), andthen in Jarosław Kaczyński’s government (2006–7). There is the same number of women (five) inministerial positions in the current government of Donald Tusk, which has been in power since2007 (they currently make up 28 per cent of government ministers).The situation is similar in local authorities. Until a short time ago, there was no woman wojewoda(head of one of the 16 regions 54 ). Now four women hold this position (making up 25 per cent ofthe total).4. Conclusions1. Quota systems, even those that are very limited in scope, contribute to enforcing equalopportunities for women and men.2. When quota systems are not backed by sanctions, they often fail to be observed even if theyhave been introduced by the parties voluntarily. This may be because these provisions are oftenadopted by parties immediately before elections, under pressure from women who are notpowerful enough and whose political participation is not strong enough for them to be able toforce the parties to observe the regulation within a time frame beyond the immediate election.3. An argument often used by opponents of quota systems is the fear that individuals who arenot competent will be appointed to positions of power if such systems are introduced.However, research shows that the opposite mechanism operates in politics: competent womenare held away from power and influence by men. This may lead to the deduction that the fear ofcompetition from competent women is one of the most important, but at the same time mostcarefully masked, reasons for the opposition to a quota system. Moreover, instead of searchingfor women who are competent, the parties seek out women who have no political experience,who pose no threat to incumbent leaders, and who at the same time serve as evidence thatwomen are inexperienced, ‘new’ and not knowledgeable about politics.4. The Polish experience shows that if at least one party introduces a system of enforcing equalopportunities for men and women, other parties attempt to demonstrate that they too arefamiliar with the issue of equal opportunities and the under-representation of women, forexample by appointing more women at government level, or by placing more women on highpositions on electoral lists. Thus, even if to a limited extent, the position and opportunities ofwomen are being increased across the spectrum of political parties.References and further readingFuszara, Małgorzata, ‘New Gender Relations in Poland in 1990s’, in G. Kligman and S. Gal (eds),Reproducing Gender: Politics, Publics, and Everyday Life after Socialism (Princeton, NJ: PrincetonUniversity Press, 2000), pp. 259–85Fuszara, Małgorzata, ‘Kobiety w Polsce na przełomie wieków: Nowy kontrakt płci?’ [Women inPoland at the turn of the century: a new gender contract?]’, in M. Fuszara (ed.) (Warsaw:Instytut Spraw Publicznych Warszawa, 2002)54 Poland is divided into 16 administrative districts (województwo), each headed by an official (wojewoda) appointed by the primeminister.80
Fuszara, Małgorzata, ‘Between Feminism and the Catholic Church: The Women’s Movement inPoland’, Czech Sociological Review, 5 (2005), pp. 1057–75Fuszara, Małgorzata, Kobiety w polityce [Women in politics] (Warsaw: TRIO, 2006)Fuszara, Małgorzata and Zielińska, Eleonora, ‘Women and the Law in Poland: Towards ActiveCitizenship’, in J. Lukic, J. Regulska and D. Zavirsek (eds), Women and Citizenship in Central andEastern Europe (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006) pp. 39–60Kurczewski, Jacek, Posłowie a opinia publiczna [Deputies and public opinion] (Warsaw: ISNS, 1999)Siemieńska, Renata, Nie mogą? Nie chcą? Nie potrafią? O postawach i uczestnictwie politycznym kobiet wPolsce [They do not want, they are unable, do they? About attitudes and women’s politicalparticipation in Poland] (Warsaw: Scholar, 2000)Siemieńska, Renata, Płeć, wybory władza [Gender, elections, power] (Warsaw: Scholar, 2005)Spurek, Sylwia, Kobiety, partie, wybory [Women, parties, elections] (Łódź: CPK, 2002)Titkow, Anna (ed.), Szklany sufit: Bariery i ograniczenia karier kobiet [Glass ceiling: barriers andobstacles in the careers of women] (Warsaw: ISP, 2003)81
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Directorate-General Internal Polici
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Electoral Gender Quota Systems andT
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AppendicesThe methodology of the qu
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Table 41. Women’s representation
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1. Mapping of electoral gender quot
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Committee of Ministers’ Recommend
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have occurred after election day -
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parties and take the form of intern
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Knowledge of different electoral qu
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support for female candidates has s
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of more women in politics. Many opp
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Figure 3. The incremental track mod
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is probably that gender quotas rema
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to gender quotas. Likewise, the dat
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‘Special organisation for women w
Page 34 and 35: individual parties that adopt them,
Page 36 and 37: political party in the Swedish Parl
Page 38 and 39: then the requirement of 50 per cent
Page 40 and 41: proportion of women elected in the
Page 42 and 43: and organisation of women are cruci
Page 44 and 45: Matland, Richard E., ‘Enhancing W
Page 46 and 47: Case studyBelgium: a best practice
Page 48 and 49: While the 1994 act applied to all e
Page 50 and 51: need to include at least one woman,
Page 52 and 53: introduced, individual parties adop
Page 54 and 55: Marissal, Claudie and Hansen, Ingri
Page 56 and 57: In order to correct the discriminat
Page 58 and 59: The legal vacuum pertaining to the
Page 60 and 61: y women in terms of number of seats
Page 62 and 63: 5. ‘Virtuous dynamic’: the symb
Page 64 and 65: Case studyGermany: successful quota
Page 66 and 67: party positions (Gruppenwahlen zu P
Page 68 and 69: districts, quota rules are often no
Page 70 and 71: Table 14. Success rates of female a
Page 72 and 73: Figure 5. Development of the percen
Page 74 and 75: so far no formal rules have been ad
Page 76 and 77: Case studyPoland: one step forward,
Page 78 and 79: 16 in Poland)Rady powiatów(second
Page 80 and 81: 3. Evaluation3.1. Candidate lists i
Page 82 and 83: List, in Ozorków Women of Tomorrow
Page 86 and 87: Case studySlovenia: from voluntary
Page 88 and 89: council. The positions of candidate
Page 90 and 91: 3.2.2. The introduction of legislat
Page 92 and 93: Table 25 shows that only one of the
Page 94 and 95: Source: Author’s own calculation
Page 96 and 97: Zakon o volitvah v Evropski parlame
Page 98 and 99: Advocates for quotas for women lobb
Page 100 and 101: Table 31. The percentage and number
Page 102 and 103: Table 33. Municipality elections in
Page 104 and 105: Case studySweden: small steps, big
Page 106 and 107: 40 per cent of either sex on the pa
Page 108 and 109: voluntary party quotas than in part
Page 110 and 111: The zipper system (50 per cent) int
Page 112 and 113: While quotas for minority groups ha
Page 114 and 115: Case studyThe United Kingdom: polit
Page 116 and 117: In contrast to Labour, the Scottish
Page 118 and 119: The twinning and zipping policies a
Page 120 and 121: differences across the political pa
Page 122 and 123: Appendix IThe methodology of the qu
Page 124 and 125: Brigitte Geissel is a political sci
Page 126: ZLSDZZPUnited List of Social Democr
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