putting gender quotas on the political agenda

18
Regional Forum on “Equal Participation in Decision-Making”, Istanbul 15 th November 2011 Andreea Paul (Vass)

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Presentation on putting quotas on the political agenda: the case of Romania by Andreea Vass, Economic adviser to Prime Minister, Romania, presentation presented at UNDP Regional Forum on Equal participation in decision-making, Istanbul, Session 3: Quotas as a tool to enhance women’s participation on decision-making

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Page 1: Putting Gender Quotas on the Political Agenda

Regional Forum on “Equal Participation in Decision-Making”, Istanbul

15th November 2011

Andreea Paul (Vass)

Page 2: Putting Gender Quotas on the Political Agenda

1. State of fact. Where are we?

2. Building the future

3. Frontline regulations

4. Why do we need more women in the

public decision-making?

Page 3: Putting Gender Quotas on the Political Agenda

“Women are the most powerful engine in the world

economic recovery”.

“Yet even with their remarkable increase in market

power, women continue to find themselves

underappreciated at home, underestimated in the

workplace and undervalued in the marketplace”.

Boston Consulting Group, 2010

Page 4: Putting Gender Quotas on the Political Agenda

Rank Country % Women in

lower or

single House

1 Rwanda 56.3%

2 Andorra 53.6%

3 Sweden 45%

6 Iceland 42.9%

7 Finland 42.5%

8 Norway 39.6%

9 Belgium 39.3%

9 Netherlands 39.3%

13 Denmark 38.0%

14 Spain 36.6%

19 Germany 32.8%

23 Macedonia 30.9%

28 Austria 27.9%

31 Portugal 26.5%

Rank Country % Women in

lower or

single House

48 Czech Republic & UK 22.0%

51 Italy 21.3%

53 Bulgaria 20.8%

55 Latvia, Luxembourg &

Poland

20.0%

56 Estonia 19.8%

58 Lithuania 19.1%

71 Bosnia and Herzegovina 16.7%

73 Slovakia 16.0%

80 Ireland 14.5%

81 Slovenia 14.4%

82 Turkey 14.2%

96 Romania 11.4%

98 Montenegro 11.1%

108 Hungary 9.1%

Data source: http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm

Page 5: Putting Gender Quotas on the Political Agenda

Parliament: 9.7% women as compared to the global average of 19.3%.

◦ 11.4% women in the Chamber of Deputies, before Hungary (9.1% women)

and Malta (8.7%) in EU.

◦ 5.8% women in Senate (96 rank out of 137 countries)

Ministerial level: only 3 women ministers, out of 16 ministries.

Local authorities: 3% women mayors

Gender Gap Index 2011:

◦ Rank 68 out of 135 countries, with a score of 0.681.

◦ Political empowerment: rank 112 out of 135 countries.

Women in parliament: rank 96 out of 135 countries

Page 6: Putting Gender Quotas on the Political Agenda

A. Legislated gender quota

B. Voluntary gender quota, in political parties

C. Perfect gender balance in the media during

elections campaign (50% female - 50% male)

D. Nothing

Forum for public consultation on improving the political

representation of gender in Romania, www.femeileinpolitica.ro

◦ Out of 7258 votes, over 98%: for legislated gender quota.

Page 7: Putting Gender Quotas on the Political Agenda

“If men were well suited for the industrial era,

women are well suited for in Information-oriented

era.”

“National development will be a function of how

effectively woman power is applied and will

depend on how well administrative systems are

organized to utilize this potential.”

Jung-Sook Kim

Page 8: Putting Gender Quotas on the Political Agenda

Belgium

◦ 2002 gender quota act: equal number of female and male

candidates on parties lists.

◦ Candidates of the same sex may not occupy the top two positions

on a list.

France

◦ The “law on parity” of 2000 imposes a double rule:

50% of party candidates of each sex

strict alternation of women‟s and men‟s names is mandatory from the

beginning to the end of the list.

