Quotas for Electing Women: Path to Empowerment or Peril? Part 1

The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) released a report last month titled, “Progress of the World’s Women 2008/2009: Who Answers to Women? Gender and Accountability.” The report, in part, examined how countries have implemented their obligations under the Millennium Development Goals to increase the number of women in public office. The good news […]

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Quotas for Electing Women: Path to Empowerment or Peril? Part 2

Part II continues the discussion on whether legally mandated quotas should be used as affirmative mechanisms to increase women’s political representation in national legislatures. The discussion explores the advantages of legally mandated quotas systems used in 46 countries, the perils of quotas, and whether quota systems could be considered discriminatory under international human rights law.

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