Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T00:18:34.689Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Quotas and qualifications: the impact of gender quota laws on the qualifications of legislators in the Italian parliament

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 April 2014

Ana Catalano Weeks  and
Lisa Baldez
Ana Catalano Weeks
Affiliation:
Department of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA, USA
Lisa Baldez*
Affiliation:
Department of Government, Dartmouth College, Silsby Hall, Hanover, NH, USA
*
*E-mails: catalan@fas.harvard.edu; lisa.baldez@dartmouth.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article addresses concerns that candidates nominated because of gender quota laws will be less qualified for office. While questions of candidate quality have long been relevant to legislative behavior, quota laws requiring a certain percentage of candidates for national office to be women have generated renewed interest. Gender quotas are often perceived to reduce the scope of political competition. By putting gender identity center stage, they preclude the possibility that elections will be based on ‘ideas’ or ‘merit’ alone. Other electoral rules that restrict candidate selection, such as the centralization of candidate selection common in closed list PR systems, have been found to reduce the quality of candidates. Rules that open selection, such as primaries, result in higher quality candidates. We exploit the institutional design of Italy’s mixed electoral system in 1994, where quotas were applied only to the PR portion of the list, to compare the qualifications of men, women, and ‘quota women’. We estimate regressions on several measures of deputies’ qualifications for office and performance in office. We find that unlike other rules limiting candidate selection, quotas are not associated with lower quality on most measures of qualifications. In fact, quota women have more local government experience than other legislators and lower rates of absenteeism than their male counterparts. Contrary to critics, quota laws may have a positive impact on legislator quality. Once the quota law was rescinded, quota women were less likely to be re-elected than non-quota women or men, which suggests that discrimination – not qualification – limits women’s status as candidates.

