A CLOSER LOOK AT THE IMPACT OF GENDER QUOTAS ON THE SUBSTANTIVE REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN

Abstract

The initial enthusiasm of women's advocacy groups behind quotas -reflected in the 1995 United Nations document Beijing Platform for Action- can be explained by the fact that quotas have effectively been helpful in increasing the representation of women in parliaments and other formal power structures around the world. However, the gender gaps in areas like health, education, and labor market participation indicate that total gender equality remains elusive. Gender equality can be thought of as a construct that is comprised of both the descriptive representation and the substantive representation of women. Descriptive representation is achieved when collegiate bodies resemble the universe that they represent without gender ratio distortions. Substantive representation, on the other hand, refers to closing the gender gaps on social and economic issues. Quotas have proven effective towards increasing descriptive representation, but researchers are still divided on whether quotas increase the substantive representation of women. Through a multivariate OLS regression approach, I obtained results that show that because quota types vary in design and implementation, they impact gender equality differently and that aspects like proportional representation electoral systems, wealth and female empowerment, condition their effectiveness, being in some cases better predictors of gender equality in a country than certain types of quotas.