Inter-American Development Bank
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
instagram
Abierto al públicoBeyond BordersCaribbean Development TrendsCiudades SosteniblesEnergía para el FuturoEnfoque EducaciónFactor TrabajoGente SaludableGestión fiscalGobernarteIdeas MatterIdeas que CuentanIdeaçãoImpactoIndustrias CreativasLa Maleta AbiertaMoviliblogMás Allá de las FronterasNegocios SosteniblesPrimeros PasosPuntos sobre la iSeguridad CiudadanaSostenibilidadVolvamos a la fuente¿Y si hablamos de igualdad?Home
Citizen Security and Justice Creative Industries Development Effectiveness Early Childhood Development Education Energy Envirnment. Climate Change and Safeguards Fiscal policy and management Gender and Diversity Health Labor and pensions Open Knowledge Public management Science, Technology and Innovation  Trade and Regional Integration Urban Development and Housing Water and Sanitation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Ideas Matter

  • HOME
  • CATEGORIES
    • Behavioral Economics
    • Environment and Climate Change
    • Macroeconomics and Finance
    • Microeconomics and Competitiveness
    • Politics and Institutions
    • Social Issues
  • Authors
  • Spanish

Measuring the Impact of Gender Quotas on Political Institutions

June 2, 2021 by Cesi Cruz - Bea Rivera Leave a Comment


Since Argentina adopted the world’s first gender quota for a national legislature in 1991, gender quotas have become the norm for legislative positions in virtually all of Latin America. Women, meanwhile, have gained political visibility. Today, the region holds five of the top ten countries globally in terms of female representation at the national legislative level, with women occupying just over half of the seats in the national parliaments of Cuba and Bolivia and just under half in those of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Mexico.

While gender quotas help redress political underrepresentation on paper, however, they don’t necessarily translate into the enactment of more pro-female agendas or even greater political power for women. Cultural, institutional and other factors, including the placement of women on party lists or the exclusion of women from top committee assignments, can hamper female influence and block female ascendance.     

A New Version of an Important Database

Still, as revealed in the new version of the Database of Political Institutions (DPI), women have become far more numerically represented in the region’s legislatures. This can be seen in variables on gender quotas in the DPI, which illuminates broad institutional trends in 180 countries, including more than 100 variables relevant to government capacity.   

Today, 121 countries have some form of gender quota at the legislative level, with only 29 of those – mostly in Western Europe — voluntary.  The most common form requires a minimum number of female candidates on party ballots, a rule that is in place in 62 countries. This is particularly popular in Africa (18) and in Latin America (17).  The most binding quota, which actually reserves seats for women in the national legislature, is in place in a total of 30 countries and particularly popular in Africa, where 15 countries currently employ it.

The Virtues of Gender Quotas

Do quotas work? They DOincrease the numbers of women in office across different political contexts—in various developing countries as well as in more established democracies such as Italy or Sweden. In part as a result of quotas, women now hold more than 30% of legislative seats in Latin America and the Caribbean, just as they do in Europe and North America. Quotas, moreover, can be especially effective when accompanied by mechanisms for implementation, and when they are required rather than voluntary.

At the same time, the downstream effects of quotas on women’s representation in politics are unclear. Research in India, for example, suggests that quotas for village council positions boost female leadership and reduce discrimination and have led to greater investment in things women care about, like water, sanitation, education and health. In Latin America, voters increasingly choose women as mayors and city council members, and women increasingly ascend to the cabinet and presidency (six female presidents since 1990). Legislative quotas — and the greater visibility of women on the national stage — could possibly be helping to erase some of the old prejudices.

Even so, the increases in the number of women holding legislative seats don’t automatically boost women’s political power and influence. A study in Catalonia,  shows that even quotas within political parties don’t necessarily translate into real power. And another in Argentina reveals that women must collaborate to overcome barriers blocking them from important appointments and leadership posts in legislative committees. Indeed, while the numerical increase in female representation in Latin American legislatures and the rise to power  of female presidents can encourage more women to enter politics and has resulted in some important advances, like the passage of domestic violence legislation, there is much work to be done.

The new gender quota variable in the latest Database of Political Institutions is a good point of departure. It shows not only how quotas differ in form, but also the variations and patterns in the administration of quotas in different regions. These reflect different efforts to make political spaces more inclusive and provide a first step to understanding the effects of these rules in changing the political landscape.

The Database of Political Institutions 2020

Filed Under: Politics and Institutions Tagged With: #DPI2020

Cesi Cruz

Cesi Cruz is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a key collaborator with the IDB on the Database of Political Institutions (DPI).

Bea Rivera

Bea Rivera is a student in the Department of Economics and Department of Mathematics at the University of Houston.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us

Subscribe

Search

Related posts

  • Can Women Change Politics?
  • For a Region in Turmoil, An Updated Database of Political Institutions
  • Are Female Politicians More Honest than Male Politicians?
  • Tracking the Decline of the Right
  • A Sharp New Light on Political Institutions

About this blog

The blog of the IDB's Research Department shares ideas that matter on public policy and development in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Footer

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
facebook
twitter
youtube
youtube
youtube

Blog posts written by Bank employees:

Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank ("IDB"). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. (CC-IGO 3.0 BY-NC-ND) license and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC- IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.


For blogs written by external parties:

For questions concerning copyright for authors that are not IADB employees please complete the contact form for this blog.

The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDB, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

Attribution: in addition to giving attribution to the respective author and copyright owner, as appropriate, we would appreciate if you could include a link that remits back the IDB Blogs website.



Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

Aviso Legal

Las opiniones expresadas en estos blogs son las de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, sus directivas, la Asamblea de Gobernadores o sus países miembros.

facebook
twitter
youtube
This site uses cookies to optimize functionality and give you the best possible experience. If you continue to navigate this website beyond this page, cookies will be placed on your browser.
To learn more about cookies, click here
X
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

SAVE & ACCEPT