tània verge ([email protected]) universitat pompeu fabra (barcelona, catalonia) lessons from...
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Tània Verge ([email protected])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>.