Resisting Institutions: Debating the Future of Gender Quotas in European National Parliaments

Abstract

This roundtable will assess and debate solutions to the various modes of resistance against implementing gender quotas in political representation across Europe. The internal dynamics of how quota policies are implemented will provide the backdrop for our exchange. Participants will start the conversation by providing country-specific assessments from France, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. We will ask how quota policies – meant to improve gender equality in the field of political representation – get implemented, who the actors of promotion and resistance are, and to what extent this process contributes to or hampers the equality-promoting potential of quotas. In some countries, demands for legislating and constitutionally securing parity in the political arena are on the rise. Other countries leave it up to parties to voluntarily implement mechanisms for more equal representation. Still other countries, such as Sweden, rely on informalized rules of gender balance. The roundtable will debate trends in Northern and Western Europe and focus specifically on modes of implementation after and beyond the state of legislation. The title of the roundtable ‘Resisting institutions’ points to multifaceted implementation processes that produce resistance against quotas in institutions but also fuel resistance against persistence of male-dominated parliaments. Institutions such as parties and legislatures might try to implement quotas, but attain limited efficacy in the quotas’ interaction with electoral systems. Right-wing anti-quota mobilizations become increasingly vocal about their quota opposition. On the other hand, quota activists across Europe resist institutions by continuing to demand an equal share of political power and by pressuring political leaders to address massive underrepresentation of women in their legislatures. The roundtable addresses questions embedded in the GEPP project on Gender Equality Policy in Practice. All too often, our analyses stop at the point when a particular policy, law, or regulation is adopted. We will focus on the internal politics of how quota policies -- designed to improve the representation of women -- are implemented and in this process made effective or derailed in parties and electoral decision making bodies. Contributors will address the cultural, political, and institutional factors that shape and often impede successful implementation of gender quotas in political representation. The roundtable will discuss strategies to identify and overcome such implementation hurdles.

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