Presentation on putting quotas on the political agenda: the case of Romania by Andreea Vass, Economic adviser to Prime Minister, Romania, presentation presented at UNDP Regional Forum on Equal participation in decision-making, Istanbul, Session 3: Quotas as a tool to enhance women’s participation on decision-making

1. Andreea Paul (Vass)
Regional Forum on “Equal Participation in Decision-Making”, Istanbul
15th November 2011

2. 1. State of fact. Where are we?
2. Building the future
3. Frontline regulations
4. Why do we need more women in the
public decision-making?

3. “Women are the most powerful engine in the world
economic recovery”.
“Yet even with their remarkable increase in market
power, women continue to find themselves
underappreciated at home, underestimated in the
workplace and undervalued in the marketplace”.
Boston Consulting Group, 2010

4. Rank Country % Women in Rank Country % Women in
lower or lower or
single House single House
1 Rwanda 56.3% 48 Czech Republic & UK 22.0%
2 Andorra 53.6% 51 Italy 21.3%
3 Sweden 45% 53 Bulgaria 20.8%
6 Iceland 42.9% 55 Latvia, Luxembourg & 20.0%
Poland
7 Finland 42.5%
56 Estonia 19.8%
8 Norway 39.6%
58 Lithuania 19.1%
9 Belgium 39.3%
71 Bosnia and Herzegovina 16.7%
9 Netherlands 39.3%
73 Slovakia 16.0%
13 Denmark 38.0% 80 Ireland 14.5%
14 Spain 36.6% 81 Slovenia 14.4%
19 Germany 32.8% 82 Turkey 14.2%
23 Macedonia 30.9% 96 Romania 11.4%
28 Austria 27.9% 98 Montenegro 11.1%
31 Portugal 26.5% 108 Hungary 9.1%
Data source: http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm

5.  Parliament: 9.7% women as compared to the global average of 19.3%.
◦ 11.4% women in the Chamber of Deputies, before Hungary (9.1% women)
and Malta (8.7%) in EU.
◦ 5.8% women in Senate (96 rank out of 137 countries)
 Ministerial level: only 3 women ministers, out of 16 ministries.
 Local authorities: 3% women mayors
 Gender Gap Index 2011:
◦ Rank 68 out of 135 countries, with a score of 0.681.
◦ Political empowerment: rank 112 out of 135 countries.
 Women in parliament: rank 96 out of 135 countries

6. A. Legislated gender quota
B. Voluntary gender quota, in political parties
C. Perfect gender balance in the media during
elections campaign (50% female - 50% male)
D. Nothing
Forum for public consultation on improving the political
representation of gender in Romania, www.femeileinpolitica.ro
◦ Out of 7258 votes, over 98%: for legislated gender quota.

7. “If men were well suited for the industrial era,
women are well suited for in Information-oriented
era.”
“National development will be a function of how
effectively woman power is applied and will
depend on how well administrative systems are
organized to utilize this potential.”
Jung-Sook Kim

8.  Belgium
◦ 2002 gender quota act: equal number of female and male
candidates on parties lists.
◦ Candidates of the same sex may not occupy the top two positions
on a list.
 France
◦ The “law on parity” of 2000 imposes a double rule:
 50% of party candidates of each sex
 strict alternation of women‟s and men‟s names is mandatory from the
beginning to the end of the list.

9.  Slovenia
◦ Local Elections Act (2005): each sex accounts for at least 40% of all
candidates listed, and that the candidates in the first half of the lists must
alternate by sex
◦ Quota provisions are incorporated into the laws for elections at the local,
national and European levels.
 Spain
◦ Gender quota law for public elections at all levels (2007): no sex can
be represented with more than 60% on the electoral lists.
◦ Quotas are applied to the whole party list and to every five posts.

10.  Sweden
◦ Special measures to increase the number of women in elected bodies:
voluntary party quotas & soft quotas (non-mandatory targets or minimum
recommendations).
◦ Voluntary party quotas were introduced when the share of women
parliamentarians already exceeded 30%.
 Germany
◦ Quotas work through the party lists („zipper system‟ ).
 Poland
◦ Introduction of a quota system by some parties.
◦ 2007 election: one of the three first positions on each candidate lists must be
held by a woman

11.  The law regarding equal opportunities between men and women (2002):
◦ fair and balanced representation at party level of women and men, at all levels of
decision-making.
◦ positive actions for the under-represented sex in its internal regulations.
 Law project launched in May 2011: introduction of a gender quota of 40% for
political parties and political alliances, 50% for electoral alliances and 20%
for citizens’ organizations belonging to national minorities
◦ Objectives:
 Increasing the representation of women in political life.
 Creating the mechanisms for ensuring equitable representation of women in public
decision-making.
◦ Sanctions:
 Loss of annual subsidy from the state budget for electoral competitors not meeting the
provisions of equity in gender representation.

12.  Women have their own interests and needs. They are in
the best position to defend those interests.
 Women are believed to have a proper style. An evenly
participation of women and men may lead to a diversity
of ideas, values and patterns of behavior that can only
result in an enrichment.

13.  For addressing specific issues of women, children or
family life in Romania:
◦ Support for families
 The nurseries and kindergartens dropped with 85% since 1990.
◦ The lack of baby-sitters law
◦ Diminishing domestic violence: every 3 seconds, a woman is
physically abused
◦ Increasing the education and health of family members.
 For increasing the wealth of nation

14. 120000
GDP/capita
(USD, nominal) Luxembourg
100000
Norway
80000
Switzerland
60000
40000
20000
y = 146489x - 85505
0
0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
RO Gender Gap Index, 2011
Data source: http://unctadstat.unctad.org/TableViewer/tableView.aspx
http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GGGR11/GGGR11_Rankings-Scores.pdf

15. 120000
GDP/capita
(USD, nominal) Luxembourg
100000
Norway
80000
Qatar
60000
Sweden
40000
20000
y = 48883x + 5021,4
0
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40 0.45 0.50
RO Women representation in Parliament, August 2011
Data source: http://unctadstat.unctad.org/TableViewer/tableView.aspx
http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm

16. 10
Corruption Perception
9
Index
8 New Zealand
7
6
5
4
3
Yemen
2
y = 19,731x - 9,058
1
0
0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6 0.65 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85 0.9
Gender Gap Index, 2011
RO
Data source: http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2010/results
http://www3.weforum.org/docs/GGGR11/GGGR11_Rankings-Scores.pdf

17. The next economic power will not be
represented by China, nor India, but by
women.
Women are an "emerging market", with
a high potential of education, ambition
and ingenuity.

18. Thank you!
Andreea Paul (Vass)
State Adviser
Lecturer, PhD
Faculty of International Business and Economics
Academy of Economic Studies
Tel: 0040-722-637-140
E-mail: andreea.vass@gov.ro