Gender quotas in legislative elections are a central component of institutional reform to increase women’s inclusion in politics. We investigate how quotas affect women’s representation and the qualifications of parliamentarians from all EU member states over the last 40 years, which had 11 countries pass gender quotas legislation. We capitalize on the unique variation of national electoral systems used in European Parliament elections to all nine legislative sessions (1979-2019) and investigate the relationship between quotas and the qualifications of parliamentarians. We provide compelling evidence that the passage of quota legislation is associated with higher levels of educational attainment among legislators. By examining the complete elected history of the European Parliament, we are able to provide generalizable and robust support for the impact of quotas on legislator qualities in a way that has thus far been observed in only single country contexts and fixed time periods.  

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Media outlets have reported that women leaders around the globe are managing the COVID-19 crisis better than their male counterparts, responding faster and communicating better about pandemic policies. In this article, we examine empirical data on the timing of policy responses from the Coronavirus Government Response Tracker to determine whether and how countries led by women reacted differently to the pandemic. Exploring the relationship between the gender of leaders and legislators and the timing of stay-at-home orders, school closures, and coordinated public information campaigns, we find no statistical evidence supporting popular claims in the media. However, we find some evidence that the level of gender equality in legislatures is related to school closures, a policy with clear gendered consequences. These conclusions are an important first step in understanding the potentially gendered nature of the crisis response and identifying new avenues for research.

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Political parties often monopolize the flow of politicians into elected office making it important to understand when, and under what conditions, parties are more or less likely to promote gender equality in representation. This article argues that party choices to nominate women in elections are conditional on the centralization of candidate selection within the party. Gender quotas and characteristics of the electoral environment have differential effects on candidate lists across party types. Leveraging data at the party level, I test when it is electorally feasible and organizationally possible for parties to nominate women for office. I find that candidate selection procedures condition the effects of party strategy and characteristics of the electoral environment on the percentage of women on electoral lists. The results provide insight into how strategic party choices, attenuated by electoral considerations and organization, impact the diversity of representation in political institutions.

This article explores the consequences of quotas on the level of diversity observed in legislators’ professional and political experience. We examine how party system and electoral system features that are meant to favor female representation, such as gender quotas for candidate selection or placement mandates on electoral lists, affect the composition of legislatures by altering the mix of professional and political qualifications held by its members. Using data collected for all legislators initially seated to the current session of the European Parliament, one of the largest and most diverse democratically elected legislatures in the world, we find that quotas eliminate gendered differences in experience within the institution, particularly when used in conjunction with placement mandates that ensure female candidates are featured on electoral lists in viable positions. Electoral institutions can generally help to “level the playing field” between the backgrounds of men and women in elected office while increasing the presence of desirable qualities among European Parliament representatives of both genders.

This paper explores how career paths leading to the European Parliament (EP) are influenced by the strategic goals of national political parties. Considering both individual career factors and the national electoral fate of political parties, it determines what conditions increase the likelihood that experienced or inexperienced politicians serve in the EP. Experienced politicians are more likely to reach the EP when they serve vote-seeking and policy-seeking parties while inexperienced politicians are more likely to enter the EP when their parties are opportunity seeking. Overall, I find the role of individual ambition is conditioned by party strategy to determine the institutional composition of the EP, contributing to a growing literature on the strategic use of European elections by national political parties. It suggests that the electoral goals of parties should be examined in order to understand the nature of democratic representation in the European Union.

While the number of women in political office around the world is on the rise, men continue to out number women at high rates in top leadership positions. There are many reasons why it remains difficult for women to reach powerful positions within politics that cover a myriad of electoral, institutional, and individual conditions. In this paper, we examine paths to leadership within political parties and seek to understand what conditions make it more likely that women are selected as party leaders. Using data from 252 leadership changes in eleven industrialized democracies between the late 1970s and 2019, we find that women’s entry into political leadership is associated with party crises and elite selection in Westminster parliamentary systems but that women and and men come to power under largely similar political and reputation circumstances in PR system.

This paper investigates the relationship between the use of valence in elections and the gender of political party leaders. Using the Comparative Campaign Dynamics Project data (Debus, Somer-Topcu and Tavits 2018), I explore valence statements used by parties in elections, both personal and policy related, to ask if, and when, parties with woman leaders are more likely to use, and be targets of, strategic valence statements. Given previous research, I argue that the use of valence in electoral campaigns will be gendered in nature, with women party leaders more likely to experience valence attacks in campaigns but less likely to use valence in the same environment. I find there are many unexpected differences in the use of valence in campaigns that are associated with the gender of the party leader. Specffically, parties with women party leaders are less likely to engage in valance campaigns and are also less likely to be the subject of valance attacks.