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Articles
Is Gender
Ethnicity? like The Political
of
RepresentationIdentity Groups
Mala Htun
In Belgium, the constitution requiresthat there be an equal resourcesand visibility to indigenous partiesand movements;
number of French- and Dutch-speakingministers in the fed- as a result, they successfullycontested general elections and
eralgovernmentand in the governmentof the Brusselsregion, gained power in local governance.39With the exception of
with the parliamentdivided between these two languagecom- Peru, democratic states have always conferred ethnic group
munities and their respectiveparty systems. In Switzerland, rights in the form of reservations.
language group quotas are used not only in the federalcoun-
cil,33 but in other areas of government (such as the armed The Argument in Action
forces) and in society as a whole (such as the executive com- France,India, and Peruillustratethe theoreticalpropositionsI
mittee of the Swiss soccer association).3 Lebanon is another haveadvanced.FranceandIndiashowus politicalactorsengaged
classic story of how ethnic reservationshelped forge the state. in pragmaticdebates,ponderingthe differencebetweengender
The National Pact of 1943 reserved all major offices-the and ethnicity,though to opposite ends. Both honed in on the
president was to be a Maronite; the prime minister a Sunni; crosscuttingnatureofgender.In France,thissupportedwomen's
the speakerof the house a Shiite; and so on-and fixed the claimsto representation;in India,it underminedit. Comparing
ethnic composition of the parliamentat a 6:5 ratio of Chris- Indiaand Peruemphasizesa differentpoint. Though the coun-
tians to Muslims.35 triesseem like exceptionsto my argument(see their location in
Elsewhere,the ethnic allocation of political power was cod- table 2), in fact they support it. India initially grantedreserva-
ified in peace agreementsfollowing civil wars. International tionsto ethnicminorities,andPeruintroducedquotasforwomen.
mediators, with an eye toward establishing pluralist polities, Both governmentslatertried to apply the same policy to a dif-
helped installforms of powersharingin virtuallyall of the new ferenttype of group:Indianwomen got reservationsand Peru-
statesformedafterthe breakupof Yugoslavia.Bosniaand Herze- vian indigenouspeoples receivedquotas.The two policieswere
govina has a three-memberpresidency comprised of a Bos- subsequentlycriticizedby their alleged beneficiaries.By mis-
niak, Serb,and Croat,aswell as a bicamerallegislativeassembly
matching groupsand remedies,the Indian and Peruvianstates
dividedbetweenthesethreecommunities.In Serbiaand Monte- not only failedto addressthe underlyingcausesof disadvantage,
negro, the bicameralfederallegislatureis divided between Ser- but arguablyjeopardizedwomen'sand indigenouspeople'squest
bians and Montenegrans. In Kosovo, seats are reserved in for political equality.
parliamentfor Serbs, Roma, and other ethnic groups. (In less
polarizedCroatia and Slovenia, a smallernumber of seats are Parite in France
reservedfor minorities.)36Other countries inherited power-
In June 2000 the Frenchparliamentapproveda law requiring
sharingfrom formercolonial rulers.In Fiji, the ethnic reserva- that parties field an equal number of male and female candi-
tion of parliamentaryseats dates from colonial times, when
dates in legislativeelections. This turn of events is surprising
the British authorities sought to separateindigenous Fijians
in a country that has prided itself on a republicantraditionof
from Indo-Fijiansand install themselves as mediators.After
an indivisible body politic and has long forbidden official
the country'sindependence,the vast majorityof parliamentary
distinctions among citizens in terms of sex, race, ethnicity,
seats continued to be reservedby ethnicity.37
and religion. In fact, these nondiscriminationprincipleswere
Some reservationspolicies reflect attempts to compensate
invoked by the SupremeCourt in a 1982 decision that struck
victims of slavery,colonialism,or a castesystemfor pastoppres-
down a quota law passed by Congress (the law would have
sion. India'sreservationsfor Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
banned one sex from occupying more than 75 percent of the
Tribes are intended to amelioratethe historic discrimination
sufferedby those at the lowest rungs of the caste system. New places on lists of candidates for municipal elections). The
French court claimed that gender preferencescontradicted
Zealand'swhite rulersmade a similar attempt to compensate
republicanprinciplesof equalityand unity, which dictate that
oppressed minorities: the Maori RepresentationAct of 1867 citizens representthe nation as a whole, not discrete groups
installed four representativesin a legislatureof over 70 mem-
or categories.40
bers.The number of seats laterincreasedto seven (representa-
Advocates of women's representationthus had to make a
tives areelected by voterswho voluntarilyregisterfor a separate
case that their preferredpolicies were compatiblewith repub-
Maori roll).38
lican universalism.This requireddemonstratingthat the exist-
In the late twentieth century, some disadvantagedethnic
ing model was flawed for failing to incorporatesex differences
groups demanded rights during constitutional reforms. and that gender parity would not legitimize representational
Respondingto indigenous mobilization, the Colombian Con-
stitution (1991) createda two-seat senatorialdistrict for Indi- rightsfor other social groups.Gender,they argued,is a unique
form of social difference.
