PARLIAMENTARY DIVERSITY AND
GENDER QUOTAS
A REPORT ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF
GENDER QUOTAS IN PROVIDING FOR
GREATER EQUALITY
Word Count: 3198 (excluding references and outline of contributions)
Details of Group Members
Adam O’Leary, 20344486
Molly Coogan, 20325913
Grace Zhu, 20362513
We declare that this is all our own work except where we have cited other work.
PARLIAMENTARY DIVERSITY AND GENDER QUOTAS

PARLIAMENTARY DIVERSITY AND
GENDER QUOTAS
A REPORT ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF GENDER QUOTAS IN
PROVIDING FOR GREATER EQUALITY
Table of Contents

1.1 Abstract

2.1 Introduction
1.1 Abstract
The topic that this report explores is gender equality. More
specifically, it examines the effectiveness and workability of gender
quotas in national parliaments, and whether those quotas have the
ability to stimulate greater progress in the general area of gender
equality. We have used data analysis in order to study whether two
primary arguments against the idea of gender quotas have any
merit.
There are three separate sets of data across 27 European countries
that are assessed in this report. These selections of data are the
percentage female representation in national parliaments, each
country’s gender equality index score, and their index score with
respect to the balance of political power across gender.
This data is analysed over the 13 years between 2005 and 2018. The
proportional changes in these summary measures were calculated
and then compared to each other, which resulted in a number of
interesting observations.
Upon comparing the changes in female parliamentary
representation and the same countries’ gender equality scores, we
found a strong correlation between the two. This suggests that
quotas do not frustrate progress or reform and maintain the potential
to bring greater change in the area of gender equality, contrary to
the belief of opposition.
When the changes in female parliamentary representation were
compared to those in the gender balance of political power, we
concluded that there is no evidence to suggest that members of
parliament will experience any notable detriment to their influence
simply because of assistance from a quota. To conclude, we found
that gender quotas have great beneficial possibilities, and since
there was no statistic-based evidence to support popular counterarguments, we would fully support their imposition.
1
o
2.2 Data Selection
o
2.3 Definition of
‘Change’ etc.
3.1 Statistical Analysis

o
3.2 Female
Representation Statistics
o
3.3 Statistics on Gender
Equality Index Scores
o
3.4 Statistics on Gender
Balance of Political
Power
4.1 Conclusion

