From the 1970s onwards, in the Nordic countries there were adopted various types of mechanisms to achieve a better gender balance in different types to indirectly elected or nominated public bodies. Today, three of these countries (Norway, Finland and Iceland) have legal gender quotas for public commissions and boards; Denmark has a gender balance law with no numerical requirement whereas Sweden has successful resorted to voluntary methods.
Whereas there has been a proliferation of studies concerning electoral quotas, similar measures targeting bodies whose members are not chosen by democratic elections have attracted little if any attention. Drawing from the insights of feminist theories of democracy and representation (Phillips 1995; Mansbridge 1999; Young 2002), we should however ask: If the descriptive representation of women is considered to be beneficial for the quality and legitimacy of decision-making in political decision making assemblies, does this also apply to other political organs which are nominated or elected indirectly, such as policy preparatory organs, for example?
Drawing from prevous findings concerning electoral gender quotas, this comparative study of Finland and Norway investigates how the committee quotas have been implemented in practice in these countries and and what kinds of factors aid or hinder their effectiveness. Notably, both of these Western democracies display very egalitarian attitudes, a high representation of women in politics and a strong commitment to both democratic ideals and the rule of law. The ‘second generation’ quota in question was also adopted in a form that is generally thought as the strongest and most effective type, namely by laws decreeing a minimum percentage (40) of representatives of each sex in the organs they target. Nevertheless, our investigation reveals problems in their implementation and an erosion of their effectiveness.
The study seeks to analyse this eroding implementation, one the one hand, by drawing from results concerning electoral quotas (scope, strength, history of adoption, monitoring and sanctions arrangements), but, on the other hand, also other factors linked to the ways these types of gender quotas are embedded in cultural and political traditions as well as some additional contextual factors relating to the field in question.
