Democracy and the Adoption of Gender Quotas Worldwide

The literature on electoral gender quotas has exploded as a result of the global nature of this electoral reform. However, despite all scholarly efforts on the topic, data limitations put constraints on our understanding of the global diffusion of quotas over time (see also Hughes, Krook, and Paxton 2015). Using a new, global and longitudinal dataset – Quota Adoption and Reform over Time (QAROT) – this paper zooms in on quota diffusion from one specific perspective, namely how the level of democracy is related to quota adoption and quota reform. Previous research has suggested that quotas sometimes are adopted in processes of democratization (e.g. Bush 2011). However, the general picture is that they are introduced in all sorts of regimes: in established democracies as well as in (semi-)authoritarian states (e.g. Dahlrup 2006; Krook 2009). Using event history models, we qualify this picture in at least two distinct ways: First, our preliminary findings show that democracy (as measured by Freedom House) has no linear relationship with quota adoption; rather, quotas are mostly adopted by countries at the middle of the democracy scale (in semi-democratic/semi-authoritarian regimes), i.e. in those countries that historically have had the lowest levels of women’s political representation (Bjarnegård & Melander 2011). Second, democracy is related differently to reserved seats and candidate quotas. We find that political rights have stronger effects on reserved seat adoption, and it is countries on the lower end of political rights that are most likely to adopt reserved seats. On the other hand, mid-high levels of civil liberties are positively associated with candidate quota adoption.