o
4.2 Recommendations
5.1 References

o
5.2 Data Source
o
5.3 Academic Sources
6.1 Team Members’
Contributions

o
6.2 Molly Coogan
o
6.3 Grace Zhu
o
6.4 Adam O’Leary
PARLIAMENTARY DIVERSITY AND GENDER QUOTAS
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2.1 Introduction
As a group, we decided to report on the topic of gender equality, as it remains a prevalent
and contentious issue despite the level of reform and cultural shift that has taken place in
recent decades. In a world that has become obsessed with identity politics, there is greater
pressure on authoritative bodies to implement change on the basis that women are inherently
oppressed in our modern society.
One of the primary concerns in relation to gender equality is the lack of female representation
in national parliaments. The proposed solution to this issue is the introduction of gender quotas
which can be divided into three distinct categories: reserved seats, party quotas and
legislative quotas (Krook 2005). Each of these quota types aim to ensure optimal equality of
outcome by making guarantees as to the minimum number of women that will stand as
candidates and potentially accede to political office (Dahlerup 2006).
These quotas are implemented in the hope of a greater gender balance within parliaments so
that women have more power over political affairs and can therefore bring about greater
gender equality reforms. However, that expectation is said to be incorrectly predicated on the
assumption that gender is intrinsically tied to political opinion in the sense that all women have
the same viewpoint. Another argument against gender quotas has been that they would
undermine the authority of female politicians as they may not be respected as other
politicians that have not benefitted from quotas.
The aim of this report, therefore, is to analyse the data relevant to this issue and deliver a
selection of unbiased findings. We as a group have examined empirical evidence and
statistics from 27 European nations in order to determine how effective gender quotas in
parliament are across two measures: the change in each nation’s gender equality index score
and the change in their political power equality score.
2.2 Data Selection
Our analysis is spread over three separate sets of data, those being female parliament
representation, gender equality index scores, and gender balance in political power. The
period of time that we chose to examine in relation to these statistics was the 13 years
between 2005 and 2018. While the selection of this time period was subject to the constraint of
data availability, there was also an incentive for us to choose this relatively large frame. Given
that the parliamentary term in European countries tends to be between 4-6 years, we hoped
to incorporate a minimum of 2 separate parliament formations into our analysis in order to give
an accurate depiction of the reasons for the change taking place.
2.3 Definition of ‘Change’, ‘Increase’ etc.
Another point to address is what this report is trying to convey when using terms referring to
changes in different values. When analysing our selected data from the 27 European
countries, we calculated percentage changes in different measures which are proportional to
their respective original values. This allows us to accurately compare and contrast the different
results we obtained from examination of the different data sets. For the sake of convenience,
this report simply refers to the shorthand rather than repeating the fact that these are
proportional percentage values.
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PARLIAMENTARY DIVERSITY AND GENDER QUOTAS
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3.1 Statistical Analysis
3.2 Female Representation Statistics
The first data set to be examined is of course the progression of female representation in
parliaments. The focus of our analysis was on the overall change in the percentage of female
representation which is essential in order to establish the context surrounding this issue with
regard to the selected data subjects. We also used this data set to compare to others and
examine the strength of their correlations.
Percentage Female Representation
50
Female Representation in Parliament
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
2005
2018
Country
Figure 1
The bar chart above (Figure 1) represents the female representation in parliament for each of
the 27 countries in 2005 and 2018. At first glance, it is clear that this representation has
dramatically improved in the wider European context. Out of the 27 countries, only 4 of them
did not experience an increase in female representation, and the proportional decreases in
these cases were very minor with the largest being approximately 9.28%.
On the other hand, there were several countries that experienced very dramatic increases in
their level of female representation. A particularly noticeable example, which might be
considered as an outlier of sorts, was Italy. The Italian parliament had a very noticeable
shortage of female presence with only 10.9% of the members being women. This figure rose to
35.3% by the end of 2018 which was well above the mean percentage of 28.5%. The extent to
which female representation has increased in each country can be visualised through use of
the histogram (Figure 2) on the next page.
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PARLIAMENTARY DIVERSITY AND GENDER QUOTAS
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Figure 2
By examining the spread of the change in female representation in parliaments, we can make
several observations. These are that the majority of countries have experienced a reasonably
large increase in female representation of between 24% and 91%, and that while a large
portion of the data is found in the first bin, only a third of those countries actually experience a
negative change and the rest had modest increase. Furthermore, some countries such as Italy
and France that used to have particularly small percentages have tended to correct that
issue by over doubling or tripling their female representation.
Overall, this tells us that gender inequality in parliamentary procedure is an issue that is taken
seriously across Europe and is in the process of being fixed. Furthermore, we can use these
findings to discover if the imposition of gender quotas can be an effective addition to that
process.
3.3 Statistics on Gender Equality Index Scores
As previously mentioned, one of the main criticisms of gender quotas is that they are entirely
based on the assumption that a person’s political opinion is directly linked to their gender. The
