Quota Design and the Political Representation of Women from Indigenous and Tribal Groups

24 Pages Posted: 25 Oct 2014

Date Written: October 2014

Abstract

Quotas in politics are almost always designed to advance the legislative representation of a single group, for example, women or indigenous peoples. Even in countries with quotas aimed at more than one group, policies are almost always structured differently and implemented separately. By addressing inequalities by gender and indigeneity in piecemeal, indigenous women may be at particularly high risk of continued political marginalization. In this paper, I investigate the ways that quotas targeting women and indigenous groups – in particular, the use of single or dual policies – shapes the legislative representation of indigenous women. I also consider the politics of "nested quotas" that specifically address within-group diversity. I focus, in particular, on the case of Jordan, which adopted a nested quota for Bedouin women in 2012. Overall, I find scant evidence of the political empowerment of women from indigenous tribal groups – even in countries explicitly promoting their political representation.

Keywords: Gender and politics, quotas, indigenous women, national legislatures

Suggested Citation

Hughes, Melanie, Quota Design and the Political Representation of Women from Indigenous and Tribal Groups (October 2014). Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies Research Paper No. RSCAS 2014/105, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2514231 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2514231

Melanie Hughes (Contact Author)

University of Pittsburgh ( email )

135 N Bellefield Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
United States

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