Opening the door: Women leaders and constitution building in Iraq and Afghanistan

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Opening the door Women leaders and constitution
building in Iraq and Afghanistan

• Pippa Norris Harvard University

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Structure

• What are the trends for women in politics?
• What fast-track options are available?
• Reserved seats for women
• Statutory gender quotas for all parties
• Voluntary gender quotas for specific parties
• What works?
• What are the consequences?

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1. What are the trends?

• 1995 Beijing Platform for Action
• Womens empowerment and their full participation
  on the basis of equality in all spheres of
  society, including participation in the
  decision-making process and access to power, are
  fundamental for the achievement of equality,
  development and peace.
• What has changed in the last decade?

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Current women PM or president
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Progress, but slow, in parliament
16.3
9.4
Source Inter-Parliamentary Union. 31st January
2006. Women in National Parliaments.
http//www.ipu.org
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Yet variations worldwide
Under 10
10 to 20
20 or more
Note Of women in the lower house of national
parliaments, 2005 Source www.ipu.org
Under
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Iraq and Afghanistan ranked worldwide
Women in the lower house, Nov 2005. www.ipu.org
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2. Options

Gender equality strategies

Electoral system Setting the rules of the game
Equal opportunity policies For women and men
Fast track strategies To increase womens
participation
Majoritarian
Mixed
Proportional
Equality in education, jobs, welfare
Help with costs of election campaign
Training for candidates elected members
Equality in legal citizenship rights
Legal quotas for legislative candidates applying
to all parties
Reserved legislative seats for women
Voluntary quotas for legislative candidates in
party rules
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Option 1 Reserved seats
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Afghanistan Reserved seats

• Constitutional debate 2003-4
• The Afghan constitution stipulates that the
  number of female representatives in the Wolesi
  Jirga must be at least twice the number of
  provinces (23468/24927.3).
• Single Non-Transferable Vote system
• The election commission allocated seats for women
  per province.
• The woman candidates with the most votes in each
  province are elected
• Sept 2005 - 344 women candidates 68 women
  elected (27.3)

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Option 2 Statutory quotas
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Statutory quotas fall short
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Iraq statutory quota

• 1st elections held on 30th January 2005
• 275 members of new Transitional National Assembly
• 18 Provincial assemblies and Kurdish parliament
• 2nd elections held on 15th December 2005
• 275 permanent House of Councillors
• Electoral system
• PR elections simple (Hare) quota
• 275 seats
• Each party must present ranked lists of
  candidates
• One women must be in every three names down
  candidates lists
• Results women 31.5 National Assembly and 25.5
  House of Councillors

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Option 3 Voluntary party quotas
More than 100 countries now have at least one
party using voluntary gender quotas to nominate
parliamentary candidates Source
www.quotaproject.org
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3. What works?

• Reserved seats
• Most radical intervention
• Can guarantee a minimum number of women in office
• If by appointment, may limit womens autonomy and
  status
• Most common in majoritarian electoral systems
  with weak party organizations traditional
  cultures
• Statutory gender quotas
• Impact varies depending upon design
• Level, penalties, ranking of lists, party
  compliance etc
• Most common in consolidating democracies
• Voluntary gender quotas
• Most widely used strategy
• Impact varies depending upon implementation
• But also can be a symbolic gesture

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4. What consequences?

• Next research agenda impacts
• Voice for womens diverse concerns?
• Changes to public policy agenda?
• Strengthens legitimacy of elected bodies?
• Modifies cultural attitudes towards women?
• Mobilizes women at the grassroots?

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Resources

• www.ipu.org
• www.quotaproject.org
• www.pippanorris.com