Gender Quotas in Politics: Popular, but contested - also among feminists

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Abstract

Everywhere gender quota proposals stir heated debates between opponents and proponents. Nevertheless, gender quotas in politics are now in use in more than half the countries in the world (www.quotaproject.org). Among the opponents, we find misogynists and traditionalists, who want to send women back to the kitchen, but also many, among them modern neo-liberals, who believe that gender equality must come by itself without state intervention.
However, also some feminist voices are critical to the adoption of gender quotas, but not for the same reasons.
In this essay, I will try to identify feminist worries about gender quotas in politics. We are used to analyze feminist arguments for gender quotas and contrasting them with traditional arguments against quotas. However, which are the main worries of feminist opponents? I will show how some worries are shared by feminist opponents and proponents, others not.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationRównouprawnienie : Ksiega jubileuszoma dla Profesory Malgorzaty Fuszary
EditorsAnna Krajewska, Marta Rawluszko
Number of pages16
Place of PublicationWarszawa
PublisherWarszawa University Press. Wydawnictwa Universytetu Warszawskiego
Publication date2022
Edition1
Pages269-284
ISBN (Print)9788323555001
ISBN (Electronic)9788323555162
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Bibliographical note

Festschrift to Professor Malgorzaty Fuszary, Warsaw University. Publication in Polish with a few contributions in English, incl. mine

Keywords

  • gender quotas
  • feminist opposition
  • politics
  • transformative?

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