Shining Pioneers? Green parties and gender parity in the European Union

Gender quotas, be it electoral or voluntary party ones, have become a wide-spread global phenomenon. Green parties are often portrayed as pioneers in committing to promoting gender balance and indeed their representation in parliaments indicates a successful trajectory. Yet, while electoral or voluntary party quota failures are well-covered in literature, factors for successful quota implementation – such as the one by Green parties – are often overlooked and under-explored. This paper proposes that engaging with Green parties as successful quota implementers could provide additional insights into the feminization of politics. Focusing on party organization, intra-party democracy, the selection of candidates and leaders and party finances, the paper asks if Green parties are indeed gender equal in their structures, practices and rules of party politics and political recruitment (both formal and informal). Analysing semi-structured interviews with MEPs and political group staff originating from the 8th and 9th European Parliament legislature, the paper engages with the European Green Party (EGP) and its counterpart in the European Parliament, the political group of The Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/EFA). Greens/EFA are home to national delegations from 17 different EU countries and thus allow to trace potential conflicts about parity rules and other gender equality provisions originating from national party politics. This intra-party comparison allows tracing how different national regulations play in, how gender parity is discussed and regulated (also for employees), and whether gender equality includes tackling the usual gendered segregation of policy fields. In addition, the paper relies on a subset of semi-structured interviews with German politicians from the national and subnational level. The German delegation to Greens/EFA provides the biggest number of MEPs and thus could potentially shape discourses on gender equality and parity. Furthermore, the paper seeks to address intersections with other axes of power, in particular regarding the fair representation of transgender and of non-binary politicians as well as visible minority politicians. Given their pioneering role for gender parity, Green parties could also be expected to further extend their equality provisions. The paper will illustrate when and how these issues appear in Green party representatives’ reflections on fair representation.