Quota design and the political representation of women from indigenous and tribal groups

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.