Tània Verge (tania.verge@upf.edu)Universitat Pompeu Fabra

(Barcelona, Catalonia)

Lessons from Catalonia and Spain

Constitutional Futures SeminarSession II: Constitutions, Quotas and Women’s Political Representation

University of Edinburgh14-15 February 2013

Outline

Quotas and trends in women's representation in Catalonia and Spain

How were gains achieved?

Constitutional change as a window of opportunity

Quotas and trends in women's representation in Catalonia and Spain

Socioeconomic and cultural explanations on levels of women’s representation: Bad projection

Still, women’s representation has raised from 5% (late 1970s) to parity levels (2011). “Incremental track”:

Party quotasSuccessful implementation

Contagion effectStatutory quota

Parity

Women’s representation in parliament

1979/1980

1982/1984

1986/1988

1989/1992

1993/1995

1996/1999

2000/2003

2004/2006

2008/2010

2011/2011

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

5 68

13

16

22

28

36 36 35

5

810

1315

24

32

36

41 40Spain

Catalonia

2007 state-wide statutory quota

From party quotas to electoral quotas

PSC quota 12 per cent 1982

1987 PCE quota 25 per cent

PSC quota 15 per cent PSOE quota 25 per cent 1988

1990 PSC quota 25 per cent IU 35 per cent

ICV quota 30 per cent 1991 1994 PSOE 25+5 per cent

PSC quota 30 per cent 1996 1997 PSOE and IU parity

BNG parity 1998 2000 PSC and CC parity

PNV quota women’s membership ICV parity

Statutory quota Balearic Islands and Castile-La Mancha

2002

2003 ERC quota women’s membership ERC parity 2004

2005 Statutory quota Basque Country and Andalusia

State-wide statutory quota; PNV parity

2007

NOTE: Parity quotas establish a 40-60 per cent proportion for either sex. National parties: Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE); United Left (IU); Popular Party (PP). Regional parties: in Catalonia, Party of the Catalan Socialists (PSC), Initiative for Catalonia Greens (ICV), Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC); in the Canary Islands, Canarian Coalition (CC); in the Basque Country, Basque Nationalist Party (PNV); in Galicia, Galician Nationalist Block (BNG). Source: Verge (2012).

Constitutional change as a window of opportunity (I)

Parity is not yet taken for granted.

Strenght of feminist demands:Left-wing parties make 40% of seats in current parliament.Women’s movement not mobilised yet.Cross-sectional platforms?

Short-term “national transition” political agenda:Council for the National Transition: Gender composition?Electoral law: District size? Mixed system? Open lists?Equality law: Feminist demands?

How were gains achieved

Practical institutions (Party quotas + highly

centralized party organizations + contagion)

Systemic institutions (PR closed party lists +

effective sanctions for non-compliance)

Normative institutions

(Politics of presence and equality of results +

support of the Constitutional Court)

Source: Based on Krook (2009); Kenny & Verge (2013); Verge (2012).

PARITY

Constitutional change as a window of opportunity (II)

Introduce parity as a public good in the new constitution and laws Expand reach on cabinets, corporate boards…

Influence on which electoral engineering (type of system, district size, type of lists + type of quota!) grants more positive gender outcomes.

Establish a whole set of progressive gender equality policies + mainstreaming through all new legislative corpsYet, “new” policies “nested” in “old” institutions… (Kenny

and Mackay 2009).

The Catalan “national transition”

11

Sept

2012

Catalans’ support for secession

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 20120

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

An autonomous community A state within a federal countryAn independent state A Spanish region

Yes No 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

62.9

30.5

Should a referendum be held?

Yes No 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

56.935

Vote in the referendum

Left-wing parties’ voters and support for secession

35.2

40.5

24.3

PSC

66.3

16.3

17.4

ICV

96.3

ERC

Yes No Abstain/DK/NA

ReferencesKenny, Meryl, and Fiona Mackay. 2009. “Already Doin’ It for

Ourselves? Skeptical Notes on Feminism and Institutionalism.” Politics & Gender 5(2): 271-280.

Kenny, Meryl, and Tània Verge (2013). “Decentralization, Political Parties and Women’s Representation: Evidence from Spain and Britain”. Publius: The Journal of Federalism 43(1): 109-128.

Krook, Mona L. (2009). Quotas for Women in Politics: Gender and Candidate Selection Reform Worldwide. New York: Oxford University Press.

Verge, Tània. 2012. “Institutionalising Gender Equality in Spain: Incremental Steps from Party to Legal Quotas.” West European Politics 35(2): 395-414.

Public opinion data: Centre d’Estudis d’Opinió (2012) <http://www.ceo.gencat.cat>.