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In Summary
- The aim of quota systems is to increase considerably the political representation of women, or in the case of gender-neutral quotas, that of the under-represented gender.
- Successful quota systems lead to:
- The active recruitment of women by political parties in order to have a sufficient number of qualified candidates to fulfil the quota;
- A critical mass of women, rather than a token few, who will be able to influence political norms and culture;
- Women having the possibility to influence the decision-making process as individuals or with specific women's
or feminist points of view.
- It is not sufficient to pass rules that ensure women 30 per cent of the seats. The next step of implementing quotas is critical. With respect to implementation, the following should be kept in mind:
- The more vague the regulations, the higher the risk that the quota regulations are not properly implemented;
- Pressure from women's organizations and other groups is necessary for the successful implementation of quotas;
- The larger the turnover, the easier it is to implement quotas for the new group, in this case women.
- Contrary to what many supporters of quotas believed or hoped for, conflicts over quotas for women do not seem to be temporary, but something we will have to continue to contend with.
Although there is no one remedy for increasing women's presence in parliament, the discussions on quotas and electoral systems point to some of the avenues to which women can turn. Some countries have refined certain tools more than others as a result of trial and error and long years of experimentation. By making these experiences available to women around the world, we hope to provide some guidelines and directions for future trials in this field. In the next chapter, we look at the women already in parliament and discuss what they can do to enhance their effectiveness.
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