Page 9: Putting Gender Quotas on the Political Agenda

Slovenia ◦ Local Elections Act (2005): each sex accounts for at least 40% of all

candidates listed, and that the candidates in the first half of the lists must

alternate by sex

◦ Quota provisions are incorporated into the laws for elections at the local,

national and European levels.

Spain ◦ Gender quota law for public elections at all levels (2007): no sex can

be represented with more than 60% on the electoral lists.

◦ Quotas are applied to the whole party list and to every five posts.

Page 10: Putting Gender Quotas on the Political Agenda

Sweden ◦ Special measures to increase the number of women in elected bodies:

voluntary party quotas & soft quotas (non-mandatory targets or minimum

recommendations).

◦ Voluntary party quotas were introduced when the share of women

parliamentarians already exceeded 30%.

Germany ◦ Quotas work through the party lists („zipper system‟ ).

Poland ◦ Introduction of a quota system by some parties.

◦ 2007 election: one of the three first positions on each candidate lists must be

held by a woman

Page 11: Putting Gender Quotas on the Political Agenda

The law regarding equal opportunities between men and women (2002): ◦ fair and balanced representation at party level of women and men, at all levels of

decision-making.

◦ positive actions for the under-represented sex in its internal regulations.

Law project launched in May 2011: introduction of a gender quota of 40% for

political parties and political alliances, 50% for electoral alliances and 20%

for citizens’ organizations belonging to national minorities

◦ Objectives:

Increasing the representation of women in political life.

Creating the mechanisms for ensuring equitable representation of women in public

decision-making.

◦ Sanctions:

Loss of annual subsidy from the state budget for electoral competitors not meeting the

provisions of equity in gender representation.

Page 12: Putting Gender Quotas on the Political Agenda

Women have their own interests and needs. They are in

the best position to defend those interests.

Women are believed to have a proper style. An evenly

participation of women and men may lead to a diversity

of ideas, values and patterns of behavior that can only

result in an enrichment.

Page 13: Putting Gender Quotas on the Political Agenda

For addressing specific issues of women, children or

family life in Romania: ◦ Support for families

The nurseries and kindergartens dropped with 85% since 1990.

◦ The lack of baby-sitters law

◦ Diminishing domestic violence: every 3 seconds, a woman is

physically abused

◦ Increasing the education and health of family members.

For increasing the wealth of nation

Page 14: Putting Gender Quotas on the Political Agenda

Data source: http://unctadstat.unctad.org/TableViewer/tableView.aspx

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GGGR11/GGGR11_Rankings-Scores.pdf

Luxembourg

Norway

Switzerland

y = 146489x - 85505

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9

GDP/capita

(USD, nominal)

Gender Gap Index, 2011 RO

Page 15: Putting Gender Quotas on the Political Agenda

Data source: http://unctadstat.unctad.org/TableViewer/tableView.aspx

http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm

y = 48883x + 5021,4

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40 0.45 0.50

GDP/capita

(USD, nominal)

Women representation in Parliament, August 2011

Luxembourg

Norway

Qatar

Sweden

RO

Page 16: Putting Gender Quotas on the Political Agenda

Data source: http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2010/results

http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GGGR11/GGGR11_Rankings-Scores.pdf

y = 19,731x - 9,058

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85 0.9

Corruption Perception

Index

Gender Gap Index, 2011

Yemen

RO

New Zealand

Page 17: Putting Gender Quotas on the Political Agenda

The next economic power will not be

represented by China, nor India, but by

women.

Women are an "emerging market", with

a high potential of education, ambition

and ingenuity.

Page 18: Putting Gender Quotas on the Political Agenda

Andreea Paul (Vass)

State Adviser

Lecturer, PhD

Faculty of International Business and Economics

Academy of Economic Studies

Tel: 0040-722-637-140

E-mail: [email protected]

Thank you!