“In all electoral systems (and with legislated as well as
voluntary candidate quotas), the quota provisions should include rules about
the gendered rank order. Fair vertical
placement of the female and male candidates on the electoral list
(PR systems with closed party lists) and/or a horizontal distribution of both sexes in winnable seats is
essential if women are to have a real chance of being elected. Rank-order rules
are adopted to prevent quota rules (for instance a general rule of 30 or 50 per
cent female candidates) from becoming merely symbolic, with only a few women
getting elected because political parties have placed most of the female
candidates at the bottom of the lists or in unwinnable constituencies. Many
quota systems today combine rules about the total number of women and men on
the candidate lists with specific rules concerning the gender composition of
the top candidates […].[1]
Examples of vertical
rank-order rules for the distribution of female and male
candidates are:
- Zebra or zipper systems: alternating
female and male candidates throughout the lists (e.g., Bolivia, Costa Rica,
Ecuador, France, Kenya, Republic of Korea, Lesotho, Libya, Nicaragua, Senegal,
Tunisia and Zimbabwe); alternation is used by many Green parties as well Social
Democratic parties;
- A requirement that the top two
candidates are not of the same sex (e.g., Belgium);
- 40:60 ratio for every five posts on the
list (e.g., Spain); and
- One out of every group of three
candidates must be a woman (e.g., Albania, Argentina, Indonesia, Serbia,
Timor-Leste).” [1]
[1] International IDEA,
Inter-Parliamentary Union and Stockholm University (2013): op. cit., p. 30.
[1] International IDEA,
Inter-Parliamentary Union and Stockholm University (2013): op. cit., p. 29.
