When are Gender Quotas Fulfilled? Strategy and Context in Ukrainian City Elections

Abstract

Many studies have investigated why countries across the globe have adopted gender quotas for their elections. In this article, we answer a different question: why do political parties comply with gender quotas when the costs of compliance are absent or minimal. To answer the question, we analyze data from the 2015 city elections in Ukraine, including 1,630 party lists from 106 parties competing in 121 cities. Our subnational approach allows us to test whether contextual factors flagged by the broader gender literature explain variation in compliance across Ukrainian localities. The results of our models support our contention that Ukrainian political parties behaved strategically in terms of nominations and quota compliance. We find that urbanization and female incumbency fueled quota compliance. Parties, however, were less likely to comply with quotas in cities with more religious and nationalist populations. Taken together, parties acted strategical, complying with the quota based on local context.

Keywords: Ukraine, Gender, Party Quotas