Interogating Women’s Participation in Parliament through the Quota System in Sub-Saharan Africa (original) (raw)
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The role that women can cover in the public sphere, especially the political one, has always been considered either a struggle to have a voice or as a privilege, rather than a de facto right. This work aims to understand how the main solutions that the international community has used to confront the gender imbalance in politics over the last twenty years, namely the gender quota regime, works. Starting with an overview of the nature of these special measures and through the persistent debate that has characterised them, this essay aims to show their strengths and weaknesses. This essay presupposes that female representation in parliaments is important, not only in terms of equal rights, but also as an essential presence for the development of the society.
Gender Quotas as an Instrument for Women's Empowerment in Legislatures
Women empowerment is a multidimensional and emerging proposition that is frequently elaborated diversely. Gender parity and equality are important components for reducing the under-representation of women. Politics has always been taken as a masculine realm, excluding women's role from it. Since the ancient times, women have been marginalized in this male-occupied domain, who applied different tactics to keep them away from it. Observing these disparities, the United Nations made continuous efforts to improve the situation as it was not a political issue, but equally hurdling social and economic development. However, from 1975-1995, female representation increased only 0.7 percent, whereas a slight downward trend was observed in upper houses of the parliaments. Currently, more than 130 countries have introduced gender quotas in their national parliaments. Owing to the great expansion of gender quotas during the last fifteen years, quota policies caused huge electoral reforms in recent years. A visible shift occurred in those countries where women's representation was nominal. It seems that quotas' policies are instrument to ensure gender representation. However, the system is not free of flaws, as token women sometimes reduce its usefulness. The study is to explore the quota system in different countries, looking its effectiveness and contribution to women's empowerment and securing their position, maintaining political parity.
Women's Empowerment through the Quota System: The Case of Women Parliamentarians in Afghanistan
INTRODUCTION Afghanistan is a country that has spent a lot of political and social transformation. With the establishment of the regimes political and social conditions have changed for women. Afghan women had experienced the best time for change and modernization with ambitious democratic agendas either the most difficult period with restricts rules based on rigid-Islamic interpretation mixed with patriarchal and traditional context. Investigating into the historical background of Afghan women prove their prominent tireless efforts and their struggling for achieving their civilian and human rights positions. Since removing the veil from their face to prove their existence and willingness for social identity and ignoring to be hostage inside the houses, or while they stand in the political spheres and claim political power all shows internal power to challenging all barriers and difficulties. After 9/11 new government that has formed with international support introduced the quota system as historical leap to compensate women’s disadvantages in politics. THE KEY FINDINGS Based on this research, it was discovered that quota system could function as an approach to increase the number of women involved in legislative institutions. The percentage increase in the number of women who stood for parliamentary elections between 2005 and 2010 is a pointer to the fact that quota have expanded the space of political participation of women. We believe that this is a significant departure from previous era were women were confined to the background. Currently, the 69 women parliamentarians in the legislative arm of the government in Afghanistan may not have been able to radically transform the socio-cultural and institutional impediments to women’s well-being, they nevertheless, serve as models that could galvanize increased women interest in politics. DOES QUOTA SYSTEM EMPOWER WOMEN IN AFGHAN’S PARLIAMENT TO BRING ABOUT POSITIVE CHANGES IN WOMEN ISSUES? Respondents believe that due to the oppressive historical antecedent of Afghanistan, it would have been very difficult for women to access political offices if not for the quota system’s introduction. The quota system was necessary to open the socio-political space for previously confined women to participate in the decision-making machinery of the state following the collapse of the Taliban regime. This achievement did not however come easy as the Afghan government on the one hand, made commitments to its international partners to increase the role of women, but on the other hand, navigating social and cultural barriers to women’s emancipation remains a daunting challenge. However, the new government was desirous of gaining the legitimacy of the international community and wanted to be seen as a democratic state by setting aside quota for women’s political engagements. Respondents who believe that the introduction of the quota system in Afghanistan has significantly increased the presence of women in decision making positions, including the parliament, corroborated this view. However, none of the respondents believed that quota system is synonymous with quality representation that goes beyond mere number and symbolic presence. Essentially, quota system was adjudged a short-term strategy towards women’s mission for equality but in the long run, the social, cultural and institutional constraints on women’s emancipation must be addressed for quality representation to be achieved. Even when women do better in competitive exams or get promoted in organizations, often times men and