The Importance of Being Earnest: What Drives the Gender Quota Effect in Politics

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sugat Chaturvedi ◽  
Sabyasachi Das ◽  
Kanika Mahajan
Keyword(s):  
Gender Quota

Informal Institutions and Women’s Political Representation in Chile (1990–2015)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Franceschet
Keyword(s):  
Political Representation ◽  
Informal Institutions ◽  
Women's Ministry ◽  
Gender Parity ◽  
Formal And Informal Institutions ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
National Congress ◽  
Gender Quota ◽  
Female President ◽  
Elected Office

Despite electing a female president, Michelle Bachelet, and at one point achieving gender parity in cabinet appointments, women’s presence in Chile’s national congress remains small, is only slightly higher at local levels, and is extremely limited among party and coalition leaders. In her gendered analysis of representation, Susan Franceschet argues this is because of the strong formal and informal institutions that limit the size of electoral districts, require large thresholds to win seats, and require coalition negotiation over candidates for elected office. Even though women have a mixed record of representation, their presence has had important policy consequences. A gender-focused presidency has been critical for passage of gender-attentive policies. Women in Chile’s legislative arenas have been more likely to bring gender issues to the agenda. Franceschet points out that Sernam, the women’s ministry, has played a critically important role in this. The electoral reforms approved by congress in 2015 include a gender quota, creating expectations that improvements will continue.

The Inclusion Calculation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melody E. Valdini
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
The Political ◽  
Rational Action ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Political Careers ◽  
Women Candidates ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Large N ◽  
Gender Quota ◽  
Open The Doors

Power-holders and gate-keepers in political parties and governments continue to be primarily men. How are they responding to the increasing numbers of women who are seeking leadership roles in politics? Are they angels who embrace equality and fling open the doors to power? Are they devils who block women at every turn? Are they powerless against the increasing tide of feminism and inadvertently succumbing to the push for power from women? Most likely, these male elites are primarily concerned with maintaining their own power, which drives their reaction to women’s political inclusion. The Inclusion Calculation examines women’s inclusion from the perspective of men in power and offers a novel approach to understanding differences in women’s descriptive representation. The book argues that with declining legitimacy it is valuable for male elites to “strategically feminize,” associating themselves or their party with women, because citizens will interpret the increased presence of women as meaning that the party or government is becoming more honest, cooperative, and democratic. Using a combination of case studies from Latin America, Europe, and Africa, as well as large-N analyses, the book provides evidence that male elites are more likely to increase the number of women candidates on party lists or adopt a gender quota when “feminizing” is advantageous to the political careers of men. Women’s exclusion from government, then, is not a product of their own lack of effort or ability but rather a rational action of men in power to keep their power.

Does gender diversity in supervisory boards affect gender diversity in management boards in Germany? An empirical analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 239700222199714
Author(s):  
Dennis Fleischer
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Supervisory Board ◽  
Board Members ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Management Board ◽  
Supervisory Boards ◽  
Gender Quota ◽  
The Impact

Social aspects like gender diversity in the boardroom are becoming increasingly relevant and are a popular topic of public debate in the context of gender equality in business. However, there is little clarity about the potential spill-over effects of gender diversity. Both theory and empirical results have led to ambiguous conclusions with respect to the effect of gender diversity in the supervisory board on gender diversity in the management board. In addition, it is not clear whether the German gender quota legislation positively affects this relationship. This study analyses whether gender diversity in the supervisory board supports the gender diversity of the management board, and whether this relationship is affected by the gender quota legislation, focusing on the unique case of Germany. To cope with endogeneity concerns, this study employs a cross-lagged panel model with fixed effects using maximum likelihood structural equation modelling. The results of the analysis of the impact of the number of female supervisory board members on the number of female management board members do not support the view of positive spill-over effects of gender diversity in the environment of the German two-tier corporate governance system. Furthermore, this study finds no evidence of an effect of the German gender quota on this relationship. JEL Codes G38, M12, M14, M51

De kracht van de definitie : een vergelijking van quotawetten in Argentinië, België en Frankrijk

Res Publica ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-100
Author(s):  
Petra Meier
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Electoral Process ◽  
Gender Balance ◽  
System A ◽  
Input Side ◽  
Gender Quota ◽  
French Gender

Gender quota do not always go hand in hand with a considerable rise in the number of women elected. Although the number of fe/male representatives elected depends on several factors, we argue that the stipulations of gender quota acts influence to a large extent their impact on the sex ratios in politics. This is not so much due to the share of fe/male candidates parties have to present than to the extent to which a gender quota act anticipates the particularities of the electoral system. A comparative analysis of three prominent cases, the Argentinean, Belgian and French gender quota acts, shows that the more a gender quota rule targets at the specificities of the electoral system in order to promote a gender balance in political representation, the more this rule 'guarantees' a result, even though gender quota acts concern but the input side of the electoral process.

Do Female Directors on Corporate Boards Make a Difference in Family Owned Businesses?

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Sveva Magnanelli ◽  
Luigi Nasta ◽  
Elisa Raoli
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Family Businesses ◽  
Corporate Boards ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Female Directors ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Gender Quota

ABSTRACT This paper investigates how the presence of female directors on corporate boards impacts the performance of family firms. This study enriches the literature on gender diversity on corporate boards and its effects on firm performance by focusing on a country in which family businesses are dominant. The empirical analysis is conducted on a sample of 165 Italian-listed firms from 2011 to 2016, representing the period during which the mandatory gender quota law was introduced and implemented in Italy. The results show a positive relationship between the presence of women on corporate boards and firm performance, specifically in family owned businesses. These findings lead to the conclusion that female directors do not have a negative impact on firm performance. And, given the domination of family businesses and a mandatory gender quota law in Italy, this study makes a regulatory and performance assessment not previously examined in the literature. JEL Classifications: M1; M12; M48; M21.

Model Dependency in the Analysis of Women's Electoral Success

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Michael Jankowski ◽  
Kamil Marcinkiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Negative Impact ◽  
Paradoxical Effect ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Methodological Choices ◽  
Female Candidates ◽  
Interesting Discussion ◽  
Model Dependency ◽  
Gender Quota ◽  
Open Question ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Maciej Górecki provides a detailed and interesting discussion of our analysis regarding women's electoral success in the Polish open-list proportional representation (PR) system and the impact of a gender quota implemented in 2011. In essence, he claims that it remains an open question whether the gender quota had a ‘paradoxical’ effect (i.e., whether the introduction of the gender quota had a negative impact on female candidates) due to ‘debatable’ methodological choices in our analysis. In this article, we respond to Górecki's critique. First, we demonstrate that we do not necessarily disagree on the paradoxical impact of the gender quota but rather on the strength of the paradoxical effect. Second, we discuss some drawbacks of using the raw number of votes cast for a candidate as the dependent variable. Finally, we respond to the critique of including the ballot position in the regression model. We emphasize that even if one agrees with Górecki's critique that the ballot position is endogenous, excluding this variable leads to a severely misspecified model that does not allow one to reliably identify the effect of gender.

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