The Troublesome “Paradox of Gender Quotas

A Few Methodological Notes on the Margin of an Article by Michael Jankowski and Kamil Marcinkiewicz

Dados Bibliográficos

ID7973687
AutoresMaciej A Górecki (0000-0003-0372-551X, University of Warsaw, autor correspondente)
Ano2021
Volume17
Fascículo1
Páginas104-111
Data de publicação2021-03-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoPolitics & Gender (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1743-923X • E-ISSN: 1743-9248
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1743923x19000011
OpenAlexW2964698823
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas5
Referências citadas8

In a recent article published in Politics & Gender, Michael Jankowski and Kamil Marcinkiewicz (2019) study the effects of gender quotas on the electoral performance of female candidates in open-list proportional representation (OLPR) systems. On the empirical side, their study is a critical reanalysis of the Polish case, in particular the regularities demonstrated in a 2014 study that I coauthored. We argued there that at the micro level (candidate level), the effects of quotas were somewhat “paradoxical”: following the installation of quotas, women candidates tend to perform worse relative to their male counterparts than they did during the pre-quota period. Jankowski and Marcinkiewicz claim to demonstrate that those “paradoxical” effects are minor and thus practically negligible. In this note, I argue that their conclusion is largely a result of the particular methodological choices made by these authors. These choices seem unobvious, debatable, and potentially controversial. The note concludes that we need more reflection and debate on the methodological aspects of analyzing candidates’ electoral success in complex electoral systems, such as multidistrict OLPR. This would greatly facilitate future efforts aimed at an unequivocal examination of the contentious concepts such as the notion of “paradox of gender quotas

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