The role of electoral system on women's representation in parliament. Albanian European Union Integration's challenge (original) (raw)

This publication, present findings regarding the effect of electoral system in gender equality representation in parliaments in a comparative approach between European countries and also worldwide. In the same time this effect is analyzed in Albanian situation specially connected with the European integration challenge, taking in consideration also the Albania Progress Report 2013 states that: "Women continue to be underrepresented in public position. In the 2013 parliamentary elections, the three major parties were fined for not respecting the gender quota in the list of candidates for deputies". The paper is based on theoretical and empirical analysis of quantitative data, in a broader chronological view. Analyzing the statistical data in different European countries and also between two main groups in world contexts , regarding the type of electoral system used, it is clearly evidenced that in countries or group of countries with proportional system or mixed electoral system, the figures of women representation in parliaments are much higher as in countries with majority electoral systems. The paper concluded that is a strong correlation between the electoral system and the level of representation of women in parliament. Majoritarian systems are seen to be unfair to women, while the proportional systems or mixed are more advantageous for women.