1. Tània Verge (tania.verge@upf.edu) Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona, Catalonia) Lessons from Catalonia and Spain Constitutional Futures Seminar Session II: Constitutions, Quotas and Women’s Political Representation University of Edinburgh 14-15 February 2013

2. Outline Quotas and trends in women's representation in Catalonia and Spain How were gains achieved? Constitutional change as a window of opportunity

3. Quotas and trends in women's representation in Catalonia and Spain Socioeconomic and cultural explanations on levels of women’s representation: Bad projection Still, women’s representation has raised from 5% (late 1970s) to parity levels (2011). “Incremental track”: Party quotasSuccessful implementationContagion effectStatutory quotaParity

4. Women’s representation in parliament 2007 state-wide statutory quota

5. From party quotas to electoral quotas

6. Constitutional change as a window of opportunity (I) Parity is not yet taken for granted. Strenght of feminist demands: Left-wing parties make 40% of seats in current parliament. Women’s movement not mobilised yet. Cross-sectional platforms? Short-term “national transition” political agenda: Council for the National Transition: Gender composition? Electoral law: District size? Mixed system? Open lists? Equality law: Feminist demands?

7. How were gains achieved Practical institutions (Party quotas + highly centralized party organizations + contagion) Systemic institutions (PR closed party lists + effective sanctions for non- compliance) Normative institutions (Politics of presence and equality of results + support of the Constitutional Court) Source: Based on Krook (2009); Kenny & Verge (2013); Verge (2012). PARITY

8. Constitutional change as a window of opportunity (II) Introduce parity as a public good in the new constitution and laws Expand reach on cabinets, corporate boards… Influence on which electoral engineering (type of system, district size, type of lists + type of quota!) grants more positive gender outcomes. Establish a whole set of progressive gender equality policies + mainstreaming through all new legislative corps Yet, “new” policies “nested” in “old” institutions… (Kenny and Mackay 2009).

9. The Catalan “national transition” 11 Sept 2012

10. Catalans’ support for secession

11. Left-wing parties’ voters and support for secession

12. References Kenny, Meryl, and Fiona Mackay. 2009. “Already Doin’ It for Ourselves? Skeptical Notes on Feminism and Institutionalism.” Politics & Gender 5(2): 271-280. Kenny, Meryl, and Tània Verge (2013). “Decentralization, Political Parties and Women’s Representation: Evidence from Spain and Britain”. Publius: The Journal of Federalism 43(1): 109-128. Krook, Mona L. (2009). Quotas for Women in Politics: Gender and Candidate Selection Reform Worldwide. New York: Oxford University Press. Verge, Tània. 2012. “Institutionalising Gender Equality in Spain: Incremental Steps from Party to Legal Quotas.” West European Politics 35(2): 395-414. Public opinion data: Centre d’Estudis d’Opinió (2012).