Gender Quotas, Context, and Substantive Representation: a Literature Review

This paper provides a comprehensive review of the link between descriptive and substantive representation, as well as the challenges associated with the context in which gender quotas exist. Gender quotas have become a global phenomenon, now extending to sub-national levels, such as provincial and local levels. This review paper evaluates the descriptive-substantive link, explores the concept of women’s interests, and analyzes whether gender quotas produce equal outcomes across different contexts. Drawing from a vast body of literature, this paper delves into multifaceted impacts of gender quotas, assesses different perspectives on women’s interests, and analyzes quota performance across various contexts, including developing countries and sub-national levels, while considering the contextual dynamics involved. The key findings of this review suggest that a higher number of women in parliaments tends to advance women’s interests; however, such gains are not universal and highly context-sensitive. After outlining the temporal and spatial gaps in the research on the substantive representation of women and highlighting the importance of gender quotas at sub-national levels, this review provides several suggestions and identifies some understudied avenues to further deepen the understanding of the contextual dynamics involved in the substantive representation of women.