ABSTRACT
In the past ten years, there has been a remarkable refocusing of feminist attention on the formal political spheres of state and political parties in a wide range of countries. A global movement demanding women’s increased access to political power through the use of gender quotas has emerged, with surprisingly effective consequences. Over fifty countries have adopted some form of quota for women in national parliaments (Dahlerup and Friedenvall 2005). The rapid adoption of gender quotas across the globe has overturned the conventional association of high levels of representation of women with high levels of national wealth and political modernisation (Inglehart and Norris 2003). Rwanda, South Africa, Costa Rica, Argentina, and Uganda now are all among the countries with high levels of women’s representation.