in some instances fellow women explain their successes as rewards for compromising their moral standing rather than strictly proceeds of hard work, efficiency and effectiveness in the performance of their duties. Gender stereotypes frame how we assign meanings and value to situations, events and circumstances but many women try to break away from this preconceived label of weaknesses and subjugation assigned to them by their societies. The socio-cultural narrative on gender in most societies stereotypes women as the weaker vessels, so that any wrongdoing by a woman is intentionally pushed and used to place them into a category of persons who cannot assert themselves against men in various spheres of life. The implication of this is that failure of a woman in these spheres are usually explained by their gender rather than the situational or circumstantial realities, while that of men are more likely to be explained based on the situational or circumstantial realities than their gender. So most women, being aware of this exclude role that society places them seem to be under pressure to overcome expectations and avoid falling into this gender narrative. Furthermore, social-cultural and institutional constraints on women’s ability to build the needed collaterals, including finance for effective political participation should be addressed. This is because female candidates’ financial dependence on political parties or individual persons adversely affects their political independence and ability to challenge women domineering policies and practices. To achieve the above, current efforts should be directed at increasing the access of women and girls to quality educational opportunities that will equip them with adequate knowledge, skills and experience required to make meaningful contributions in the political sphere. Education will also increase their understanding of modern governance ideals, including multiculturalism, politics and party processes, as well as gender and minority issues. Furthermore, women who are credible and qualified for nomination into various positions are less likely to be held hostage by their incapacity or inefficiency which gives them the opportunity to initiate and follow up independent courses of action. Such women are less likely to be afraid of losing their seats if they do not compromise their moral and ethical standards. WHAT ARE THE CRITERIA USED FOR SELECTING WOMEN WHO BENEFIT FROM QUOTA SYSTEM? The study revealed that although there are official procedures for nominating candidates, eventual beneficiaries of the process often have to fulfill some other unwritten conditions during the campaign which some female candidates are better suited to fulfill in order to receive favored outcomes. This position was confirmed by most of the respondents in this study. In deed the female respondents also alluded to this as they disclosed that male parliamentarians do not reckon with them because they believe that the selection procedure was skewed in their favor and as such, they are considered as quota representatives. This undermines the confidence and self esteem of female representatives in their bid to increase their bargaining power within the parliament. In fact, some female respondents expressed uncertainty about the continuity of the quota system and the possibility that political instability could usher in conservative individuals who might expunge the section on quota from the Afghan’s constitution. This, they believe will be a big lose to the achievements of the quota system so far. DOES POLITICAL QUOTA SYSTEM TRANSLATES TO POWER IN DAILY RELATIONSHIP IN THE SOCIETY? The study revealed that even though FMPs political representation is a controversial issue, their presence is still better than their absence. With their presence, younger generations are likely to perceive them as role models who have successfully navigated the rigid norms of Afghanistan to assume such esteemed decision-making positions. This will no doubt inspire them towards developing their own capacities to transcend the achievements of these role models. FMPs can also mobilize political support in partnership with civil society groups and well meaning individuals and groups in the society for women who aspire to decision-making positions whether in the public or private sector. The presence of women in legislative institutions will provide an opportunity for them to experience decision-making at the highest level of governance. This becomes a rich source of human capital that younger generations of women could benefit from. Respondents generally believed that the quota system had been successful at increasing the voices of women in the parliament and on topical national issues. They however, opined that much is still being desired in in terms of bridging the gaps in absolute numbers between male and female representatives. CONCLUSION The quota system is a multidimensional policy that can facilitate and create political opportunities for women around the globe, but with some disadvantages for society and people. Having the quota system for a long time will make women complacent about developing themselves further to be able to compete on equal terms with men; reasoning that after all, their seats are reserved. Therefore, I believe that the quota system represents a short-term solution pending the transformation of society’s mindset and those institutions, which continue to undermine women’s potentials. However, the objectives of the quota system can only be achieved if women representatives are able to initiate and discuss important issues related to women in the parliament without any threat to their candidature or person and when women with proven credibility and integrity are given the opportunity to represent their provinces. Efforts should also be directed at initiating policies and programs that address disadvantages in other spheres, especially with respect to access to quality education and professional experience required to make meaningful contributions towards ameliorating the plights of women in Afghanistan.
