If Not Quotas, Then What? Factors Influencing the Election of Poland’s Women Members of the European Parliament, 2004-2019

This article investigates country- and party-level factors influencing the election of women to the European Parliament (EP), as focusing on the case study of Poland, an EU Member State since 2004. It examines the influence on the proportion of female MEPs elected from Polish parties in 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019 that can be said to have been exerted by electoral gender quotas (adopted by Poland in 2011), ballot rank, and national parties' ideological orientations and positions towards European integration. The study detailed here has employed a mixed-method strategy, i.e. the nested analysis of Lieberman (2005). Firstly, a large-N quantitative analysis is grounded in micro- and meso-level data (MEPs, parties, and constituencies) from two original datasets. It is followed by an in-depth within-case analysis that unveils internal party dynamics and contextualises Polish parties' attitudes to the nomination and promotion of women candidates at EP elections. Research carried out in this way contributes to the scholarship on women's representation in parliamentary assemblies in the context of the CEECs, shedding light on the impact of ballot rank and party ideological affiliation on women candidates' electoral opportunities, as well as the influence on the number and position of women on electoral lists that is exerted by internal party dynamics, and circumstances such as coalition-building, or the use of the EP as a “semi-retirement home” for top politicians.