Conclusion : assessing the transformative potential of gender quotas for gender equality and democratic citizenship

Abstract

Drawing on the richness of these thirteen cases, our European comparison sheds new light on three important phenomena reshaping women's political inclusion in Europe that we explore in this concluding chapter. First, our comparative investigation helps us delineate patterns of both resistance and adoption among countries as the domains of quotas spread, bringing new insights on the transformative potential of gender quotas in different contexts. In particular, our case studies show in which contexts gender quotas can contribute to erode the public/private divide and reconfigure women's citizenship and conceptions of gender equality, and in which contexts their scope is likely to remain more limited. In order to tease out these differences and explore these dynamic patterns of quota reform, still in the making for most of our case studies, we identify four ideal-type scenarios for gender quota adoption, rejection, and diffusion, suggesting different degrees of transformative potential. For each group of countries, we identify outliers and tease out internal differences. Similarly, we acknowledge the possibility that some of the cases may be currently transitioning from correction or symbolism to transformation (Germany and Italy) or experiencing a slowing down in the agenda with as of yet unclear consequences in terms of typology fit (Spain). Second, studying the various campaigns for gender quotas in comparative perspective offers a productive site to explore the elaboration of new discourses around gender equality and their translation in the legal realm, given the high juridification of the struggle in most of the countries covered. Third, the various struggles for gender quotas across Europe since the 1970s offer an exceptional opportunity to assess the reconfiguration of women's movements after the second wave of feminism, and in particular to address whether the struggle for gender quotas has become an unexpected heritage of the radical years of the second wave, which spurred new alliances with institutional actors at the national and supranational levels, original cross-party mobilization, and the development of new forms of feminist action. Finally, this broad comparison allows us to assess gender quotas’ transformative potential – and its limits – for gender equality and democratic citizenship in Europe.