Keywords

Italygender quotasqualificationslegislatures
Type
Research Article
Information
European Political Science Review , Volume 7 , Supplement 1 , February 2015 , pp. 119 - 144
Copyright
© European Consortium for Political Research 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramowitz, A.I. (1991), ‘Incumbency, campaign spending, and the decline of competition in U.S. House Elections’, Journal of Politics 53(February): 34–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anzia, S. and Berry, C. (2011), ‘The Jackie (and Jill) Robinson effect: why do congresswomen outperform congressmen?’, American Journal of Political Science 55(3): 478–493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baldez, L. (2007), ‘Primaries vs. Quotas: gender and candidate nomination in Mexico’, Latin American Politics and Society 49(4): 69–96.Google Scholar
Bartolini, S., Chiaramonte, A. and D’Alimonte, R. (2004), ‘The Italian party system between parties and coalitions’, West European Politics 27(1): 1–19.Google Scholar
Bartolini, S. and D’Alimonte, R. (1996), ‘Plurality competition and party realignment in Italy: the 1994 parliamentary elections’, European Journal of Political Research 29(1): 105–142.Google Scholar
Besley, T., Pande, R. and Rao, V. (2005), ‘Political selection and the quality of government: evidence from South India’. Center Discussion Paper No. 921. Retrieved 17 July 2012 from http://www.econ.yale.edu/~egcenter/research.htm Google Scholar
Bhavnani, R.R. (2009), ‘Do electoral quotas work after they are withdrawn? Evidence from a natural experiment in India’, American Political Science Review 103(1): 23–35.Google Scholar
Bird, K. (2003), ‘Who are the women? Where are the women? And what difference can they make? Effects of gender parity in French municipal elections’, French Politics 1: 5–38.Google Scholar
Bond, J.R., Covington, C. and Fleisher, R. (1985), ‘Explaining challenger quality in Congressional Elections’, Journal of Politics 47(May): 510–529.Google Scholar
Burrell, B.C. (1994), A Woman’s Place is in the House: Campaigns for Congress in the Feminist Era, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canon, D.T. (1990), Actors, Athletes, and Astronauts: Political Amateurs in the United States Congress, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Carey, J.M. and Polga-Hecimovich, J. (2006), ‘Primary elections and candidate strength in Latin America’, Journal of Politics 68(3): 530–543.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carey, J.M. and Shugart, M.S. (1994), ‘Incentives to cultivate a personal vote: a rank ordering of electoral formulas’, Electoral Studies 14(4): 417–439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carroll, S.J. (1994), Women as Candidates in American Politics, Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Caselli, F. and Morelli, M. (2001), ‘Bad politicians’, Journal of Public Economics 88(3): 759–782.Google Scholar
Chattopadhyay, R. and Duflo, E. (2004), ‘Women as policy makers: evidence from a randomized policy experiment in India’, Econometrica 72(5): 1409–1443.Google Scholar
Childs, S. (2002), ‘Hitting the target: are labour women mps “Acting For” women?’, Parliamentary Affairs 55: 143–153.Google Scholar
Cotta, M. and Verzichelli, L. (2007), Political Institutions of Italy, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Cowley, P. and Childs, S. (2003), ‘Too spineless to rebel? New Labour’s Women MPs’, British Journal of Political Science 33(3): 345–365.Google Scholar
Dahlerup, D. ed. (2006), Women, Quotas and Politics, London: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.Google Scholar
Dahlerup, D. and Freidenvall, L. (2005), ‘Quotas as a “Fast Track” to equal representation for women: why Scandinavia is no longer the model’, International Feminist Journal of Politics 7(1): 26–48.Google Scholar
Diermeier, D., Keane, M. and Merlo, A. (2005), ‘A political economy model of congressional careers’, American Economic Review 95: 347–373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrara, Federico (2004), ‘Frogs, mice, and mixed electoral institutions: party discipline in the XIV Italian chamber of deputies’, Journal of Legislative Studies 10(4): 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferraz, C. and Finan, F. (2008), ‘Exposing corrupt politicians: the effect of Brazil's publicly released audits on electoral outcomes’, Quarterly Journal of Economics 123(2): 703–745.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Folke, O. and Rickne, J. (n.d.), ‘Female representation but male rule? Gender quotas and the political glass ceiling’. Retrieved 16 July 2012 from www2.lse.ac.uk/government/research/resgroups/PSPE/pdf/Folke.pdf Google Scholar
Fox, R.L. and Lawless, J.L. (2004), ‘Entering the arena? Gender and the decision to run for office’, American Journal of Political Science 48(2): 264–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franceschet, S. and Piscopo, J.M. (2008), ‘Gender quotas and women’s substantive representation: lessons from Argentina’, Politics & Gender 4(3): 393–425.Google Scholar
Franceschet, S., Krook, M.L. and Piscopo, J.M. eds. (2012), The Impact of Gender Quotas, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gagliarducci, S., Nannicini, T. and Naticchioni, P. (2008), ‘Outside income and moral hazard: the elusive quest for good politicians’. Retrieved 17 July 2012 from www.bu.edu/econ/files/2010/08/dp164Gagliarducci.pdf Google Scholar
Gagliarducci, S., Nannicini, T. and Naticchioni, P. (2011), ‘Electoral rules and politicians’ behavior: a micro test’, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 3(3): 144–174.Google Scholar
Galasso, V. and Nannicini, T. (2011), ‘Competing on good politicians’, American Political Science Review 105(1): 79–99.Google Scholar
Green, D.P. and Krasno, J.S. (1988), ‘Salvation for the spendthrift incumbent: reestimating the effects of campaign spending in house elections’, American Journal of Political Science 32(4): 884–907.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guadagnini, M. (2005), ‘Gendering the debate on political representation in Italy: a difficult challenge’, in J. Lovenduski (ed.), State Feminism and the Political Representation of Women, New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 130–152.Google Scholar
Hirano, S. and Snyder, J.M. (2013), ‘Primary elections and the quality of elected officials’. Paper presented at Second Warwick Political Economy Workshop, March 9–10. Retrieved 16 July 2012 from http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/news_events/conferences/polecon/programme/ Google Scholar
Htun, M. and Jones, M.P. (2002), ‘Engendering the right to participate in decision-making: electoral quotas and women’s leadership in Latin America’, in N. Craske and M. Molyneux (eds), Gender, Rights and Justice in Latin America, London: Palgrave, pp. 69–93.Google Scholar
