MT

M.A Political Science – Master’s Thesis
Academic year: 2014-2015
Women’s Political Representation in the
European Union: a comparative analysis of Italy
and Spain
Maud Sombstay
Tutor: Margarita León
Master Thesis presented with a view to obtaining the degree of Master in Political Science,
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
September 1st
, 2015

Content
Introduction................................................................................................4
Theoretical Framework..............................................................................6
I. Literature about Women’s Political Representation in the EU ............................. 6
I.1. Review.................................................................................................................... 6
I.2. Pressure for implementation: Europeanisation in the field of equality policy ....... 7
I.3. Actors in the gender equal policy implementation process................................... 8
Graph 1. The evolution of women’s political representation in the European Union
from 1990 to 2014......................................................................................................... 9
I.4. Policy strategy to increase women’s political representation: positive action ..... 10
II. The Gender Equality Index.................................................................................. 11
Graph 2. Women’s political representation in Italy and Spain compared to the
European Union in 2012............................................................................................. 13
Case studies: comparing Italy and Spain .................................................14
I. Similar profile...................................................................................................... 14
II. The case of Spain................................................................................................. 15
II.1. The evolution of women in the political sphere.................................................. 15
II.2. Figures of women in Spanish Parliament............................................................ 17
II.3. Women’s political representation and the policy implementation process......... 18
II.4. Policy strategy: positive action ........................................................................... 19
II.5. Actors in the policy implementation process...................................................... 20
II.5.a. The feminist movement.................................................................................... 20
II.5.b. The political parties.......................................................................................... 21
II.5.c. Transnational organisations.............................................................................. 21

III. The case of Italy............................................................................................... 23
III.1. Women in Politics: a review of the European Database, Women in Decision-
making, report from Italy by Maria Grazia Ruggerini................................................ 23
III.2. Figures of women in Parliament in Italy............................................................ 25
III.3. Gender equality policy and institutional regulation in Italy .............................. 26
III.4. Actors in the policy implementation process..................................................... 26
III.5. Positive action.................................................................................................... 27
III.6. Monitoring gender equality in Italy................................................................... 29
Explaining divergence .......................................................................................... 30
Graph 3. Evolution of women’s representation in national Parliaments .................... 30
Table 1. Patterns of equality institutionalization ........................................................ 33
Graph 4. Women in EP and EU national Parliaments ................................................ 34
Conclusion................................................................................................36
Bibliography.............................................................................................38

4
Introduction
In the year 2000, 189 countries gathered at the United Nations to share a vision and
responsibility to ensure worldwide economic and social development, human dignity
and equity. Together, they agreed on 8 goals to be achieved by 2015. Gender Equality
and women’s empowerment is the third of the eight Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) elaborated by the United Nations1
.
Equality between women and men is one of the European Union's fundamental
principles. The Treaty of Rome established for the first time the principle of equal pay
for equal work, in 1957. The Treaty of Amsterdam (1999) reinforced the European
Union’s commitment to combat any form of discrimination based on gender and set the
tenet framework of the European gender equality policy. As a result, a new model of
equality policies emerged in the last decade of the 20th century in Europe, fostered by
international and European organisations. The new model stems from the idea that ‘real
equality is only possible by applying a gender perspective in all areas of social
life’(Martínez, 2015).
Increasing the proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments is one of the
indicators to monitor progress (Kabeer, 2005) in achieving the goals set by the United
Nation’s Millennium Development Goals. In Europe, the same indicator is used as one
of the priorities in reaching 'Equality in decision making' by the Women's Charter and
by the European Commission's Strategy for Equality between Women and Men2
.
The purpose of this research is to understand how the different member states of the
European Union today have achieved different levels in the political representation of
women based on the principle of gender equality.
By comparing literature and primary resources as well as the figures from member
states which have achieved different levels in women’s political representation, the aim
of this study is to go deep into the possible explanations of this divergence.
The main hypotheses of this research are the following: Positive action in the form of
quotas and legislation has a positive impact in the political representation of women.
1
Millennium Development Goals, United Nations. Available at: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
Visited on the 15
th
of March 2015.
2
Gender balance in decision-making positions, European Commission (2015). Available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/gender-decision-making/index_en.htm

