Working session
Addressing the gender funding gap1
Barbara Jouan Stonestreet
Political Finance Expert
French National Commission for Control
of Electoral Accounts and Political Finance
INTRODUCTION
Throughout the world, it is a general phenomenon that the number of women
elected to office remains significantly lower than the number of men. As mentioned in the
International IDEA Handbook on Political Finance,2 “in 2013, women held 21 percent of
parliamentary seats worldwide, up from 15 percent a decade ago.” If these numbers show
an improvement in the situation, the percentage of elected women remains low.
Different international declarations, conventions and resolutions have set out the normative
framework on women’s participation and have affirmed the necessity to achieve gender
equality and ensure women’s empowerment. The main international instruments are:
- the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which
requires state parties to “take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination
against women in the political and public life of the country”3, including through
temporary special measures;
- the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs);
- Rec(2003)3 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to member states
on balanced participation of women and men in political and public decision making;4
- the Beijing +20 Campaign.5
1
Parts of this paper are taken from the International IDEA and the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy Report
on Political Parties’ financial approaches to promote gender equality, “Report on the Tunisian political parties’ practice
during the 2014 elections to promote gender equality: Reality and Prospects”, April 2015.
2 p. 301 of International IDEA Handbook on political finance available at : http://www.idea.int/publications/funding-ofpolitical-parties-and-election-campaigns/
3 1979 United Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, Article 4.1.
4 Articles 3, 4 & 5 read that States should “consider adopting legislative reforms to introduce parity thresholds for
candidates in elections at local, regional, national and supra-national levels. Where proportional lists exist, consider the
introduction of zipper systems; consider action through the public funding of political parties in order to encourage them to
promote gender equality; where electoral systems are shown to have a negative impact on the political representation of
women in elected bodies, adjust or reform those systems to promote gender-balanced representation.”
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Different factors contribute to the existence of gender inequality in politics and the
increased understanding of issues surrounding funding of political parties has also shown the
link between political finance and women’s participation in politics. Indeed, one of the main
reasons of such gender inequality is the lack of access by women to financial resources for
entering into politics.
Of the different types of obstacles that can be encountered by women throughout the
electoral cycle (political, historical, economic, cultural or social factors), the nature of the
electoral system plays a role in women’s access to financial resources within their parties
and can affect the extent of women’s representation. In majority systems where campaign
fundraising is focused on one single candidate, women will have to prove that they can win
the race and gather their own resources, mainly private. On the other hand, in proportional
systems, women candidates are part of a candidate list whose campaign expenses are
usually taken care of by their party or mutualized.
It is worth highlighting that despite the existence of international instruments and the
growing awareness of gender inequality in the political and electoral fields, a very few
numbers of countries have adopted legislation connecting gender equality with political
finance.6 This paper will specifically focus on how to use public funding as a tool for
enhancing gender equality.
TYING POLITICAL FINANCE REGULATIONS TO GENDER
EQUALITY
Money is needed for competing in most political systems today and necessary to
reach out to voters. One of the main goals of political finance regulation is to achieve free
and fair competition between political parties and candidates by creating opportunities for
electoral contestants to compete on a level playing field and ensure a transparent display of
the financial background of any actor competing for a political mandate. However, election
laws and normative frameworks can lead to gender inequalities when unequal access to
campaign funding contributes to an uneven political playing field.
The adoption of political finance regulations containing gendered provisions can help reduce
the gender gap by ensuring the opportunity for all candidates to compete on an equal
footing. In parallel of the adoption of legislated measures, initiatives and measures adopted
by electoral stakeholders, such as political parties or Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)
through non-legislated measures, can also help level the electoral field by supporting
5
6
http://beijing20.unwomen.org/en
See questions 27 and 28 of the IDEA political finance database available at: http://www.idea.int/political-finance/
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political financing for women through, for instance, trainings, capacity building projects, and
fundraising support.
Legislation on political finance can contain gender-neutral regulations which do not directly
aim at reducing the gender gap but help do so (such as setting bans and spending limits,
capping and/ or limiting certain types of contribution or imposing specific disclosure
mechanisms) or specifically target gender-equality initiatives.
Legislation targeting the
campaign period (gender
neutral)
Public funding for enforcement of
quota provisions and candidate
Incentives
Legislation targeting
gender equality
initiatives
• Spending bans and limits
for political parties and/or
candidates
• Contribution bans and
limits for political parties
and/or candidates
• Media access
• Time limit on length of
campaign period
• Disclosure and oversight
of political parties and
candidates
• Public funding reduced for parties
that fail to nominate a certain number
of women according to quota laws
• Funding withdrawn from parties that
fail to elect a certain number of
women
• Additional funding distributed to
parties that nominate a certain
number of women
• Additional funding distributed to
parties that get a certain number of
women elected
• Funds earmarked
for training and
promotion of gender
equality
• Women’s wing or
caucus funding
• In-kind costs and
incentives, such as
use of campaign
funds for childcare
Cf: Ballington, Kahane, Table developed in the International IDEA Handbook on Political Finance, Stockholm,
International IDEA, 2014, p.310.