ans and permitted the reservationof up to five seats in the
Unlike ethnicity, race, and religion, which are socially con-
lower house for ethnic groups and other political minorities.
structed and changeable categories, sex is universal and
Venezuela had a similar experience:the 1999 constitutional
reform establishedthree reservedseats for "indigenouscom- permanent:
munities"in the nationalassemblyand permittedsocial move- Women do not constitute a category analogous to minorities, but half
ment organizationsto contest them, thus eliminatingthe party of humanity, and their status is immutable. The young grow older,
registration barrier. In both countries, these seats granted one can change one's religion, people of color can intermix with
recognizedwomen's political underrepresentationas a serious lowercastes,a move that allowedthem to appearas champions
problem. of the OBCs, but which mired the gender proposalin polem-
To justify its position, the committee drew a distinction ics surroundingcasterights.In addition, some legislatorscalled
betweenwomen, who area "category,"and minority "commu- for specialprovisionsin the bill for Muslims.As LauraDudley
nities," including those based on caste and religion. "There Jenkins notes, "by endorsing the bill in party platforms and
can be no rationalbasisfor reservationsfor women," since "the then failing to pass it out of a sudden concern for backward
minority argumentcannot be applied to women. Women are citizens or Muslims, politicians court the women's vote, the
not a community, they area category.Though they have some backwardsvote, and the Muslim vote and simultaneouslypro-
realproblemsof their own, they sharewith men the problems tect their own hopes of reelection."53
of their groups, locality and community.Women are not con- Popularviews of the elitist natureof the women'smovement
centrated in certain areas [or] confined to particularfields of also did not help the cause of the bill. Middle-classwomen
activity."47"Women'sinterestsas such,"the committee wrote, had assumed visible roles in protests against the decision to
"cannot be isolated from the economic, social, and political grant OBCs central government reservationsand most femi-
interestsof groups, strataand classesin the society."48 nist organizationshad failedto build ties to lowercastegroups.
Anticipating arguments made by French feminists in the During the debate, a prominent OBC politician declaredthat
1990s, Indian expertsstressedthe differencebetween women the reservationbill was for "balkatiauraten"or short-haired
and ethnic minority communities, but as an argumentagainst women, a referenceto upperclassurbanfeminists.54The com-
women'srepresentation,not in favorof it. The Committee on ment tapped an underlyingfearthat, without subreservations,
the Status of Women did, however, borrow the institutional the women's bill would end up benefiting only high-caste
model the state had used for Scheduled Castes and Tribesand Hindus.
endorsed reservedseats for women in local governments.This As in France,political actorsin India highlighted the cross-
appearsto havebeen a compromisebetweenthose who rejected cutting nature of gender.Unlike ethnic groups, women tran-
women's representationaltogether and those who wanted to scend geographic, occupational, language, and religious
recommend reservationsat all levels.49Indeed, many features categories.In France,this meant that, in theory,women'srep-
of the official reportarecontradictory,seeminglyreflectingthe resentationwould not threatenthe republicanuniversalisttra-
amount of dissentoverthe issue.Forexample,though it declares dition. In India, by contrast,women'scrosscuttingstatusmade
that "the minority argument cannot be applied to women," it less likely that they would representthe caste and socioeco-
the reportalso states that "thoughwomen do not numerically nomic intereststhe reservationssystemwas supposedto advance.