idea behind these quotas is that with a greater number of women in parliament, issues that
primarily or exclusively affect women will be addressed more effectively. The relevance of
gender is reinforced by a number of surveys, which collectively show that female politicians
have a “mandate of difference” (Skjeie, 1998).
The manner in which we felt it would be easiest to determine whether gender has a notable
degree of relevance in addressing equality issues and generally influencing parliamentary
decisions was to examine the changes in overall gender equality in the 27 countries which
acted as our data subjects. This index, developed by the European Institute for Gender
Equality (EIGE), takes into account multiple different factors such as earnings and economic
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PARLIAMENTARY DIVERSITY AND GENDER QUOTAS
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power, all of which are affected by legislation and the administration of the State. We have
analysed the gender equality index and the scores that each country has received in this
index in both 2015 and 2018. We then calculated the changes in these scores in order to crossreference these against the respective changes in female representation, as shown (Figure 3).
Female Representation v. Gender Equality
Chnage in Gender Equality Score
35,0000%
-50,0000%
30,0000%
y = 0,0805x + 0,0747
25,0000%
20,0000%
15,0000%
10,0000%
5,0000%
0,0000%
0,0000%
50,0000%
100,0000%
150,0000%
Change in Female Representation
200,0000%
250,0000%
Figure 3
Our calculations suggest that there is a linear correlation of approximately 0.61 between the
change in a country’s gender equality score and their changing female representation in
parliament. This means that there is a strong positive relationship between the change in the
two variables: as the percentage of female representatives in parliaments increases there is a
strong tendency for that country’s gender equality score to increase.
While this correlation may initially appear to work in favour of gender quotas, in reality it does
not directly prove that gender is relevant in addressing political issues such as gender
inequality or that these quotas are guaranteed to be beneficial. This is because of the
principle that correlation does not imply causation which leaves us unable to deduce for
certain that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between these two variables. What is
more, while the linear correlation between these changes may be strong, it is still relatively far
from being a perfectly correlated observation and this makes it even more difficult to suggest
an element of causation is present.
Even if there was a relationship between the change in female representation and change in
gender equality score, it would be illogical and intellectually disingenuous to automatically
assume that the change in female representation is what causes the latter change to occur.
There is just as strong an explanation to say the opposite, in that while gender equality
conditions in a country improve there is a subsequent increase in female politicians being
elected to parliament. When then there is a greater level of gender equality in a given
country, that inherently means that women will be viewed to be just as competent as men
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PARLIAMENTARY DIVERSITY AND GENDER QUOTAS
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and obviously the population will be more inclined to vote these women into parliament
should they decide to be politicians.
The strong correlation between the change in female representation and gender equality
does however allow us to eliminate certain extreme possibilities in the analysis of this data. We
can tell immediately that the introduction of more women into parliament does not somehow
frustrate the progress of parliaments in relation to gender equality reform. Even if female
politicians are not collectively obsessed with pushing for more gender equality, there is little
reason to believe that they are against these policies in any sense. This is indicative of the fact
that gender quotas will not present any notable disbenefits for gender equality reform if
implemented and will maintain a high potential to benefit the wider society in the areas of
equality and diversity with more widespread experience and ideas.
3.4 Statistics on Gender Balance of Political Power
With the question of the relevance of gender in politics set aside, this report aims to determine
the validity of another argument against the introduction of gender quotas into parliamentary
formation. This counter-argument is that quotas will undermine the influence that women can
have in politics as the legitimacy of their political position is threatened. The broad sentiment
among the opposition to gender quotas is that women, especially those who perhaps had not
secured a seat in parliament beforehand, will receive a lesser degree of respect from their
colleagues because they were assisted by quotas (Koch, 2015). This is consistent with the fear
that people will believe that women elected with the help of a quota will be considered to be
undeserving of their position.
In order to see if this anti-quota ideology has any statistical basis, it is not enough to simply look
at the composition of each of the 27 countries’ parliaments. It is necessary to look at a more
specific index, which is that which attributes a score to each country based on their gender
balance with regard to political power, similar to the overall gender equality index. These
statistics, which were also compiled by the EIGE, give an accurate measure of the political
influence and positions that women have in the parliaments of each country. By comparing
this data to the statistics relating to parliamentary representation, we can discover whether
the political standing of women is actually infringed by quotas.
It is required here that we look at countries with quotas in place in isolation so that this data
can then be compared to the overall population of 27 countries. (See Figure 4 and Figure 5 on
the next page). The changes in this case are once again those experienced in the thirteen
years between 2005 and 2018, to allow for easy and accurate comparison.
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PARLIAMENTARY DIVERSITY AND GENDER QUOTAS
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Female Representation v. Political Power (Countries
with No Quotas)
Change in Gender Baalance
of Political Power
45,0000%
40,0000%
35,0000%
30,0000%
25,0000%
20,0000%
15,0000%
10,0000%
5,0000%
0,0000%
-10,0000%
0,0000%
y = 0,3133x + 0,1192