5
Secondly, Italy and Spain’s different levels of women’s political representation can be
explained by the strengths/weaknesses of their policy implementation process. Thirdly,
Actors such as women advocacy and feminist movements play a key role in the
introduction of such policies.
Italy and Spain are the two countries selected for this study. Italy and Spain share some
important socio-economic and political features as well as a similar path of development
due to their history. In comparative welfare state research, the two countries are usually
placed within the cluster of Southern European countries (León 2011). However, with
regards political representation of women, the two countries perform rather differently.
The methodology used to carry out this study is the Most Similar Systems Design
(MSSD) which consists of comparing different outcomes – here the different levels in
women’s political representation, across similar profile countries – Italy and Spain.
In this sense, the aim of this study is to explain the effect of positive action, political
actors and the policy implementation process on the percentage of seats held by women
in Italian and Spanish national parliaments.
The next section will deal with the theoretical framework my research relies on and will
try to contribute to. The aim of this part is to expose on the one hand what have been the
previous findings about women’s political representation and on the other hand, why
this research is worth being studied in order to contribute to the academic debate.
Section two is dedicated to the empirical study of women’s representation in politics
through the study of the two cases which are Italy and Spain. Section three will intent to
explain the divergence of the two countries as regards to their level of women’s political
representation. The final part will offer some tentative conclusions for further research.

6
Theoretical Framework
I. Literature about Women’s Political Representation in the EU
I.1. Review
Women’s participation in politics has been one of the main achievements of the last
century. In 1890, women did not have the right to vote anywhere in the world (Hughes
and Green 2006). Today – August 2015, the last country which has denied women the
right to vote, Saudi Arabia, saw its first women registering to vote.
However, as half of the global population, women remain under-represented in politics
at the national level, with an average of 22.2% of women in national parliaments across
the globe in May 20153
(IPU, 2015).
Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment in our societies is one of the
goals set by the United Nations in the frame of the MDGs. The objective of this
millennium development goal is the elimination of gender disparities in 3 areas
(educations, employment and political representation) to achieve gender equality and
women’s empowerment up to 2015. The indicators in order to monitor the progress
made in achieving this goal are 1) closing the gender gap in education at all levels, 2)
increasing women’s share of wage employment and 3) increasing the proportion of
seats held by women in national parliaments.
In the political field, the objective is to increase women’s representation and
participation by increasing their presence in key decision-making positions such as the
seats held in national parliaments. The growth in women’s political representation has
been one of the majors democratic achievements witnessed in the last decades (Baldez
2003; Paxton, Hughes, and Painter 2010; Siim 2014) although women were still partly
excluded from strategic presence in national parliaments at the beginning of the century
– only 13.8% of women in national parliaments in 2000 (Kabeer 2010). Despite the
progress made this last decade, they still remain under-represented. By increasing
women’s political representation there will be a significant impulse to address issues
which prevent women’s from being equal to men and therefore, achieve gender equality
in our societies. According to the literature about women’s political representation,
3
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). (2015).Women in national parliaments. Available online at:
www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm#1 Visited on the 28
th
of May 2015.

7
women representatives have allocated more resources in complying with other issues
than men such as reproductive rights, violence against women, equality of pay and so
on (Kabeer 2010; León 2011; Siim 2014; Valiente 2013).
According to Kabeer (2005) there are 3 important factors (variables) which can explain
why women have been prevented from strategic decision-making positions. First of all,
the structure of the political sphere and whether it includes institutions dealing with
gender equality, gender quotas - forbidding a majoritarian presence of men on electoral
lists, and the concern allocated to the issue within political parties. Secondly, different
political cultures lead to a stronger or weaker political representation of women. Does
the culture tend to be more inclusive or exclusive regarding women’s presence in the
process of decision-making? This depends whether there is a strong tradition of
patriarchal ideology and the presence of religious actors standing in the way of gender
equal policy implementation. The third factor concerns the electoral system, whether it
is a plurality-majoritarian system or proportional representation (PR) and multiparty list
systems. The latter is more likely to implement positive action as regards to women
presence in the political arena such as positive action towards women candidates,
compared to the former which designs a single candidate cutting all the chances of
gender balance within the electoral system. However, findings show that having a PR
shows a small boost to women’s political presence but doesn’t increase it overtime due
to normative social influence - or the need to be conform and accepted by others
(Paxton, Hughes, and Painter 2010).
I.2. Pressure for implementation: Europeanisation in the field of equality policy
The review and creation of transnational and national equality institutions is the result
of a growing commitment to prevent any kind of discrimination and promote equality
(Krizsan, Skjeie, and Squires 2014). The European Union integration has led to the
creation of an EPS (European Public Sphere), a ‘transnational space for political actors
to discuss common issues’ (Siim 2014) which has strengthened the promotion of the
principle of gender equality and put gender issues on the political agenda. The Treaty of
Amsterdam (1997) and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (2000) set the different
grounds of the transnational commitment towards equality (sex, race, colour, ethnic or
social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other
opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual
orientation). This commitment expanded in the last decade as EU put a strong demand