constitute a minority,they arebeginning to acquirefeaturesof Meanwhile, a group of dissidents argued that rather than
a minority community"becauseof continued gender inequal- reservedseats,the bill shouldintroducea candidatequotawithin
ities in class, status, and power.50The local-level recommen- political parties.The Forum for Democratic Reforms argued
dationswereadoptedin 1992 as the 73rd and 74th amendments that the reservationsproposal was seriously and inherently
to the Indian Constitution, reservingfor women one-third of flawed. By mechanicallyprovidingfor the entranceof women
the seats at the three tiers of the PanchayatiRaj institutions of into one-thirdof the seatsin the nationaland statelegislatures,
ruralself-governance,as well as in elected urbancouncils.51 the bill failed to addressthe main problem impeding women's
The debatewas revivedin 1996 when MP and formerMin- effectiveparticipationin politics:genderdiscriminationin polit-
ister for Women MargaretAlva proposed to amend the con- icalparties.55 These activistsviewedasdisingenuousthoseIndian
stitution to extend the women's reservationssystem to the politicians who endorsed the bill while doing nothing for
national and state legislatures.A lottery system would deter- women within their respectiveparties:
mine the single-memberdistrictsin which only women could
run, and thesewould rotateeverytwo elections.The bill would The verysamemalepartyleaderswho competewitheachotherin
announcing theirsupport ofspecialreservations forwomenhaveshown
also reserveone-thirdof the seatsallocatedto ScheduledCastes littlewillingnessto includewomenin partydecisionmaking,oreven
and Tribesfor women of those communities.Though virtually to helpcreatea conduciveatmosphere forwomen'sparticipation in
every political party supported the bill in their 1996 electoral theirownorganizations. Infact,women's marginalizationisevenmore
platforms, the parliamentarydebates over it were ferocious, pronounced in theday-to-dayfunctioning of almostallpoliticalpar-
with some MPs almost coming to blows and others rushingto tiesthanin theLokSabha.Therefore, it is urgentlyrequiredthatwe
makespecialmeasures to enhancewomen'spoliticalparticipation in
the podium to tear up copies of the text.52 decisionmakingatalllevelsof our
waysthatwillhelptheminfluence
One of the main parliamentaryconcerns was the relation- societyandpolity.Ourdemocracy will remainseriously flawedif it
ship between women's reservationsand rights for membersof failsto yield adequatespaceto women.56
"otherbackwardclasses"(OBCs, a group the 1950 constitu-
tion had recognized as entitled to special protections). In a Furthermore,the Forum argued,a system of women'sreserva-
1990 decision that provokedmassivecontroversy,the govern- tions would enable patriarchalleaders to solidify their posi-
ment had granted OBCs reservationsin its central bureau- tions. At the local level, political bosses regularlycompel their
cracy,but not in nationaland statelegislatures.Entrepreneurial wives, sisters,and daughtersto contest reservedseats.National
MPs from the Hindu nationalistBharatiyaJanataParty(BJP) politicianswould duplicatethis strategyand the women enter-
demanded that the women's bill include subreservationsfor ing politics would be mere fronts for male power.57
Table la
Gender quotas and reservations
Country Policy
National and local levels
Argentina 30% of candidates
Armenia 5% of partylists for PR elections
Bangladesh 45 of 345 seats reserved forwomen in unicameralparliament;some seats reserved at local level
Belgium 33% of candidates
Bolivia 30% of candidates for Chamber;25% for Senate; 30% for local councils
Bosnia and Herzegovina 33% of candidates
Brazil 30% of candidates
Colombia 33% of executive appointments
Costa Rica 40% of candidates
Djibouti 7 of 65 parliamentaryseats reserved
DominicanRepublic 33% of candidates
Ecuador 35% of candidates
France 50% of candidates
Guyana 33% of candidates
Jordan 6 of 110 seats reserved in House of Representatives
Kosovo 33% of candidates
Macedonia 30% of candidates
Mexico 30% of candidates
Morocco 30 of 325 parliamentaryseats reserved
Nepal 5% of candidates for lower house; 3 of 60 seats reserved in upper house; 20% of local seats
reserved
NorthKorea 20% of 687 parliamentaryseats reserved
Pakistan 17% of seats reserved in nationalassembly (60 of 342) and Senate (17 of 100); 33% at local
level
Panama 30% of candidates
Paraguay 20% of candidates
Peru 30% of candidates
Philippines 2 of 5 PR list seats reserved of a total of 220 in parliament;1 seat reserved on each local and
provincialcouncila
Rwanda 24 of 80 seats reserved in Chamberof Deputies
Serbia and Montenegro 30% of nationaland local candidates in Serbia
Sudan 35 of 360 nationalassembly seats reserved
Taiwan Approximately10% of seats reserved in LegislativeYuan;25% at local level
Tanzania 48 of 295 (16%) of parliamentaryseats reserved; 25% of local councils
Uganda 56 of 214 parliamentaryseats reserved; 33% of local councils
Local level only
Greece 33% of candidates
India 33% of seats reserved
Namibia 33% of candidates
is excludedfromtables1, 2, and3 becauseof smallnumberof reservedseats.
aPhilippines
Sources: InternationalIDEA2003; Htunand Jones 2002; Electionworld2003; Republicof Rwanda2003; BBC News 2004.