In the Pacific, the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (ARB) is one of the only places which has seen the successful introduction of quotas for WIP. At the end of the 20-year Bougainville civil conflict, WIP quotas were included in the new Constitution which established the new ARB legislature. Interestingly, while 3 seats were reserved for women, 3 seats were also reserved for ex-combatants.

Apart from this breakthrough, lobbying has yet to produce significant results. Notably however, in Australia, rather than lobbying for electoral or constitutional change, efforts focused on lobbying political parties to agree to introduce voluntary quotas in terms of agreeing to nominate a minimum percentage of women candidates for elections. Ms Lesley Clark, a former MP from the State of Queensland in Australia advised the following in a recent email to one of our Pacific listserves.

In Australia the adoption of the a voluntary quota by the Labor Party in 1994 was a turning point for us. The quota began at 35% and is now 40% and the results are clear when you compare the % of women in parliaments from the other parties who do not have a quota or support affirmative action. As of Feb 2008, of the ALP members of parliament, 36% are women for Lower house seats in all Federal State and Territory parliaments (9 parliaments in total) compared to 20% for Liberal Party and 10% for the National Party. For upper houses the figures are ALP 37%, Liberal party 26% National Party 25%. (As a former Queensland MP I can attest to the struggle to convince the men and women in our Party to accept a voluntary quota and I can send more details to anyone interested in the Australia situation. When I entered parliament in 1989 women were 10%, now they are 34% and the ALP has 42% women MP's).

Charmaine Rodrigues
Regional Legislative Strengthening Expert UNDP Pacific

Dear Ms. Goonasekera,

Thank you for your interesting question regarding measures and tools used to promote women in politics and public life. To answer your question, we would like to recommend some resources from the iKNOW Politics library, contributions shared by our experts and members on the E-Discussion Forum on Quotas, and an expert opinion from the iKNOW Politics expert, Prof. Drude Dahlerup.

In her expert response, Drude Dahelrup highlighted that introducing quotas is just one of the methods to increase women’s representation in politics and pointed out several other routes leading to successful results in this field. She recommended the following alternatives to quotas:

• Introducing voluntary party quotas;
• Increasing pressure from women’s groups within political parties;
• Making political parties look for women candidates and to place them in winnable seats in the election;
• Initiating a public discussion on women’s under-representation in politics; and
• Organizing courses and educational programs for women candidates.

To read the full expert response from Drude Dahlerup, please click on the following link http://www.iknowpolitics.org/en/node/6501.

Another useful approach is to work with the leaders of political parties to sensitize them toward promoting women candidates in their party lists during elections and nominating women to decision-making positions within the party. It may also be very useful to establish a women’s wing within a political party, which will recruit women party members, work on issues and policies important for women constituents, and advocate for gender equality within the party. For more information on these issues, please refer to the iKNOW Politics consolidated responses on Establishing Women's Party Sections and on How to Promote a Gender Equality Policy Within a Political Party.

Additionally, research shows that mainstreaming gender in legislative frameworks, and particularly in the budgeting processes, is critical to promoting gender equality in society and politics. In recent years, gender mainstreaming has become an important approach in creating comprehensive and gender sensitive legislative frameworks, and building good governance.

It is also important to continue advocacy efforts for introduction of affirmative action measures, such as quotas, even if these efforts face numerous obstacles and are not successful at the beginning. iKNOW Politics recently held an E-Discussion Forum on Gender Quotas as a Mechanism to Promote Women in Politics , where our experts and members highlighted several tools and approaches on how to successfully advocate for quotas. One of our participants suggested holding advocacy campaigns based on economic arguments illustrating how a country can benefit as a whole from women’s involvement into politics and decision-making, and how without equal participation the country will not be able to make any progress. (Pellizeri, Alessandra. Resistance to Quotas and How to Overcome It. 2008) Another contributor from Burkina-Faso suggested advocating for quotas and for women’s political representation in general by building alliances among women’s organizations and organizations promoting human rights. The contributors highlighted that such cooperation and alliances can lead to developing a common strategy to increase numbers of women in politics. (Kasse, Aminata. Stratégies? 2008) To read more about the recommendations and ideas shared during the E-Discussion Forum, please click the following link: http://www.iknowpolitics.org/mayediscussionen

Further Readings from the iKNOW Politics Library:

1. Consolidated Response on Working with Women Candidates and Women Voters During Elections. iKNOW Politics. 2008. http://www.iknowpolitics.org/en/node/6490

2. Resource Guide for Gender Theme Groups. DAW, UNICEF, UNDP, UNIFEM, UNFPA. 2005. http://www.iknowpolitics.org/en/node/5764

3. African National Congress Women's League Constitution. African National Congress. 2003. http://www.iknowpolitics.org/en/node/3715

4. Women, Political Parties and Electoral Systems in Latin America. Mala N. Htun. International IDEA. http://www.iknowpolitics.org/en/node/3115

5. Political Party Quotas in the Croatian Social Democratic Party. Karolina Leaković. International IDEA. http://www.iknowpolitics.org/en/node/3302

6. Women, Political Parties and Social Movements in South Asia. Amrita Basu. UNRISD. 2005. http://www.iknowpolitics.org/en/node/3297

7. Legislated Gender Quotas or Voluntary Party Quotas? Drude Dahlerup. 2007. http://www.iknowpolitics.org/en/node/3378

8. Designing for Equality: Best-fit, Medium-Fit and Non-Favorable Combinations of Electoral Systems and Gender Quotas. International IDEA. 2007. http://www.iknowpolitics.org/en/node/1207

9. Experiences In The Last Decade On Fostering Women’s Political-Participation In Kenya. WEDO. http://www.iknowpolitics.org/en/node/2297

10. Gender Responsive Budgeting: Manual for Trainers. UNDP. 2005. http://www.iknowpolitics.org/en/node/5154

11. Engendering Constitutions:Gender Equality Provisions in Selected Constitutions . Kristin Van der Leest, Mirjana Dokmanovic, Daliborka Uljarevic, Besim Kajtazi, Bergin Kulenovic. UNIFEM and CIDA. 2007. http://www.iknowpolitics.org/en/node/4354

12. Consolidated Response on Gender Mainstreaming in South-East Asia. iKNOW POlitics. 2008. http://www.iknowpolitics.org/en/node/6190

13. Women's Political Participation and Good Governance: 21 Century Challenges. Azza Karam, Sally Baden, Lina Hamadeh-Banerjee, Debbie Budlender, Aparna Mehrotra, Benigna Mukiibi, Paul Oquist, Poornima Vyasalu,Vinod Vyasalu. UNDP. 2000. http://www.iknowpolitics.org/en/node/3703

For more resources relevant to this question, please visit the iKNOW Politics library . We hope this response is helpful to you.

Sincerely,

iKNOW Politics team.