Quotas in politics involve setting up a percentage or number for the representation of a specific group, here women, most often in the form of a minimum percentage, for instance 20, 30 or 40 percent. Quotas are used as a measure to increase the representation of historically excluded or underrepresented groups. Gender quotas may be constructed as requiring a minimum representation for women or may state a maximum-minimum representation for both sexes, for instance no more than 60 and no less than 40 percent for each sex. In the case of the ladder gender neutral regulation, the quota provision sets a maximum for both sexes, which quotas for women do not.
At what level? In the study of different quota regimes in politics, a distinction must be made between regulations aiming at changing the composition of 1) the pool of potential candidates, here called the aspirants 2) the candidates who stand for election, and 3) those elected. Electoral quotas may be defined as regulations that in public elections require a certain minimum in numbers or percentage of a specific group at one of these levels.
There are examples of quota requirements on all three levels, but most quota systems concern the second level, setting up minimum requirement of representation of certain groups on the electoral ballots (candidate quotas). The partly unsuccessful "women's short lists" in England is an example of a type of quota system targeting the first level (aspirant quotas). At this level, the aim of quotas is to broaden the pool from which the selection committee or the primary will chose candidates. Quotas in the form of 'reserved seats' operate on the third level. Here certain groups are warranted or guaranteed a certain number of seats among the elected (reserved seats quotas).
One might argue that reserved seats should not be counted among electoral quotas. However, as it will be shown in this book, reserved seats today come in many different types, some excluding, but others including elections, as in the Ugandan case where certain seats, elected regionally by a special electorate, are reserved for women. In fact, variations in reserved seats systems are an important new field of study. The term 'electoral gender quotas' is used to describe quotas systems that are designed to operate in processes of public elections.
The mandate. Quotas may be mandated in a country's constitution or by law, usually in the electoral law. In such cases we talk about legal quotas. Legal quotas regulate the proceedings of all political parties in a country, and may also prescribe sanctions in case of non-compliance. Quotas may, however, be voluntarily decided by one or more political parties in a country, in which case we talk about party quotas. In such cases some political parties may have quotas, while others in the same country reject the idea. When legal quotas are in place, party quotas are only of interest, if a party voluntarily has decided on a higher percentages than the percentage mandated, or if a party has introduced other special rules not inscribed in the law (like the rank order of the candidates).
Figure 1.3. Types of Electoral Quotas
| At What Level? | |||
| Mandated by | Aspirants | Candidates | Elected |
| Legal quotas (Constitutional or electoral law) |
n/a | Candidate quotas | Rerserved seats |
| Voluntary party quotas | Aspirant quotas (Short lists) |
Candidate quotas | Rerserved seats1) |
The relation between quota level and mandating is not
unambiguous, as this book will show. While quotas to enlarge the pool for
selection (first level) is usually decided by the parties themselves, candidate
quotas for party lists at elections (second level) may be mandated either
by the parties themselves (party quotas) or by constitution or law (legal
quotas). The third level of quotas, the reserved seats, is usually legal quota
systems, mandated by constitution and/or law, by decree from the ruling party
in a one party system or from the monarch. However, there are examples such
as Morocco, where a 'gentlemen's agreement' reserved all 30 seats on the so-called
national list for women candidates. Through analyzing the many new types of
gender reserved seat systems, this book will be able to throw light on a selection
mechanism often used in semi-democratic and non-democratic systems. Quotas
for internal organizations in political parties, like steering committees
or nominations committees are, although important, only included in this study
when relevant for the introduction of electoral gender quotas. Moreover, many
parties and even governments operate with more or less specified targets
and recommendations (sometimes labeled 'soft' quotas). A target might
be just as effective as a written quota provision, which is not followed.
For the sake of clarity, however, the focus here is with few exceptions formally
decided and recorded quotas.
Quota systems at all three levels and by different mandating may also be in use concerning the selection of different ethnic groups, castes, clans, and religious groups for political office. Quotas or reserved seats for ethnic and religious groups do exist like in Jordan and Lebanon, but moreover all electoral systems do include many kinds of quotas, although usually under different labels, as when densely populated areas are given a disproportional number of seats in parliament or when electoral districts are formed to favor, or disfavor, special groups.
1) Informal agreements among political parties reserving a certain number of seats for women, like the Moroccan 'gentlemen's agreement'.
From Drude Dahlerup's introduction to the book:
"Women, Quotas and Politics". Routledge 2006.