8
on the implementation and evaluation of equality policies as well as the structure and
functions of equality bodies (Krizsan, Skjeie, and Squires 2014). Nevertheless,
according to Siim (2014), there is still a long way to go to reach a European paradigm to
converge the European member states towards gender equality policies. This is due on
the one hand to a lack of inclusiveness which would allow all citizens to take part in the
Public Sphere (PS). This fundamental feature would imply the equal representation of
men and women, and representatives of highly contested issues. However, there still
exist minorities who do not have any voice in the EPS. On the other hand, differences at
the national level concerning gender issues – cultural, religious, and ideological - make
it difficult to find a common ground to improve gender equality at the transnational
level.
Though the numbers are still too low to talk about a gender equal representation, the
European Union has witnessed a significant shift in the increase of women in political
decision-making positions. Indeed, According to Krizsan et al. (2014), the European
countries are becoming more equal due to a growing presence and influence of
transnational policy paradigms as well as state-level institutions playing a key role in
shaping equality across the European Union and these organisations’ demand to
converge towards ‘European equal regimes’.
According to the authors, this transition is driven by two tendencies. The first tendency
follows the institutional arrangements that have taken place in Europe before 2000 -
following the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam - with the creation of judicial character
institutions dedicated to equality while the second tendency copes with the expansion of
the scope of equality policies.
Graph 1. shows that women gain notable political representation over time. In 2014, the
average of women’s representation in national parliaments in the European Union 28
member states reached 27.6 percent, compared to the 16 percent share in 1990.
I.3. Actors in the gender equal policy implementation process
Actors involved in the promotion of gender equality policies are also an important
variable in the increasing of women’s political representation. The more actors are
concerned and committed to the promotion of the issue – such as women advocacy
(feminist groups, women within political parties, women representatives, women
workers, mother organisations), political actors and transnational organisations - the

9
more chances there are to translate their visions and values into objectives and outcomes
(Mair and Thomassen 2010).
Graph 1. The evolution of women’s political representation in the European Union from
1990 to 20144
.
Source: Made by the author from Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (%), figures
from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (2015). Available on the World Bank website at:
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SG.GEN.PARL.ZS/countries/1W?display=default Updated on the
1rst of August, 2015.
Alongside with women organisations and elites but also with the support of men
politicians and decision-makers, women representatives can therefore answer to the
growing demand for gender equality and keep the promises made in the frame of the
MDGs.
As mention previously, transnational organisations (UN, EU and its institutions,
feminist NGOs) also play a key role in the promotion of gender equality as this outcome
4
No data available from the years 1991 to 1996 included.
EU28 (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France,
Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland,
Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK)
1990: 19 countries; No data available in 1999 for Austria; 2000: Romania/Slovakia; 2001: Denmark;
2002: Austria; 2003: Croatia
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
average%womeninnationalparliaments