10,0000%
20,0000%
30,0000%
40,0000%
50,0000%
Change in Female Representation
60,0000%
Figure 4
Change in Gender Baalance
of Political Power
Female Representation v. Political Power (Overall)
140,0000%
120,0000%
y = 0,4553x + 0,1116
100,0000%
-50,0000%
80,0000%
60,0000%
40,0000%
20,0000%
0,0000%
0,0000%
-20,0000%
50,0000%
100,0000%
150,0000%
Change in Female Representation
200,0000%
250,0000%
Figure 5
When examining the five countries from our selection of 27, we can see that while there is a
positive linear correlation, it is quite weak with a coefficient of only 0.49. There is certainly a
trend in which an increase of female representation gives rise to a greater gender balance
when it comes to political power. Given the limited data in this subset, we cannot derive many
assumptions or observations from this correlation, but it is quite useful when compared to the
overall data set.
When later looking over the statistics in relation to all 27 of the countries, we get a much
clearer picture of things. Purely by comparing the trendlines, when countries with quotas are
added to the mix, we can see that there is a slightly greater rise in the balance of political
power as regard to gender. There is a much stronger correlation coefficient of 0.72 and this
very strong correlation means that there is a very tight-knit relationship between the change in
female representation and the change in gender quality in the context of political power.
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PARLIAMENTARY DIVERSITY AND GENDER QUOTAS
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Again, unfortunately, we are faced with the problem of whether this correlation is also implicit
of a causation relationship between the two variables. Despite the fact that in this case we
are dealing with a correlation coefficient that is much stronger than that in the analysis under
Appendix 3.3 and the analysis of the 5-country data set, it would still be analytically incorrect
for us to make the assumption that causation is present.
Either way, whether or not an increase in the number of women in parliament is directly linked
to an increase in the balance of political power across gender groups is not the question that
we are trying to answer. The question at hand is whether the imposition of quotas undermines
the political power of the women that stand to benefit from them. There are two separate
observations from the data that contradict that belief.
1. When looking at the trendlines, there is a slight increase in the slope from when all 27
countries are taken into account to when only those countries without quotas are
included. While this is most likely a reflection of more accuracy from more data, the
comparison refutes the idea that gender quotas could frustrate progress towards a
situation where political power is divided more equally across genders
2. Ignoring the trendlines or a comparison between the two datasets, the correlation
between the change in female representation and the change in the gender equality of
the political power of the 27 countries is a very strong and positive one. Given that the
majority of the countries have gender quotas, if the idea were valid that these quotas
inhibit the influence of women due to a lack of respect, then we would expect this
correlation to be much weaker if not negative.
4.1 Conclusion
In analysis of the summary measures reflecting information gathered across the 27 countries
we examined, we can divide our findings into three main observations.
The first is that, as a collective, the 27 European countries that acted as our data subjects had
experienced a large increase in the number of women who stood as members of their
national parliaments. It is clear from this that there has been great progress on the issue of
gender inequality in parliament, irrespective of whether there were any quotas in place.
The second observation comes in response to the claim made by those who oppose gender
quotas, which is that gender is irrelevant in terms of politics and that a parliament without
equal representation is able to adequately address gender and equality issues. The data
examined in evaluation of this idea was that of the female representation in national
parliaments compared to the changes of the score of each country in terms of the gender
equality index. Our calculations found that there was a strong, positive linear correlation
between these summary measures. While this may not guarantee a relationship of causation,
it shows that gender has relevance when it comes to parliament and that it may in fact lead
to greater gender equality for the state that parliaments legislate for.
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PARLIAMENTARY DIVERSITY AND GENDER QUOTAS
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The third observation into which we got an extensive insight responded to a separate claim,
which is that the imposition of gender quotas could potentially lessen the power of women in
parliament as they lose respect from their colleagues. The attitude from gender quota
opposers seems to be that women will be viewed as less qualified and therefore the quotas
would be quite counter-intuitive. However, when we examined the changes between female
representation in parliaments and the change in the gender balance of political power over
the same period, it appeared that this could not be the case. There existed here another even
stronger correlation between the two, suggesting that quotas cannot be said to have this
negative effect, at least not to a significant extent.
4.2 Recommendations
Throughout this report, our group has used data analysis to rebut two of the main arguments
used against gender quotas. By virtue of our findings, we feel that these arguments cannot be
said to have merit, at least not in the European context represented by our 27 chosen
countries. In carrying out this function, our data has also hinted at some potential benefits to
be gotten from gender quotas, such as greater efficiency in bringing gender equality reform
associated with more diverse parliaments. These benefits considered, our group is comfortable
in recommending the introduction of gender quotas to parliaments and political parties alike,
as well as in other aspects of society and business.
5.1 References
5.2 Data Source
 European Institute for Gender Equality. (2021). Gender Statistics Database (online). Available
from: https://eige.europa.eu/gender-statistics/dgs (accessed 19/2/2021)
5.3 Academic Sources
 Krook, M. Lena. (2004). Gender Quotas as a Global Phenomenon: Actors and Strategies in
Quota Adoption. European Political Science 3 (3): 59-65

