A long way to a still-imperfect parity

Abstract

In Portugal, gender quotas are (still) synonymous with gender electoral quotas. Those are the only quotas that really exist and they have been around for a long time. They have existed as party quotas since 1988 in the Socialist Party (PS) and as a statutory quota (Parity Law) since 2006. In the economic sphere, the first measure with some binding pressure aimed at achieving a more gender-balanced environment within state-owned companies was introduced in 2012. However, it is far from being considered a quota. This paper follows the conceptual model provided by Krook (2009) and seeks to expand previous work on the most important (f)actors that were involved in the Parity Law’s adoption (Baum and Espírito-Santo, 2012). It does so by analysing a larger set of actors and by including an assessment of the actors involved in the first reforms in the economic sphere. This study is mainly based on a revision of the literature, but it also refers to two different sets of interviews with Portuguese MPs, which were conducted in 2005 and in 2014/2015.