10
can’t be reach within the boundaries of a nation-state but calls for transnational
solutions (Kennett and Lendvai 2014; Siim 2014).
I.4. Policy strategy to increase women’s political representation: positive action
Positive action seeks to correct the initial disadvantage of women taking into account
gender balance in the hiring process and the promotion of employees as well as in the
participation in decision-making positions (Lombardo 2009).
The European Union sets the legal framework for the implementation of positive action
in the member states with the Article 141.4 of the European Community Amsterdam
Treaty (1997):
With a view to ensuring full equality in practice between men and women in working
life, the principle of equal treatment shall not prevent any Member State from
maintaining or adopting measures providing for specific advantages in order to make it
easier for the underrepresented sex to pursue a vocational activity or to prevent or
compensate for disadvantages in professional careers (EC Treaty 2007 in Abels &
Mushaben, 2012 p94)
In their study about the gender composition of the European Parliament (EP) and its
Committee on Women’s right and Gender Equality (FEMM Committee) during the
period 2000-2011, Pristed Nielsen and Rolandsen Agustin (2013) found that there has
been a growing consensus about bounding gender quotas in political representation in
the EP institutions which extended across the member states.
Positive action can include legislated quotas. Legislated quotas (also called legal quotas
or gender quota laws (Baldez 2003)) are written into constitutions and/or electoral laws.
Party quotas are voluntary measures adopted by individual political parties5
. Twenty-
two countries have legislated quotas, requiring all political parties a minimum
percentage (between 20 and 50%) of women as candidates for national legislative
offices. In 2003, 122 parties in 58 countries have adopted gender quota laws (Baldez
2003). Both promote gender balance by forbidding an over-representation of male or
female in decision-making positions. Worldwide, national gender quota laws generate
5
Electoral Gender Quota Systems and their implementation in Europe, European Parliament (2008).
Available at:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/document/activities/cont/200903/20090310ATT51390/20090310ATT5
1390EN.pdf p11. Visited on the 4th of August 2015.

11
an 8 percentage point increase in the number of women elected to parliament (Htun and
Jones 2002 in Baldez 2003).
Up to now, no mandatorty legislated quotas to be implemented within political parties
and political bodies have been established nor proposed in EU’s legislature6
. However,
some member states have adopted legislative quotas or party quotas. According to
Paxton, Hughes, & Painter (2010), investigating the effects of voluntary party-level
gender quotas on women’s political representation is the most common method for
addressing women’s political representation in western countries.
II. The Gender Equality Index
The two cases studied for the empirical analysis of this research were selected based on
the Gender Equality Index7
. The Gender Equality Index is the European Union’s first
index, created by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE). The report gives a
comprehensive measure of gender equality in the European Union and Member States
based on the European Union policy framework (EIGE, 2013). It is a complement to the
work of the European Union and Member States in promoting gender equality as one of
the fundamental values of the European Union as well as one of the 8 Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) to be achieved by 2015 elaborated by the United Nations
Development Program8
in 2000.
The Gender Equality Index offers a clear operationalization of what is called gender
equality by turning 6 concepts, or domains (Work, Money, Knowledge, Time, Power
and Health), relying on policies and theoretical support into a measurable structure.
Gender Equality is calculated on a scale going from 0 – which stands for perfect
inequality, to 100 – perfect equality. The Gender Equality Index shows that the
European Union is halfway towards a gender equal society (52.9 in 2012).
The research focuses on the 4th
domain: Power. According to Kabeer (2005), the
concept of Power implies ‘the ability to make choices’. The index divides this concept
6
Positive Action Measures to Ensure Full Equality in Practice between Men and Women, including on
Company Boards, G. Selanec & L.Senden. European Commission. Available at:
http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/files/gender_balance_decision_making/report_gender-
balance_2012_en.pdf Visited on the 4th of August 2015.
7
EIGE (2013), Gender Equality Index. Available at: http://eige.europa.eu/gender-statistics/gender-
equality-index/2012 Updates on the 25th of August 2015.
8
Millennium Development Goals, United Nations. Available at: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
Visited on the 15
th
of March 2015.

12
into two subdomains which are political power and economic power. The subdomain of
interest, political power, ‘focuses on the gender gap in the representation of women and
men in decision-making positions, as there is a general consensus that greater gender
balance in positions of power will have a positive effect on gender equality’ (EIGE
2013).
Women’s political representation can be observed and measured in the political power
of a country, by three quantifiable structures which are: the ministerial representation,
the parliamentary representation and the regional assembly’s representation of a state.
These structures are themselves measurable through the following indicators calculated
in percentage of the observed population aged 18 and over, respectively: the share of
Ministers, the share of Members of Parliament and the share of Members of Regional
Assemblies measured by the percentage of seats held by men and women. These data,
available on the web page of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) show
that in 2012, the European Union is halfway towards gender equality in political
representation (49.8) and that political representation in the European Union Member
States varies from almost no women’s representation in political decision-making
positions in Hungary (16.8) to nearly full parity in political decision-making positions in
countries such as in Sweden (93.5) and Finland (83.6).
The two countries selected for this research are Italy and Spain. This choice can be
explain by the similarities these two countries share, which has led literature to put them
in a same category of countries. However, according to the Gender Equality Index, Italy
(29.6) and Spain (68.0) achieve contrasting levels of women’s political power. Graph 2
shows the figures of women’s political representation in both Italy and Spain compared
to the European Union’s average using the 3 indicators stated above: the percentage of
women in the national parliament, the percentage of women in the ministers and the
percentage of women in the regional assembly.