Electoral Politics: Making Quotas Work for Women
Electoral Politics: Making Quotas Work for Women presents the current debates and arguments surrounding parliamentary gender quotas from a global perspective. Considering that gender quotas are rapidly diffusing around the world, with diverse specificities and experiences in their implementation, the subject of this book is timely and relevant as discourses of gender equality and democratization are increasingly gaining importance both domestically and internationally. Through close analysis of concepts of representation, democracy, and women’s political rights, this book equips its readers and interested activists with the necessary knowledge and strategies to address women’s underrepresentation, which is currently a global phenomenon. Additionally, this book presents various case studies of successful and not-so-successful quota experiences from diverse countries, to better illustrate the key features of parliamentary gender quotas that effectively enhance women’s access to political decision-making positions, as well as what should be avoided. The authors have carefully analyzed quota experiences in a total of eight countries, ranging from Sweden to Rwanda to Indonesia, with an objective to not only shed light onto the theoretical and practical issues involved with this global and rapidly diffusing phenomenon, but to also practically help further the demands of interested activists and key actors working for the enhancement of women’s political rights and access to political decision-making positions. To download please visit: http://www.wluml.org/resource/electoral-politics-making-quotas-work-women
Do parliamentary gender quotas decrease gender inequality? The case of African countries
Constitutional Political Economy
Many countries in Africa score very low on gender equality measures; yet, they have some of the highest percentages of women in parliament. They have managed to achieve significant representation of women in government through fast track measures such as the implementation of gender quotas. In the context of fast track reform, this paper evaluates the effectiveness of such parliamentary gender quotas in general, and in particular of different types of quotas, for improving gender equality in African countries. Our empirical results suggest that although all mandated quota systems lead to an increase in the number of women in policy-making, the type of quota affects the de facto ability of women in parliament to influence legislative agendas and ultimately to improve the lives of women. Our findings have implications for the design of affirmative action measures targeting women's participation in the political process.
2018
Do countries that adopt parliamentary gender quotas do so as strategy in response to global pressure to improve the international perception of their democratic progress? Rwanda’s 2000 constitution called for a quota, and since then there has been a trend across Sub-Saharan Africa to “fast-track” women’s legislative representation. There has been a significant amount of literature on the use of quotas as signaling devices by autocratic regimes to indicate democratic progress. I argue that there is a gap in the scholarship on whether or not strategic gender quotas are efficient tools in achieving the regime’s intentions of appearing more democratic by the international community. I explore this relationship through both a case study of Rwanda as an extreme sample case, and descriptive analyses of certain data across countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Freedom House Freedom Scores. Using statistical test methods and comparing sample groups of countries that have and have not ad...
Regional Trends for Women’s Electoral Success in the East African Legislatures
Journal of Women's Entrepreneurship and Education (2014, No. 1-2, 153-172)
Without formally enacted methodologies, it is increasingly clear that meeting Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that stipulate gender equality and promote women’s empowerment would be extremely very difficult. Specifically, MDG 3 underlines the fact that women need to be politically empowered by far greater participation if greater equality has to be achieved. Under this goal, countries are expected to formulate deliberate policies that ensure equal representation between men and women in all decision-making levels including politics. It is on this note therefore, that countries in the East African region have enacted constitutional, legislative and electoral requirements providing for the principle of gender quotas as a policy measure for boosting women’s access to their legislatures. Based on a critical analysis of official reports, related literature and data provided by national parliaments, this investigation examines the gender composition of five legislatures in the East African region namely, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, and Kenya. The study underlines the power of gender quotas in expediting and equalizing significant gender imbalances, and also captures the types and nature of quotas used by individual countries. While appreciating the challenges involved in underwriting the affirmative action mechanisms, the analyses notes that affirmative action is not a slogan for politics but a strategy for development; it is a gigantic plan of action for achieving the desired social change.
A critical analysis of the level of substantive representation of women achieved with quotas
This study attempts to frame the available data on substantive representation of women in the legislatures in Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to assess the success of the quota for the under-represented sex as the policy option applied. Data collected for this study indicates that quotas are not the problem but a part of the solution, and that we need to move away from the debate on critical mass in order to focus on the need to have female MPs represent the interests of women as a group. This study concludes that the quota should not remain the only policy option to achieve substantive representation and provides main stake-holders with a set of recommendations for future actions aimed at supporting the substantive representation of women as a group.
Quotas: A Pathway of Political Empowerment?
IDS Bulletin, 2010
Over the last 20 years, the problem of low levels of representation of women in political office has been mobilising women, and especially feminists, throughout the world. The adoption of quotas has become a much-used tool to address the challenge of increasing women's political representation, and as a route to enhancing women's political empowerment. In Latin America, many countries have adopted quota systems, but with widely varying effects. This article takes stock of Latin American experience and asks to what extent quota systems have served as a pathway of women into politics. Identifying challenges to implementation and factors that have contributed to their success or failure, the article seeks to explore lessons that can be learnt from this experience that can help contribute to strengthening mechanisms and processes that support the achievement of greater equality in a sphere in which women continue to be grossly under-represented.