Conference presentation - Gender quota implementation in the 2016 Samoan election - 1-3 APR 2016

Abstract

The under-representation of women in politics is a global issue, but it is particularly acute in the Pacific Islands region. Pacific states are routinely found at the bottom of the league tables on women�s representation; overall, just one in 20 Pacific parliamentarians are women. The relative absence of women from Pacific legislatures speaks to broader debates around democratic legitimacy and gender equality in the region. One method to increase women�s representation is through the use of quotas, which have been implemented in some form in over 100 countries (Krook, 2009). While the uptake of quotas in the Pacific Islands has been lower than in other regions, quotas have been in place for over a decade in Bougainville, French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna, and new quotas for women in politics have been introduced recently in Samoa and Vanuatu. This paper will use an interpretive research approach to examine the experiences of women who enter parliaments through quota systems. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in the Pacific Islands and interviews with women parliamentarians, it looks at how they see their roles as �quota� parliamentarians, how they interact with other male (and female) parliamentarians, and how they negotiate the political contexts they operate within.