13
Graph 2. Women’s political representation in Italy and Spain compared to the
European Union in 2012.
Source: Made by the author from Gender Equality Index (2012), European Institute for Gender Equality
(EIGE). Available at: http://eige.europa.eu/gender-statistics/gender-equality-index/2012/domain/power/1
Updates on the 25th of August 2015.
Therefore, the emphasis of this research is put on the differences in women’s political
representation in two countries with a similar profile. These differences are worth
exploring in order to understand and explain why Italy and Spain achieve different
levels in women’s political representation and to what extent these findings can be
applied to the other European Union Member States. Therefore the question this study
will aim to answer is the following:
Why are these two countries different? What can explain these differences?
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Women's
representation in
Ministers (%)
Women's
representation in
Parliament (%)
Women's
representation in
Regional
Assemblies (%)
Women's political
Power (Index)
European Union
Italy
Spain

14
Case studies: comparing Italy and Spain
I. Similar profile
Italy and Spain are two countries which share a common profile. Indeed, they share a
common pathway of development as early democratic states. They both experienced an
authoritarian regime and thus, had to wait until the 1960s (late 1970s for Spain) to undergo a
process of rapid and highly compressed modernisation in the economic, social, cultural and
political areas (Marí-Klose and Moreno-Fuentes 2013). Scholars have been putting them in
the same category of welfare state, grouped under the model of South European welfare
firstly introduced by Ferrera & Moreno (1996). Along with Greece and Portugal, Italy
and Spain share strong family ties which have had a decisive influence in social-policy
making, as well as a weak system of social assistance (Marí-Klose and Moreno-Fuentes
2013), low levels of economic production and social expenditure, high level of
inequality and risk of poverty, a universal healthcare with both public and private
provision, cultural and religious heritage slowing down social improvement and
dictating gender roles in the society (men as breadwinners and women as family and
home carer) (León and Guillén 2011), differentiating the Mediterranean countries to the
‘Anglo-Saxon’, ‘Scandinavian’ and ‘Continental’ varieties of Welfare (Marí-Klose and
Moreno-Fuentes 2013).
Despite so many similarities, the difference between the two countries with regards to
women’s political representation is quite striking. The following section will track the
different changes Italy and Spain have undergone as regard to gender equality
legislation and initiatives from the end of the authoritarian regime until today, as well as
the different actors involved in the process that made the two countries different as far
as women’s political representation is concerned.

15
II. The case of Spain
With 40% of women parliamentary deputies in 2014, Spain features one of the best
levels in women’s political representation in Europe.
II.1. The evolution of women in the political sphere
Franco’s dictatorship (1939-1975) was a period of exile and silence for women’s
movements which had arose at the beginning of the second Republic in 1931 when
women entered the industrial workforce and participate to political endeavors. Women
first entered the political sphere during the Civil War (1936-1939) as militants and
leaders in position of political responsibilities9
. After the civil war, women’s rights were
severely restricted in the pre-democratic Spain of the Franco’s dictatorship
(León 2011). Franco’s authoritarian regime ended at his death in 1975 and led to the
formalization of equal rights between men and women which had to wait until the first
democratic constitution to be adopted, in 1978.
The Article 14 of the post-Franco 1978 Constitution establishes equality between men
and women. The 1980’s decade witnessed a fast development in gender equal policies
and institutional structures stemming from political shifts that is to say the social-
democratic government in power and also from Spain’s integration to the European
Union in 1986. The creation of gender equality agencies consolidated the concern about
gender equality both at the national and at the regional level (Lombardo 2009).
In 1983, under PSOE’s government – which won for the first time with an absolute
majority, was created the Women’s right institute (el Instituto de la Mujer) initially part
of the Ministry of Culture before becoming an autonomous institution in 1988 (León
2011). Starting from scratch as regards to gender equality and women’s right, the
institute had to face many urgent demands and prepare the ground for future action as
regards to the incorporation of women in decision-making structures and political
bodies. At PSOE’s 31rst Congress held in 1988, the female members of the party
supported by the feminist movement, asked for the instauration of a quota to respect a
share of 25 percent of women in all decision-making positions (Threlfall 2005).
9
European Database – Women in Decision-making Report from Spain by Carlota Bustelo und Ana
Chillida. Available online at: http://www.db-decision.de/CoRe/Spain.htm Visited on the 25th of May
2015.