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

Raphael, H. (2015). Board Gender Quotas in Germany and the EU: An Appropriate Way of
Equalising the Participation of Women and Men?. Deakin Law Review 20(1): 57

Skjeie, H. (1998). Credo on Difference – Women in Parliament in Norway. Women in Parliament:
Beyond Numbers (A. Karam, ed.) pp. 183-189, IDEA
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6.1 Team Members’ Contributions
6.2 Molly Coogan
For my part in the creation of this report, I decided to focus on researching the area of gender
equality. I found and studied a number of different academic sources on this topic and chose
the gender equality index provided by the European Institute for Gender Equality as the data
set to study. I used Microsoft Excel to make a number of different calculations, including the
linear correlation between the proportional changes in this index and the percentage of
female representatives in national parliaments. This work was essential in comparing these two
statistical measures and led to our team making a number of interesting findings. I examined
all this data and wrote an extensive analysis for the actual report. Overall, my research and
analysis furthered the idea that gender quotas are a viable solution to gender inequality,
which was the overall area discussed in our report.
6.3 Grace Zhu
My task for this report was to look at the gender balance of political power across our chosen
27 countries in Europe. During my research I came across a very broad variety of opinions
across academic literature which were very helpful in giving me a general idea of the topic
and added greatly to the report’s content. However, the majority of the writing I did was
based on the data that I sourced and analysed. Within the website of the European Institute
for Gender Equality, there was an extremely helpful subsection under which each country was
given an index score based on gender equality in terms of political power. Following a similar
model to Molly Coogan’s, I compared the proportional changes between this and female
representation from 2005-2018. From my findings, we were able to derive a number of
summary measures and in my writing, I developed a strong, data-based argument for the
implementation of quotas which was of course an essential aspect of our conclusion.
6.4 Adam O’Leary
For my contribution to this report, I completed several general tasks which were important in
terms of the overall preparation and presentation of the report. First of all, I focused on
researching the general empirical evidence and academic literature relating to gender
quotas and their effectiveness. Alongside this, I examined the data available on female
representation in parliament for each of 27 European countries. These two areas of research
were fundamental in the establishment of context for our report and allowed me to create a
set of data which we used to compare to others and observe linear correlations. In terms of
presentation, I combined the analysis and writings that both Molly and Grace had prepared
with my own and formatted all the information into a tidy and professional report. This also
involved the creation of relevant and clear graphs to coincide with the text. Subsequent to
this, I further combined all the raw data we had analysed and tided it up into a single,
presentable Excel spreadsheet.
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