Hughes, M.M. (2011), ‘Intersectionality, quotas, and minority women’s political representation worldwide’, American Political Science Review 105(3): 604–620.Google Scholar
Imai, K., King, G. and Lau, O. (2008), ‘Toward a common framework of statistical analysis and development’, Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics 17(4): 892–913.Google Scholar
International IDEA (2013), ‘Global database of quotas for women’. Retrieved 26 August 2013 from www.quotaproject.org Google Scholar
ISTAT (2003), ‘La situazione del Paese nel 2002, Rapporto Annuale (The Country’s Situation in 2002, Annual Report)’. Retrieved 15 January 2006 from http://www.istat.it/dati/catalogo/rapporto2002/.Google Scholar
Jacobson, G.C. (1989), ‘Strategic politicians and the dynamics of U.S. House Elections, 1946–86’, The American Political Science Review 83(3): 773–793.Google Scholar
Jacobson, G.C. and Kernell, S. (1981), Strategy and Choice in Congressional Elections, 2nd edn., New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Jones, M.P. (1996), ‘Increasing women’s representation via gender quotas: the Argentine Ley de Cupos’, Women and Politics 16(4): 75–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, M.P. (1998), ‘Gender quotas, electoral laws, and the election of women: lessons from the Argentine provinces’, Comparative Political Studies 31(1): 3–21.Google Scholar
Jones, M.P. (2004), ‘Quota legislation and the election of women: learning from the Costa Rican experience’, Journal of Politics 66(4): 1203–1223.Google Scholar
Jones, M.P. and Navia, P. (1999), ‘Gender quotas, electoral laws, and the election of women: assessing the effectiveness of quotas in open list proportional electoral systems’, Social Science Quarterly 80(2): 341–355.Google Scholar
Júlio, P. and Tavares, J. (2010), ‘The good, the bad, and the different: can gender quotas raise the quality of politicians?’. Center for Economic Policy Research Discussion Paper Series, No. 7917. Retrieved 17 July 2012 from www.cepr.org/pubs/dps/DP7917.asp Google Scholar
Katz, R.S. (1996), ‘Electoral reform and the transformation of party politics in Italy’, Party Politics 2(1): 31–53.Google Scholar
Keane, M.P. and Merlo, A. (2007), ‘Money, political ambition, and the career decisions of politicians’. PIER Working Paper 07-016. Retrieved 17 July 2012 from economics.sas.upenn.edu/system/files/working-papers/07-016.pdf Google Scholar
King, G., Tomz, M. and Wittenberg, J. (2000), ‘Making the most of statistical analyses: improving interpretation and presentation’, American Journal of Political Science 44(2): 341–355.Google Scholar
Krook, M.L. (2009), Quotas for Women in Politics: Gender and Candidate Selection Reform Worldwide, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Loewenberg, G. and Patterson, S.C. (1979), Comparing Legislatures, Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Matland, R.F. (2006), ‘Quotas: frequency and effectiveness’, in D. Dahlerup (ed.), Women, Quotas and Politics, Oxford, UK: Routledge, pp. 275–292.Google Scholar
Meier, P. (2004), ‘The mutual contagion effect of legal and party quotas: a Belgian perspective’, Party Politics 10(5): 583–600.Google Scholar
McCurley, C. and Mondak, J.J. (1995), ‘Inspected by #1184063113: the influence of incumbents' competence and integrity in U.S. House Elections’, American Journal of Political Science 39(4): 864–885.Google Scholar
Murray, R. (2010), ‘Second among unequals? a study of whether France’s “Quota Women” are up to the job’, Politics & Gender 6: 93–118.Google Scholar
Newell, J. (2010), The Politics of Italy: Governance in a Normal Country, New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Norris, P. (1997), Passages to Power: Legislative Recruitment in Advanced Democracies, New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Norris, P. (2004), Electoral Engineering: Voting Rules and Political Behavior, New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
O’Brien, D.Z. (2012), ‘Quotas and qualifications in Uganda’, in S. Franceschet, M.L. Krook and J.M. Piscopo (eds), The Impact of Quotas, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 57–71.Google Scholar
Putnam, R.D. (1976), The Comparative Study of Political Elites, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Rehfeld, A. (2009), ‘On quotas and qualifications for office’, in I. Shapiro, S.C. Stokes, E.J. Wood and A.S. Kirshner (eds), Political Representation, New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 236–268.Google Scholar
Sater, J.N. (2007), ‘Changing politics from below? Women parliamentarians in Morocco’, Democratization 14(4): 723–742.Google Scholar
Schlesinger, J.A. (1966), Ambition and Politics: Political Careers in the United States Congress, Chicago: Rand McNally.Google Scholar
Schmidt, G.D. and Saunders, K.L. (2004), ‘Effective quotas, relative party magnitude, and the success of female candidates: Peruvian Municipal Elections in comparative perspective’, Comparative Political Studies 37(6): 704–734.Google Scholar
Schwartz, H. (2005), ‘Women’s representation in the Rwandan parliament: an analysis of variations in the representation of women’s interests caused by gender and quota’. MA thesis, Gothenburg University.Google Scholar
Schwindt-Bayer, L.A. (2009), ‘Making quotas work: the effect of gender quota laws on the election of women’, Legislative Studies Quarterly 34(1): 5–28.Google Scholar
Shugart, M.S. (2001), ‘Electoral “Efficiency” and the move to mixed-member systems’, Electoral Studies 20: 179–193.Google Scholar
Shugart, M.S., Ellis, M. and Suominen, K. (2005), ‘Looking for locals: voter information demands and personal vote-earning attributes of legislators under proportional representation’, American Journal of Political Science 49(2): 437–449.Google Scholar
Squire, P. (1992), ‘Challenger quality and voting behavior in senate elections’, Legislative Studies Quarterly 17: 247–263.Google Scholar
Squire, P. (1995), ‘Candidates, money, and voters: assessing the state of congressional elections research’, Political Research Quarterly 48: 891–917.Google Scholar
Squires, J. (2005), ‘The implementation of gender quotas in Britain’. International IDEA Project on Electoral Quotas for Women. Retrieved 6 June 2011 from http://www.quotaproject.org/case_studies.cfm#britain Google Scholar
Stone, W.J., Maisel, S. and Maestas, C.D. (2004), ‘Quality counts: extending the strategic politician model of incumbent deterrence’, American Journal of Political Science 48(July): 479–495.Google Scholar
Tripp, A.M. and Kang, A. (2008), ‘The global impact of quotas: on the fast track to increased female legislative representation’, Comparative Political Studies 4(3): 338–361.Google Scholar
Zetterberg, P. (2008), ‘The downside of gender quotas? Institutional constraints on women in Mexican state legislatures’, Parliamentary Affairs 61(3): 442–460.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Weeks and Baldez Supplementary Material

Appendix

Download Weeks and Baldez Supplementary Material(File)
File 813.7 KB