16
Although progress had been made in basic social right such as access to education and
health, the economic situation slowed down the implementation process, freezing all
social spending in the other fields and putting gender equality policies on hold (León
2011).
The 1990s showed an important advance in the political debate as regards to the role of
women within society and family, when attention was put on the balance between
professional and private life with the Second Equal Opportunities Plan (PIOM 1993-
1995). Up to the mid-nineties, gender equal policies where associated with the Socialist
party. The election of the right wing party el Partido Popular (PP) in 1996 showed a
breaking point with the Socialist government as far as the way to tackle gender equality
was concerned – though the party also supported women agencies and gender policies
(Lombardo 2009). However, the party was less cooperative with the feminist’s
movement and also less keen on the implementation of positive action. With the
guidance of the European Union, Spain adopted measures in order to comply with the
directives of the European Employment Strategy (1992, Treaty of the European Union)
which objective was to facilitate and protect women’s participation in the labor market.
Other family-oriented laws were established such as the promotion of young mothers’
working-time flexibility and maternity leave, allowing Spain to comply with EU
standards (León 2011).
Spain took a significant shift in its commitment to gender equality in 2004, when
Zapatero constituted the first gender-parity government in Spain and in Europe,
composed of nine women and eight men. Gender equal policies were strengthened with
the creation of the General Secretariat on Equality Policies which was of a higher rank
that the Women’s Institute (which became the Ministry of Equality in 2008) and the
approval of important gender equal laws broadened Spain’s gender equality framework
(Lombardo 2009).
After his re-election in 2008, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s sustained the parity
government exposing his will to continue to encourage feminist issues. The Socialist
government continued to bring further changes to Spanish gender equality policies to
maintain its commitment to gender equality. The institutional machinery was also
strengthened with the creation of the Ministry of Equality whose aim was to prepare an
Equal Treatment Act, and the cabinet’s attention was put on issues such as sexual and
reproductive health as well as voluntary interruption of pregnancy (Lombardo 2009).

17
The Socialist Prime Minister’s first term consolidated gender equality institutions and
saw the implementation of major legal changes concerning the issue such as the law on
the integral protection against gender violence (organic law 1/2004, of December
28,2004), the same sex marriage law (law 13/2005 of July 1,2005) and a new law
regulating divorces (law 15/2005 of July 8, 2005). As far as gender equal political
representation is concerned, the organic law 3/2007, of March 22, 2007 requires a quota
of not less than 40 percent of same sex candidates to all electoral lists.
However, legislations adopted in Zapatero’s first term have had difficulties being
implemented and having ‘an impact on the de facto equality between men and
women’(León 2011) because of a paralyzed implementation process due to severe cuts
in public spending in the context of the economic crisis which began in 2008.
Nevertheless, despite this situation, quotas in the field of political representation were
established and respected showing an important progress in fundamental political value
in democracy as well as a model to be followed by the other European member state
countries.
II.2. Figures of women in Spanish Parliament
While the proportion of seats held by women in the Spanish national Parliament was of
15% in 1990, it jumped to reach a 25% share in 1997, with the impulse of different
actors – within the boundaries of the country but also stemming from external pressure
and the implementation of favorable policies.
Before PSOE got into power in 2004, under the government of the PP’s Prime Minister
José María Aznar (2000-2004), the percentage of parliamentary seats held by women
was of 28% (2000,2001,2003)10
.
By the beginning of the Socialist prime minister’s first term, in 2004, 36% of the seats
were held by women. This figure kept constant from 2004 to 2013, reaching 37% in the
years 2007 and 2009 and attaining 40% in 2014.11
Today, on May 1, 2015, out of the 350 seats in the Lower House of the Spanish
Parliament, 144 are held by women, representing 41.1% of the seats. As for the Upper
10
Proportion of seats held by women in a single or lower chamber in national parliaments (%), The
World Bank. Available at: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SG.GEN.PARL.ZS/countries/1W-ES-IT-
EU?page=2&display=default Visited on the 25
th
of May 2015.
11
Ibid.

