Women’s Political Representation

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Gender Quotas

Gender quotas are a mechanism aimed to ensure women’s presence in governmental bodies. Half of the world’s countries now use some types of electoral quotas, mostly set at a 20–40% threshold, providing that women constitute a large minority in national parliaments (Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, 2009). Quotas play an important role in fostering women’s political engagement and addressing the problem of the underrepresentation of women in governmental bodies. They are believed to “compensate for actual barriers that prevent women from taking their share of political seats and support women’s right to equal representation” (Zetterberg, 2009, p. 318). They are also claimed to increase women’s self-esteem, confidence, and motivation for political participation.

However, the efficiency of the quotas strategy in increasing women’s actual participation in positions of power and decision-making is highly debated. The critics argue that “quotas contradict the principle of equal opportunity for all, since women are given preference over men, and are undemocratic because voters do not get to decide who is elected” (Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, 2009). Women who are into politics do not want to be elected simply because they are women and perceive quotas as a formal commitment to gender equality and not a tool of empowerment.

Woodsworth (2007) claims that quotas ensure quantitative but not qualitative representation, only providing women with a minimum of seats but not giving them any actual power. Qualitative representation does not necessarily increase women’s ability and willingness to promote their gender interests (Zetterberg, 2009). The quotes strategy is believed to substitute the “politics of ideas” with the “politics of presence,” only providing for the presence of women in government bodies, and not the representation of their interests (Wordsworth, 2007). A more advantageous method of handling the issue of gender equality would be a strategy that addresses political, economic, social, and cultural constraints that prevent women from going into politics.

Support of Women’s Political Movements in Uganda

In the chapter “The problem with patronage: Constraints on women’s political effectiveness in Uganda,” Goetz argues that President Museveni used the support of women’s political movements as a tool for establishing his political dominance. Museveni’s government has been praised internationally for appointing women to senior civil service positions and giving them seats in national and local governments (Goetz, 2003). In her article, Goetz claims that the President used undemocratic methods to increase women’s political presence together with the suspension of party competition to establish his authoritarian position.

The article claims that without institutionalized parties and a democratic decision-making structure, the women of Uganda have no real means of asserting their rights and reaching their goals. To bring forth the issue of gender equality and promote women’s rights on the national level, an introduction of a more clear and democratic political system is required. Under Museveni’s government, the women who were elected to occupy district-level parliamentary seats had no clear understanding of whom they were supposed to represent: local women’s interests or their district’s interests (Goetz, 2003). Museveni’s efforts to include women in the country’s political system did not pose a threat to the positions of dominant political groups or provide a platform for adequate political representation.

Based on the arguments presented in the chapter, it can be concluded that President Museveni’s initiatives to increase women’s political presence cannot be considered as a genuine attempt to enforce political equality. In the country’s political system, women are not regarded as an actual political force but are rather used to create an illusion of fair competition. However, any attempts to increase women’s political representation can also be considered beneficial, as, regardless of the actual political opportunities, they nevertheless encourage women to get involved in politics and participate in decision-making.

Transnational and National Feminist Movement in Latin America

In Chapter 7, Alvarez discusses the effects of transnational feminism on local feminist movements in Latin America. She claims that international activism has been a defining feature of feminist initiatives throughout the continent, which facilitated local women’s movements in their search for political identity and representation (Alvarez, 2000). Local women’s engagement in transnational initiatives, conferences, and discussions has inspired, reaffirmed, and reinforced the introduction of new organizational and political practices on the local level. Women’s movements across Latin America have succeeded in using the transnational feminist discourse to pressure their governments into acknowledging their interests.

However, this trend posed several challenges for local feminists, with the most important being the clash between the transnational and national feminist agendas. In some points, local feminists’ interests differ from international interests and finding a middle ground between being a part of local political life and the international feminism movement can be challenging (Ferree & Tripp, 2006). Latin American feminist movements were successful in incorporating the international practice of gender policy advocacy into domestic anti-violence policies. Local feminists’ engagement with international gender policy advocacy provided local advocates with new instruments that proved to have great potential in dealing with local cases of violence against women. The transnational feminist movement has greatly supported the incorporation of women’s voices into local policy and provided a ground for further political initiatives.

References

Alvarez, S. (2000). Translating the global effects of transitional organizing on local feminist discourses and practices in Latin America. Meridians, 1(1), pp. 29–67.

Ferree, M. M., & Tripp, A. M. (2006). Global feminism: Transnational women’s activism, organizing, and human rights. New York University Press.

Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. (2009). Gender Quotas Database. Web.

Goetz, A. M. (2003). The problem with patronage: Constraints on women’s political effectiveness in Uganda. In A. M. Goetz & S. Hassim (Eds.), No shortcuts to power: African women in politics and policy making (pp. 110–139). Zed.

Wordsworth, A. (2007). A matter of interests: Gender and the politics of presence in Afghanistan’s Wolesi Jirga. Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit.

Zetterberg, P. (2009). Do gender quotas foster women’s political engagement? Political Research Quarterly, 62(4), pp. 715–730. Web.

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