Changes in parliamentary structures and procedures might include the introduction of proportionality norms for men's and women's membership in committees, the establishment of women's whips (responsible for organizing the parliamentary votes of women in a particular party), and formal or informal quotas for women in various legislative positions.

Introduce proportionality norms or quotas for men/women representation;

Quota systems have been used effectively in Germany at local and national levels, and via political parties in France and Belgium. In countries where compulsory quotas are politically difficult, voluntary targets can be set. These should be dated with realistic timetables for implementation.

and mechanisms to monitor their implementation that is accountable to the assembly.

Mechanisms to monitor the implementation of quotas that are accountable to the assembly should be established. This ensures that regular discussions on progress are part of the parliamentary timetable. Setting up committees on women's issues and national sex-equality offices that are also accountable to parliament have similar effects. Accountability to parliament ensures that their work is scrutinized, debated and publicized, providing numerous additional opportunities for discussion of women's concerns. The case study on South Africa highlights how national machinery that proposes changes in legislation and which supervises and ensures implementation, through a system of checks and balances can be created. The case study also reveals how simultaneous functions, both inside and outside parliament, can operate ­ i.e. in South Africa a new constitution was drafted, a woman's empowerment programme was set up in consultation with women parliamentarians, and an Office for the Status of Women was created to mainstream women's concerns and ensure follow-up. The case study on Russia also points to the creation of a specialized committee to deal with mainstreaming gender concerns.

Establish mechanisms to encourage women to speak.

Changes in procedure can be effective in and of themselves and they can also have a wider impact on society. For example, Janet Beilstein from the United Nations Department for the Advancement of Women (UNDAW) reported to the August 1997 International IDEA conference in Stockholm, that when a woman raises her hand to speak in discussions in the German Bundestag she is automatically shifted to the top of the list of male speakers. This practice seeks to overcome women's diffidence about speaking in male-dominated groups by maximizing their opportunities to participate. It has become so ingrained in MPs that they repeat the practice even when they are outside of parliament.

Break down distinction between "hard" and "soft" issues.

More fundamental changes involve changing the way in which certain issues, namely those closer to women's concerns and in which women have an expertise (e.g. education, welfare policy, family policy) are viewed in the parliamentary hierarchy. As we have mentioned, the distinction between "hard" and "soft" issues is difficult to sustain and is likely to break down. This process will develop from increased interest in "soft" issues by all politicians, as women deputies become more successful in pushing them up the parliamentary agenda. Agenda changes are closely related to output changes.

Representation

Networks of women MPs have been successful in changing candidate selection rules to assist women's access to political office. Special measures such as quotas or minimum proportion rules for both sexes on candidate lists, reserved places for women, and earmarked public funds for political parties have been operationalized. Political parties have been at the centre of most of the effective strategies to enhance women's representative capacities. Parties have developed strategies to promote women internally into decision-making positions in the party organization and externally into elected assemblies and public appointments. Generally they have been more radical, committed and imaginative in devising policies to bring women into internal party positions than to nominate women as candidates for elected office. Their most effective action has been the introduction of various kinds of quotas.

Consider using quotas or voluntary targets.

Quotas are, in most cases, temporary measures designed to overcome imbalances that exist between men and women. They are an effort to change the political equilibrium between women and men. ¹³ In 1992, quotas were used by at least 56 political parties in 34 countries according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union. The three countries with the highest levels of women's representation in 1997 ­ Norway, Denmark and Sweden ­ all include parties that have used voluntary quotas of some kind. Often quotas are introduced in a two-stage process. First, minimum proportions of women are set for internal bodies; then, with the support of the newly installed women officials, they are extended to the party's lists of candidates.

• In Denmark, the first party to introduce quotas was the People's Socialist Party which agreed in 1977 that all party bodies and electoral assemblies should have a minimum representation of 40 per cent from each sex. In 1979, 64 per cent of the party's representatives in parliament were women. In 1984, quotas were introduced for the selection of candidates for the European Parliament, and in 1988, they were introduced for local elections.

• Norway also began with quotas for women for party boards that made it much easier later to adopt quotas for elected bodies.

Both the level of compulsion and the size of a quota can be raised incrementally as the idea gains acceptance.