18
House of the Parliament (or Senate), 90 out of the 266 seats are held by women, or
33.8%, making Spain the 11th
country in the world with the best women’s representation
in national Parliament and the 3rd
European member state behind Sweden and Finland
(IPU, 2015).
II.3. Women’s Political Representation and the Policy Implementation Process
According to Valiente (2013), there are two reasons at the origin of the increase in the
implementation of gender equal policies in Spain during Zapatero’s first term. The first
is that the increasing presence of women in high political decision-making positions has
already proved to favour the implementation of gender equal policies and to diffuse the
states’ commitment to empower women. The author adds that the presence of women in
high political positions is also primordial to the setting of gender equality policies on
the political agenda in the sense that men and women do not dedicate the same attention
regarding ‘so-called feminists issues’, such as equal wage and representation, abortion
and issues attached to the traditional role of the women as the family and children carer.
Indeed, this theory can be illustrated by José Luiz Zapatero’s government, which was
composed equally by men and women in the first term, and by more women than men
in the second term (53 percent of women), putting ‘Spain at the vanguard of gender
equality policymaking in the European Union’ (Calvo & Martín 2011).
Another key aspects of the gender equality policy implementation process that Valiente
(2013) underlines (quoting Stetson & Mazur, 1995) is the importance of ‘the
establishment and/or consolidation of institutions dedicated to gender equality [which
are] in charge of advancing measures that erode gender hierarchies’. In 2004 was
created the general secretariat on equality policies (upgrading the women’s institute, the
former highest ranked gender equality institution created in 1983) and in April 2008,
during Zapatero’s second term, was created the ministry of equality which became the
highest gender equality institution ever established; but in October 2010 it was replaced
by the state secretariat of equality within the newly created Ministry of Health, Social
Policy and Equality. Therefore, Zapatero’s two mandates have shown Spain’s effort to
advocate gender equality. One of its successes is the creation of a gender equal
government and its will to build a gender equality institution appropriated to its
objectives. However, the second term witnessed a loss in the momentum as far as
gender equality institutional building is concerned, as the state secretariat of equality
ranks below the ministry and so, the former ministry of equality created during the first
term.

19
II.4. Policy strategy: positive action
The introduction of the Equality Law introduced in 2007 set positive actions in the field
of political representation by forbidding all lists of candidates to elections from fielding
more than 60 per cent of the same sex. This measure propelled Spain as the only
European country to currently have a parity government alongside with Sweden (León
and Pavolini 2014).
Legislated quota laws exist at the national level for the elections of both the Congress of
Deputies and the Senate. For the former, a legislated quota law has been adopted in the
frame of the Organic Law 5/1985 (Ley Orgánica 5/1985)12
, implies that ‘Lists of
candidates put forward under this Act for elections to Congress (…) shall have a
balanced proportion of women and men, so that candidates of either sex make up at
least 40 per 100 of total membership. Where the number of seats to be covered is less
than five, the ratio between women and men shall be as close as possible to equal
balance’13
. As regards to the sanctions for non-compliance with the legislation, the law
provides the following terms: ‘Political parties are given a short period to adjust lists
that do not meet the quota requirement. If they fail to do so, the lists will not be
approved by the Electoral Commission (Article 47 (2 and 4)’. For the latter, the same
law requires that ‘Where candidates to Senate are grouped in lists those lists shall also
have a balanced ratio of women and men, so that the total proportion is as close as
possible to equal balance’ (Article 44 bis (4))14
, punished by the same sanction as for
the Congress of Deputies.
A legislated quotas law has also been established at the subnational level. It stipules that
‘Lists of candidates put forward under this Act for (…) municipal elections and
elections to Insular Councils of the Canary Islands or Legislative Assemblies of Self-
Governing Communities, shall have a balanced proportion of women and men, so that
candidates of either sex make up at least 40 per 100 of total membership. Where the
number of seats to be covered is less than five, the ratio between women and men shall
12
Documento consolidado BOE-A-1985-11672, Gobierno de España, Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del
Estado (2015). Available at: http://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-1985-11672 Visited on the 4th
of August 2015.
13
QuotaProject Global Database of quotas for women (2015), International IDEA, Stockholm University
and Inter-Parliamentary Union. Available at: http://www.quotaproject.org Visited on the 4th
of August
2015.
14
Ibid.

