Date: 2015
Type: Working Paper
Gender quotas in Belgium : a never ending story of gendering compartmentalized citizenship?
Working Paper, EUI LAW, 2015/25
MEIER, Petra, Gender quotas in Belgium : a never ending story of gendering compartmentalized citizenship?, EUI LAW, 2015/25 - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/35975
Retrieved from Cadmus, EUI Research Repository
This contribution brings together the more partial analyses of the panoply of Belgian gender quotas. By putting the different gender quotas in a comparative perspective, we hope to contribute to a better understanding of eventual broader patterns underlying the Belgian gender-quotas landscape. More precisely, this contribution focuses on: i) a comparative analysis of the quota rules set for the different sectors; ii) the domestic factors playing a role in the putting on the agenda and adoption of gender quotas; and iii) inter-, supra-, and transnational factors and the interplay of different political levels in the adoption of gender quotas. The analysis shows that Belgium, a traditional laggard when it comes to gender equality, imposes gender quotas by law on a broad range of sectors (elected political office, advisory committees, boards of listed and state-owned companies, and decision-making bodies in universities), turning Belgium into a world leader in gender quotas. This top-down process would not have been possible without the persistent agency of the women’s movement, especially actors embedded within the women’s branches of a certain number of political parties, and the underlying concept of citizenship – because it echoes it. While inter-, supra-, and transnational influences cannot be denied, it is mainly domestic factors that played a role in this success story – at least when compared to a number of other cases. The gender quotas for the various sectors tend to build on each other, clearly showing evidence of a contagion effect.
Cadmus permanent link: https://hdl.handle.net/1814/35975
ISSN: 1725-6739
Series/Number: EUI LAW; 2015/25