• The German SPD has a quota of 40 per cent for internal party councils and committees, and 33.3 per cent for electoral bodies. In 1998, the electoral quota is scheduled to be raised to 40 per cent.

• The Dutch Labour Party adopted a recommendation that 25 per cent of all seats inside and outside the party should be held by women. In 1985, the recommendation was strengthened to become an official quota.

• The British Labour Party agreed in 1989 to introduce quotas for women on all internal bodies, sometimes by increasing the size of the body, sometimes not. By 1993 it was possible to introduce a policy of all women shortlists in half of the party's vacant winnable seats, a policy that was overturned by the courts at the beginning of 1996.

Mechanisms for quotas vary by the type of electoral system. In single-member constituency first past the post systems there are relatively few options, but in party list systems devices such as women's lists, placing women at high positions on closed lists and "zip lists" (a woman in every other position) are often used. ¹⁴ The policy to enhance women's representation is most controversial where the introduction of new women means displacing men who are already established. ¹⁵

Increase size of representative body to avoid displacement of men; or create new organizations for women.

One way of avoiding such displacement is by increasing the size of the relevant representative body; another way is to create new organizations for women. When the British Labour Party introduced compulsory votes for women into its shadow cabinet election rules it also increased the size of the shadow cabinet. Similarly when it introduced new regional policy fora, these had minimum proportions of women members. This effect extends well beyond legislation as parliaments have been used to promote media discussion of feminist and other women's issues in the media. The spread of images of political women has increased public expectations that there will be a substantial "feminization" of parliament which will in turn result in discussions on equal political representation.

French women have recently called for legislation requiring that women are 50 per cent of electoral bodies, a proposal that has met with considerable resistance. In general, European governments have been reluctant to introduce laws compelling quotas of women in electoral office; Belgium is the sole EU exception. It is worth noting that Belgium is a country that is used to quotas to protect the representation of its Flemish and Walloon communities.

Impact/Influence on Output

One clear indication that women have influenced output is the fact that quotas exist for women in political parties and parliament. Output changes are inevitable as women become more and more effective in promoting women's issues and concerns. Once women's issues are raised and sustained on the agenda, they rapidly secure the interest of all politicians. This interest can apply to a wide host of issues: political, economic, social and even cultural.

Encourage financial incentives for programmes geared for women.

Recent research indicates that the most effective way to influence output and promote women's equality is to provide financial incentives to programmes geared towards women. For example, to enhance the education of girls the Indian Government pledged to match and double any contribution made to the building of girls' schools. The Dutch Government used the system of public funding of political parties to earmark special funding for the promotion of women candidates by all parties. South Africa has introduced a women's budget to fund projects that cater to the particular needs and interests of women.

Expand topics of debate to include issues relevant to women.

The most important change affecting discourse has been the overturning of implicit rules limiting appropriate topics of debate to matters in the "public" sphere. In co-operation with women's movements, parliamentarians in some countries have extended the agenda of legislatures to discussions of domestic violence, stalking, rape, consent in marriage, and the rights of lesbian mothers.

Further change in the area of discourse can come about once women themselves become increasingly proud of their identities as women. In her article in a Dutch feminist magazine (Opzij), European parliamentarian Hedy D'Ancona surveys some of the most influential women Euro-MPs. She argues that by not being shy of their "womanhood", but rather being proud of their identity as women, women have enhanced their work, impact, and performance. ¹⁶ Women are often apologetic rather than proud or assertive of their identity as women. A change in a woman politician's self-perception, as Shvedova points out in Chapter 2, remains key to changing public perception and reaction to women and their contributions.

Be proud of identity as a woman;

A woman's sex identity and her "outsider" status can even enhance electoral attractiveness, particularly in times of constitutional crisis. As new political entrants, women are often not associated with the corrupt and autocratic practices of collapsing regimes. Instead they can become symbols of modernity, honesty, democracy and caring, all images that are invaluable to reform movements.

Then work to change the image of women in media and society.

The process of increasing the proportion of women in legislatures is part of a larger phenomenon of changing political images so that politics starts to be regarded as a normal activity for women. To take hold, such an attitude-shift requires reinforcement in the mass media and agreement within the women's movement that politics is an appropriate activity for women.