Class Year
2018
Document Type
Student Research Paper
Date of Creation
Spring 2018
Department 1
Political Science
Abstract
This paper aims at summarizing the knowledge surrounding gender quotas – which are a quick gate-way to women’s political participation – and at assessing the efficacy of their different means of implementation. Through the cross-national study of Slovenia and Croatia (two countries similar on almost every political, social, and historical development except for women’s political representation) and in tandem with an extensive review of previous works in the literature, this paper sheds some light on the techniques the civil society and feminist/women’s movements could use to maximize their political impact and overall gender-quota effectiveness. Indeed, this paper finds that by appealing to the voters and the public during the election period, raising its awareness on key issues, such as gender-equality, informal barriers of entry for women, “the secret garden of nomination” and most importantly party male-dominated “traditionalism”, women’s movements will elicit maximum party response. By attacking directly the nexus of the parties’ survival, namely the votes, at an inopportune moment, namely during the elections, instead of using legislative and lobbying means, women’s movements will maximize their chances of overcoming the innate limitations of an inefficient gender-quota.
Copyright Note
This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
Recommended Citation
Yandam, Colin J. J., "Gender Quotas and Women’s Political Participation in Slovenia and Croatia: When Similar Historical Developments and Homogeneity of Design Yield Different Outcomes" (2018). Student Publications. 635.
https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/student_scholarship/635
Comments
Written as a capstone paper for Political Science 404: Comparative Politics.