Electoral gender quotas systems and their implementation in Europe

LDS 1998200033%25%NoNoNeutralNeutralNoNoPartycouncilNoNo13.0Source: Antić Gaber, Milica and Lokar, Sonja, ‘The Balkans: From Total Rejection to Gradual Acceptance ofGender Quotas’, in Drude Dahlerup (ed.), Women, Quotas and Politics (New York and London: Routledge,2006).The first two parties that introduced voluntary party quotas were pioneers of gender equality inSlovenia, among political parties and in the political arena more widely. They made further steps inthis respect more achievable.3.2. Legislated quotasAfter a period of stagnation in the second half of the 1990s of the political representation ofwomen in Slovenia, and after a few failures to get quotas accepted into the law, awareness thatsomething should be done in this respect started to grow among the left-of-centre-oriented politicalelite.3.2.1. The preparation phaseThe first step was taken in June 2002, with the adoption of the Act on Equal Opportunities forWomen and Men, which contains several provisions for the promotion of gender-balancedparticipation in decision making. The most important are the following. It determines:(a) that the establishment of equal opportunities is a duty of the entire society;(b) that it is the obligation of the National Assembly to respect the principle of balancedrepresentation of women and men in the establishment of working bodies and the compositionof delegations; and(c) that the political parties have a duty to promote gender-balanced representation/participation; furthermore, political parties that are included in the register of political partiesshall adopt a plan in which they shall determine methods and measures for the promotion ofmore balanced representation of women and men within party bodies, and on candidate lists forelections to the National Assembly and to bodies of local communities, as well as for electionsfor the president of the state.The second step was taken in June 2004, when the National Assembly adopted the ConstitutionalAct amending article 43 of the constitution of Slovenia. By this, it added to the provision onuniversal and equal rights, voting in a new paragraph conferring on the legislature the power todetermine, in a law, measures for encouraging equal opportunities for women and men in standingfor election to state authorities and local community authorities.The third step was taken in September 2004 when, in compliance with article 14 of the Act onEqual Opportunities for Women and Men, the government adopted a decree regulating the criteriafor implementation of the principle of balanced representation of women and men. The decree laysdown the procedure for ensuring balanced representation in the composition of working bodies,and in appointing and nominating government representatives. Both the decree and the act providethat the principle of gender-balanced representation is respected when at least 40 per centrepresentation of women and men is ensured. In certain specified circumstances the decree permitsexemptions from this principle on objectively justified grounds. Such an exemption is permitted incases where membership of a particular government body stems from a particular function.85