Andrea S. Aldrich - Böcker

As political systems around the world implement gender quotas to balance women and men's elected representation, new opportunities and expectations for how both men and women are recruited, selected, and promoted by political parties are created. This book demonstrates that gender quotas positively disrupt all levels of the political system: political office, political parties, and the careers of politicians. By focusing on the European Parliament and building upon evidence compiled from new data sources from 28 current and former EU member states, 1979-2022, it provides evidence that different quotas affect similar politicians in different ways.As quota implementation changes the pool of political aspirants that parties recruit from, the background characteristics that are prioritized in selecting candidates are enhanced to optimise the management of career trajectories at all levels of the system. Quotas are therefore not just effective for promoting gender parity, but also change the course of women's and men's political careers at subnational, national, and European levels of office. This volume should be seen as leading the conversation about the longterm changes that are achieved by implementing rules that promote inclusivity and increase institutional diversity. It is relevant to both academic and policy circles. Whereas existing literature has examined how, where, and why gender quotas arise, the book pushes forward conversations about the previously unexplored additional effects for quota implementation, from the perspective of the career progression of elected politicians.

Using novel leadership data from eleven developed parliamentary democracies between 1980 and 2020, this Element asks how gender conditions party leaders' candidacy, selection, and survival. It examines the life cycle of party leadership careers of 276 leaders with a focus on three categories of variables: performance indicators, (s)election details, and inclusiveness of political culture. It tests the existing theories of glass ceilings and glass cliffs on how certain conditions make it more likely that women run for and are selected as party leaders. The Element also offers an original quicksand theory on leaders' survival in office that, for women, leadership is akin to being caught in quicksand. Several factors agitate the quicksand and make them sink faster. The authors data shows support for the glass ceiling and quicksand theories. Yet, they find mixed support for the glass-cliff theory. The Element offers unique insights into women's experience with party leadership.