Gender Quotas as a Global Phenomenon: Actors and Strategies in Quota Adoption

In recent years, countries around the world have pursued numerous in novations in political participation. The most common reforms, from a global perspective, have been provisions for the increased representation of women. Today, nearly all countries have pledged to promote gender-balanced decision-making (United Nations, 1995), and more than eighty have witnessed the adoption of quotas for the selection of female candidates. These provisions include reserved seats, which set aside a certain number of seats for women; political party quotas, which aim to increase the proportion of women among party candidates; and national legislative quotas, which require political parties to nominate a certain percentage of women among their candidates.