POLITICAL PARTIES AND RECRUITMENT OF WOMEN INTO PARLIAMENTS: IMPLEMENTATION OF QUOTAS IN THE EU

Abstract

U ovome se radu razmatra učinkovitost primjene preferencijalnih kvota za izborne položaje te uspoređuju različiti kvotni sustavi u zemljama Europske Unije. Polazeći od pretpostavke da su političke stranke u modernim demokracijama odlučujući akteri predstavljenosti žena u nacionalnim parlamentima, autorica razmatra (ne)povoljne uvjete za žene u kandidacijskim postupcima te primjere (ne)uspješnih primjena kvota. Autorica zaključuje da uspješna primjena kvota za žene ovisi o nizu dodatnih varijabli, između ostalih: primjena kvota u razmjernim izbornim sustavima, utemeljenost kvota na ženskom pokretu te dosljedna i dugoročna primjena.The paper looks into the effectiveness of the application of preferential quotas for electoral posts and compares the different quota systems in the EU countries. Starting from the assumption that political parties in contemporary democracies are major actors in the representation of women in national parliaments, the author analyses the (un)favourable conditions for women in candidacy procedures and some examples of (un)successful quota implementations. The conclusion is that a successful application of the quotas for women depends on a set of additional variables such as the quota application in proportional electoral systems, the entrenchment of the quotas in women’s movements and their consistent and long- term implementation