In order to address gender imbalance in the electoral field and the political decision-making
process and to contribute to the political empowerment of women, some countries have
introduced gender quotas for public elections.7 Electoral quotas generally set a minimum
threshold for women, and may apply to the percentage of women candidates on party lists,
or may take the form of reserved seats in the legislature. One critical element to look at and
take into consideration very carefully in this regard is whether the rank order of the
candidates on the lists is regulated, so that women candidates are not just placed at the
bottom of the lists.
However, gender quotas have an actual and effective effect only if they are linked – directly
or indirectly – to the allocation of public funding. According to International IDEA’s political
finance database, very few countries around the world (covered and included in the
International IDEA political finance database), have adopted reforms that directly target
7
See the International IDEA Quota Project, available at: http://www.quotaproject.org/aboutQuotas.cfm
“Quotas for women entail that women must constitute a certain number or percentage of the members of a body, whether
it is a candidate list, a parliamentary assembly, a committee, or a government. The quota system places the burden of
recruitment not on the individual woman, but on those who control the recruitment process. The core idea behind this
system is to recruit women into political positions and to ensure that women are not only a token few in political life.”
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gender equality8 by tying public funding to gender equality. In those countries, different
approaches have been implemented:
Type of approach
Example
1/ Financial incentives in the form of:


Georgia
additional public funding for
political parties meeting → Political parties with at least 20% of either gender on its
legal criteria such as
list receive an additional 30 % funding
including a certain number
or percentage of either
Romania
gender on their candidates’
→ State funding will increase in proportion to the number
lists (Georgia case) or
of seats obtained in the election by women candidates
female elected candidates
(Romania case)
Canada
Reimbursement of child
care expenses incurred → Child care expenses incurred because of the election are
because of and during an eligible for reimbursement and have to be reported in the
campaign account
election campaign
2/ Financial sanctions in the form of:



Albania
→ each candidate list has to include at least one man and
one woman candidate in the top three positions and in
total comprise at least 30 percent of each gender.
In case of non-compliance with the gender quota provisions,
the Central Election Commission (CEC) shall impose a fine of
ALL 1,000,000.
France
Withholding part of the
public grant
→ If the gender difference among candidates is larger than
2%, the public funding is reduced by 3/4 of this difference
Article 9 of the 1988 Law on Political Party Financing states
that "where, for a given political party or group, the
difference in the number of candidates of each gender having
declared an affiliation with the party or political group for the
last general election to the National Assembly exceeds 2% of
the total number of such candidates, the amount of the first
instalment allocated to that party or group is reduced by a
percentage corresponding to 75 % of this difference in
proportion to the total number of candidates"
Serbia
Denying registration of the
list and thus the allocation → The candidate lists of political parties must include at
of public funding
least 30% of candidates of each gender. Parties not
complying cannot participate in election processes at all
and therefore cannot access public funding
Imposing fines
8
See p. 309 of the International IDEA Handbook on Political Finance, available at:
http://www.idea.int/publications/funding-of-political-parties-and-election-campaigns/.
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CASE STUDIES AND AVENUES FOR REFLECTION
If a small but growing number of countries around the world have made a connection
between the provision of public funding and the presentation of (more or less) genderbalanced candidate lists, the truth is that the representation of women in elected
institutions is still very low. Two arguments can be raised to explain this situation: existing
provisions are not effectively implemented and innovative approaches are needed to
improve the situation.
As mentioned in the Guidelines on Political Party Regulation by the OSCE Office for
Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the Council of Europe’s European
Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission):9
“A requirement for gender balance can be enacted with regards to political
finance, as public financial support is not a right of political parties but an
advantage offered to them. [Appendix to Recommendation (2003)3] states
that: “Member states should consider adopting legislative reforms to
introduce parity thresholds for candidates in elections at local, regional,
national and supra-national levels. Where proportional lists exist, consider the
introduction of zipper systems; consider action through the public funding of
political parties in order to encourage them to promote gender equality.”
The below case studies aim to show the effects and impact that public funding has or has not
had in terms of gender equality.
→ Romania
→ Tying public funding to gender equality
Principle: State funding is increased in proportion to the number of seats obtained in the election by
women candidates.
