Gender quota

Considered the least used form of quota, aspirant quotas ensure that some women are nominated for candidacy by a political party, increasing the number of women moving from being eligible to run to being an aspirant. Aspirant quotas are adopted voluntarily on a party-by-party basis in single-member district systems.[5] Examples of these policies include all-women shortlists in the United Kingdom and primaries.[7][5]

Aspirant quotas are used so little because they are seen as having low effectiveness. One criticism is it targets the beginning of political recruitment, which doesn't guarantee an increase in women legislators. According to Professor Richard Matland, another difficulty of these policies is the local-central struggle for power over candidate selection. Aspirant quotas tend to be implemented by central parties to meet their demands, which can intrude on local party strength.[5]

Found in countries utilizing proportional representation, candidate quotas target the transition from aspirant to candidate by requiring parties to include a certain minimum percentage of women in their candidate lists.[7] Candidate quotas are either statutory or voluntary. Legislated candidate quotas require all parties to abide by the rule and are commonly found in Latin America, such as the Argentine quota law. However, with voluntary party quotas commonly found in Europe, it is up to individual parties to implement such guidelines.[5]

Reserved seats quotas guarantee the number of female legislators holding seats in legislature by setting aside a certain percentage of seats for women.[1] Within reserved seats policies, seats can either be allocated by direction elections or appointments. These policies are implemented in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.[5]

Prior to the establishment of a candidate quota in 1991, Argentina's Peronist party used internal party quotas to increase the number of women holding congressional seats. Because the party was so dominant, Argentina had one of the highest proportions of women in legislature in the world at the time.[8]

In 1991, Argentina passed Law 24.012, the first national gender quota law in the world. The Ley de Cupos ("Law of Quotas") stipulates that the closed lists of candidates that parties present must be have at least 30% women. It also requires that female candidates are placed in winnable spots on the list, which depended on the number of seats a party is renewing from the previous election.[8] In most contexts, this meant at least one woman candidate for every two men.[9] To ensure compliance, parties that do not present lists meeting these requirements are rejected.[8]

In November 2017, Argentina made changes to its Electoral Code of 2012.[10] By Law No. 27,412 Article 60, party lists were required to follow a zipper system, in which men and women alternated spots on the list.[11] Because of this mechanism, party lists are required to have parity (50% women) in their composition.[10]

As of November 1, 2021, there are 42.6% women in the Chamber of Deputies and 40.3% women in the Senate.[12]

In proportional systems, the type of candidate list used by parties in elections can affect the number of women who are elected, whether or not there is a legislated candidate quota.[13] Closed lists tend to yield more effective results than open lists. This is because systems with closed lists can implement placement mandates, which require parties to place women in electable positions on the list. One example of this is a zipper system, which requires lists to alternate candidates between men and women. In open list elections, voters select individual candidates based on their preferences, so placement mandates aren't a possibility.[17]

To ensure political parties comply with gender quotas, countries can implement enforcement mechanisms into law that specify what the consequences are for parties that evade the quota. These laws encourage compliance with the quota, therefore resulting in more women being elected.[17]

However, there is much variation in the level of the enforcement. In some countries, there is no penalty for refusing to comply with the quota. In other countries, parties are penalize for not abiding by the quota but can still run. Professor Leslie Schwindt-Bayer explains that this creates an issue because parties can claim to not have found enough qualified women and continue to run mostly male candidates. The most strict enforcement of quotas rejects the lists of political parties that do not abide by the quota, preventing them from running in elections.[17]

In countries that have adopted quotas, the female legislators elected via the quota policy may feel obligated to represent women, as that was part of the reason they were elected.

Another impact of the perception that women who are elected because of the quota were elected just because of their gender is "quota women" are seen negatively by their peers as less qualified and independent.[18]