What domestic/national factors best explain the rise of women in parliament in Sub-Saharan Africa?

This is a very interesting question about which some research has already been done, but much more is needed in the future. Those African countries that have the highest percentages of women in parliament (a lower or single house of parliament) are located in east and southern Africa. They are Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Namibia, and Mozambique. These seven countries are in the top 26 worldwide, with Rwanda in the number one position. (http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm)

All of these countries, with the exception of Namibia, use some type of electoral gender quota – either voluntary political party-based quotas, or reserved seats of some type. So the first answer to the question is: the use of electoral gender quotas explains the rise of women in parliaments in Sub-Saharan Africa. Indeed, this is a worldwide phenomenon by which many countries are using electoral gender quotas to increase the percentage of women in their parliaments. (This has been called taking the ‘fast track’ to parliament, as opposed to the ‘incremental’ track whereby one waits for socioeconomic developments over time.) Interestingly, the rate of increase of women in parliaments has been fastest in Africa over the past several years. In addition, in these African countries (unlike in many other countries) the quotas actually work – in the sense that the desired percentage of women is actually elected to parliament. These countries have also designed their quotas in some innovative ways. It is important to note, that there are pros and cons of the different types of electoral gender quotas, which are discussed in the referenced literature below.

But to answer the question above, one would have to ask why have these countries adopted electoral gender quotas? What national factors explain the adoption of quotas? This is where the additional research is needed. At this time, several scholars have suggested the following. With the exception of Tanzania (which has historically had quotas) all of the countries above are ‘post-conflict’ countries – and Tanzania is post-transition. Moreover, in all countries one can identify mobilized national women’s movements, in some cases movements in which some members may have fought alongside male counterparts in liberation wars and or spent many years in exile obtaining education and training that they would not have received at home. During the political transitions new constitutions were drafted and new laws written and women’s groups and mobilized national women’s movements took advantage of these political openings to make their demands for greater or equal political participation and representation. Post-transition situations also meant that women did not have male incumbents to content with or oust from their seats. National women’s movements in Africa have also been influenced by their participation in international fora, in particular the United Nations conferences on women. African women were particularly prominent in the 1995 Beijing Conference although many took home with them the first demands for increased political participation and representation from the 1985 Nairobi Conference. Some scholars also argue that the influence of regional organizations, such as the Southern African Development Community, which has a Gender Unit, Parliamentary Women’s Caucus, and has embraced (though not met) a goal of 30 percent women in parliaments by 2005 (and 50 percent by 2015), has had an important bearing on women’s representation in parliaments.

Now, the type of electoral system has a strong bearing on the type of electoral gender quota that can be used. This may also influence whether quotas are adopted. To simplify, quotas are most easily adopted with proportional representation electoral systems in which each political party puts forward a slate of candidates and voters vote for the party and not individual candidates. In such a case parties can simply decide that they will have a 33 percent or 50 percent quota (every third or every second candidate on the list is a woman). This works best in closed list systems in which the entire country is one district. With plurality/majority or first-past-the-post electoral systems, a reserved or special seat is more likely to be used as the method just cited is impossible. Here the methods vary, but such quotas usually involve the creation of additional seats that only women contest. So there may be one seat reserved for a woman for every district in the country (Uganda), or there may be additional seats for women set aside to be determined by the party based on their representation in parliament (Tanzania). Some may find reserved seats to be more objectionable, but with certain types of electoral system they may be the only option. This could then influence whether or not an electoral gender quota is adopted.

If one looks at all of these cases in Africa, one will also note that these are dominant party political systems. And in all cases it is the dominant or ruling parties that have accepted or even proposed the electoral gender quotas. (Around the world it has often been ‘left’ leaning political parties that have favored the use of quotas and some of these dominant parties might be considered ‘left’ leaning parties.) In several cases, dominant parties’ large majorities in parliaments alone have considerably raised the percentage of women in their parliaments. Many argue that these parties have found it in their political interest to have large numbers of women (from their party) in their parliaments. Some have even argued that women MPs are being used by dominant political parties or that more women MPs are being elected at the expense of more/stronger political oppositions.

Another factor would be a ‘diffusion’ effect – from ruling party to ruling party or state to state. So, for example, many suggest that there is clear evidence that the RPF in Rwanda was influenced by the NRM in Uganda in deciding to adopt reserved seats for women. Or that Swapo, the ANC and Frelimo may have influenced each other in southern Africa.

Another way of trying to answer the question would be to look at those African countries in which women are not well represented in parliament and try to see why. Some have suggested that if the national parliament is perceived as simply an ‘applause chamber,’ in other words a body that has no real power, then women politicians and women’s movements may not feel it is worth their time or energy to get more women into parliament. There may be other countries in which women’s movements feel they have been able to accomplish some of their legislative goals even without electing more women. Some have suggested religious, cultural or socioeconomic factors as working against women’s representation in parliaments, though I personally am less persuaded by those arguments.

Gretchen Bauer

Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science and International Relations
University of Delaware
gbauer@udel.edu

Relevant Resources:

Gretchen Bauer. Forthcoming 2008. ‘50/50 by 2020: Electoral Gender Quotas for Parliament in East and Southern Africa.’ International Feminist Journal of Politics.

Gretchen Bauer and Hannah Britton, eds. 2006. Women in African Parliaments. Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

Aili Tripp, Dior Konate, and Colleen Lowe-Morna. 2006. ‘Sub-Saharan Africa: On the Fast Track to Women’s Political Representation.’ In Drude Dahlerup, ed. Women, Quotas and Politics. London: Routledge.

Several Africa chapters in Manon Tremblay, ed. 2008. Women and Legislative Representation: Electoral Systems, Political Parties, and Sex Quotas. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.