Constitutional Justifications for Parity Democracy
Alabama Law Review, vol. 60, n. 5, 2009, 1167-1190
25 Pages Posted: 9 Mar 2018
Date Written: 2009
Abstract
The question of legally sanctioning gender parity in political representation has often been lumped together with the related question of legally sanctioned representation quotas. Both questions raise a variety of constitutional issues: Are quotas, or is parity, incompatible with, or on the other hand required by, the principle of gender equality? Is either compatible with the right of male candidates to stand for elections? Are they both compatible with the political freedom of political parties, on the one hand, and of the electorate, on the other? Are they consistent with the system of general and unitary representation that underlies political representation in modern states? These and possibly other issues can in turn be confronted from different constitutional standpoints. Broadly speaking, they can be approached as issues of constitutional rights or as issues of democratic representation. Each of these two standpoints allows for variations.
Keywords: Deliberative Democracy, Gender parity
JEL Classification: K00
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation