Party Politics and the Implementation of Gender Quotas: Resisting Institutions (Gender and Politics)

This edited collection explores how party politics impacts the implementation of gender quotas in political representation across Europe. Contributors identify actors, institutions, and cultural legacies shape how quotas are put into practice. The volume’s subtitle, Resisting Institutions, points to the myriad ways in which parties and other institutions in Europe over time have resisted the inclusion of women into politics. As voluntary party quotas and legislative quotas gained prominence, so did strategies to undermine them. At the same time, Resisting Institutions also indicates that gender equality actors have developed ways to counter such blockages and advance the cause of parity in their legislatures. 17 country cases explore the current state of quota implementation and the effects of confronting androcentric institutions. 

Sabine Lang is Professor of International and European Politics, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, USA.

Petra Meier is Professor of Politics, Department of Political Science, University of Antwerp, Belgium. 

Birgit Sauer is Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science, University of Vienna, Austria.