Actual situation: This provision did not seem to have any effect on the number of women elected in
Parliament during the 2012 parliamentary elections. The OSCE/ODIHR Election Expert Team Final
Report on the 2012 Romania Parliamentary elections underlined that “public funding can be
increased in proportion to the number of women elected to the parliament, but this does not
appear to have stimulated their greater participation; according to final results, less than 7 per cent
of Senators (12 of 176) and some 13 per cent of Deputies (55 out of 412) are women.”10
→ Neither the amount of the additional public funding nor the percentage/ number of elected
women are specifically mentioned in the law. Thus, despite the linkage between the allocation of
public funding and the number of elected women, the gender provision does not constitute a
financial incentive for political parties.
9
Footnote 71, p. 106. http://www.osce.org/odihr/77812?download=true
Report available at: http://www.osce.org/odihr/elections/98757?download=true
10
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Solution: Introduction of clear gender quotas for allocation of public funding. The additional public
grant allocated should be clearly defined and should be linked to the percentage/ number of
women elected to Parliament.
→ France
→ Introducing gender quotas
Principle: Political parties are required to comply with the compulsory 50 per cent gender parity
provision and to ensure the equal representation of men and women on their lists of candidates/
ticket of candidates for local elections. Candidates and lists who do not comply with this obligation
are denied registration.
Actual situation: During the last local elections, which took place in March 2015, political parties had
to put forward a ticket of candidates – a man and a woman -in accordance with Articles 3 and 4 of
the Constitution. However, this gendered provision did not translate into the number of women
chairing local councils. Thus, out of the 100 departments, only 10 are currently led by a woman.
→ The gendered provision does not apply to all stages of the local election process leaving thus
the election of the presidents of the local councils in the hands of the bigger political parties.
Solution: The compulsory 50 per cent gender parity provision should also apply to the election of the
presidents of the local councils. It might also be proposed that part of the public funding allocated
annually to political parties be based on compliance with gender equality requirement in the
composition of party lists at the local level (and not only at the national level).
→ Tying public funding to gender equality
Principle: Financial penalties if the gender gap between male and female candidates exceeds 2% of
the total number of such candidates for the last general election to the National Assembly.
Actual situation: Since the introduction of these gender-related provisions, French political parties
have chosen to pay the penalty rather than nominate more female candidates. During the 12 th
legislature (2002-2007), parties lost 7 million EURO, during the 13th legislature (2007-2012), parties
lost 6 million EURO and since the beginning of the 14th legislature (2012 to now), parties have lost
annually 6 million EURO.
→ The French conception of politics is still very patriarchal and political parties are very resilient
to the idea of gender equality (women candidates often compete in “unwinnable” constituencies).
Legislative provisions are of little effect if the main stakeholders do not want to implement them.
Solution:
1/ Introduction of sanctions which are deterrent to oblige political parties to comply with genderrelated provisions and which are linked to the allocation of public funding.
2/ Introduction of reinforced gendered criteria for allocation of public funding (the public grant will
not be linked to the percentage of women candidates put forward by each party but to the number
of elected women to Parliament).
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3/ Adoption by political parties of voluntary measures that aim to promote the role of their female
members and create female leaders within the parties. However, this proposal might be considered
as intrusive and an attempt to legislate internal party affairs.
→ Tunisia
→ Introducing gender quotas
Principle: The 2014 Tunisian Election Law put in place a proportional representation system,
requiring that all electoral lists alternate between female and male candidates.
Actual situation: The Election Law did not mandate horizontal parity, or the appointment of female
candidates to the head of the lists. As a result, few parties placed women at the head of their lists.
Thus, if out of the 9,549 parliamentary candidates 4,527 were women (47.4%); only 148 lists (11.2%)
out of 1,326 were headed by a woman. 72 MPs out of 217 are women representing 31.3%.
→ The main problem in 2014 was that with the large number of constituencies (27 for Tunisia and
6 for Tunisians living abroad) and the important number of lists in each constituency, it was often
only the head of any list who was elected.
Solution: Introduction of legal quotas forcing political parties to alternate women and men on the
candidate list (vertical parity) and to alternate women and men at the top of lists in part or all
constituencies (horizontal parity).
→ Tying public funding to gender equality?
Principle: The 2011 Decree Law on Organizing Political Parties does not contain any provisions tying
the level of direct public funding to gender equality amongst candidates.
→ There is currently no public funding for enforcement of gender quota provisions.
Solution:
1/ Introduction of gendered criteria for allocation of public funding. For example, the amount of
public grant should be linked to the enforcement of gender quotas, i.e. the percentage of women
candidates put forward by each party and/ or elected to Parliament;
2/ Introduction of effective accountability and transparency mechanisms, including disclosure of
gender disaggregated data, in order to compare men’s and women’s fundraising and spending and
to check whether funds allocated within the party are equally distributed between men and women
candidates, respectively.
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