20
be as close as possible to equal balance’15
. Only villages with less than 3,000
inhabitants will not be obliged to comply with the Equality Law (Articles 44 bis (1) and
187 (2)) falling which the lists will not be approved by the Electoral Commission.
Finally, party voluntary quotas have been widespread within the Spanish political
sphere. The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) as well as the United Left (IU)
have since 1997 a 40% quota for either sex followed by the Socialist Party of Catalonia
(PSC) and the Canarian Coalition (CC) in 2000, then by Initiative for Catalonia- Green
(ICV) the Nationalist Galician Block (BNG) parties in 2002 and finally by the
Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) in 200416
.
II.5. Actors in the policy implementation process
II.5.a. the feminist movement
The feminist movement played a key role in the implementation of gender equality
policies in Spain. Indeed, Valiente (2013) states that ‘the feminist movement in general
favoured state action to force private companies to actively pursue gender equality in
the workplace, to compel political parties to adopt quotas for women and to encourage
men to provide care’. If Spain is ahead of many European Union countries in matter of
women’s political representation and subsequently in gender equality policies it is the
result of a strong advocacy movement. Attention has been put on what has been called
‘party feminist’, the activism of women’s lobbies inside parties and on informal
alliances and networks of women across parties. The exclusion of women in politics has
been criticised by PSOE’s women committee Mujer y Socialismo since the late 1970s
but feminist members continue to put pressure through party lobbying until the issue
was included and measures were approved (Threlfall 2005). The pressure for the
implementation of gender quotas mid-1980s can be explained by the influence of the
international feminist movement. This movement started with the French Socialist Party
(PS) which implemented a 30 percent quota for its candidates to the European
Parliamentary elections of 1979, influenced by its own feminist network headed by
Yvette Roudy. By inviting its sister parties to follow its pathway, the PS had a strong
15
of August
2015.
16
Ibid.

21
influence on the feminist advocates of the PSOE and hoped that its example could
influence PSOE leaders. At the same time in the 1980s, the Socialist International
women’s section (SIW), of which both PS and PSOE were active members as well as
Socialists parties from Germany (SDP), Sweden (SAP), Britain (Labour), played a key
role as an international network of socialist-feminist women in the advocacy of quotas
(Threlfall 2005).
II.5.b. the political parties
The feminist movement is not the only actor involved in the advocacy of women in
politics in Spain. As Valiente (2013) mentions it ‘some societal and political factors
conducive to proactive women’s rights policymaking’ favoured the process: the Church
and the state (separated), the high representation of women in civil society and the
political parties. Indeed, the work of equalizing men and women’s representation must
begin in the political parties (Lovenduski 2005:57 in Threlfaal 2005). Since its re-
election in 2004, PSOE has clearly exposed his will to commit to gender equality
through gender quotas and gender equality policies. This was already the case in 1988
when the PSOE was the first party to introduce a quota rule, at 25 percent, and in 1997,
when the party established a 40% gender quota17
.
If the Socialist Party claims his commitment to the increase of women’s representation
in the political arena (alongside with the six other parties which have adopted voluntary
quotas), its positions differ a lot with those of the PP (much more conservative), which
stands as a threat to gender equal policies in Spain. For example, the PP was opposed to
the establishment of the law decriminalising abortion and brought the issue to the
Constitutional Court to stop the passage of the 2010 abortion law, judging some parts of
the proposal unconstitutional. Moreover, alongside with the Catholic Church, the PP
was against the approval of the gay marriage in 2005 (León 2011).
II.5.c. Transnational organisations
Finally, transnational organisations have put pressure on Spain to reach outcomes they
have set as regards to gender equality. The European Union has been an important actor
17
of August
2015.

22
in Spain’s equality legislation development process. Indeed, Spain’s integration to the
European Union in 1986 has fastened its commitment to gender equality. The country
had to cope with the gap that separated the latecomer countries from the other European
countries. The process of Europeanisation encouraged Spain to conformity and, along
with the will of the country to modernise as fast as possible, pushed social issues such
as gender equality forwards in order to become proprietary issues. It is in this context
that, for example, under the impulse of other European countries, was created the
Women’s Institute (León 2011). As seen previously in the section dedicated to the
feminist movement, the Socialist International women’s section also played a key role
in clustering European Socialist parties under a same model of parties advocating
gender quotas. Moreover, the Socialist International Council, under the pressure of its
women’s section, asked all its members to increase their women candidates by a
minimum of 10% in every election, in the hope to reach a 50/50 gender parity in 2000
(Socialist International Women 1995:7 in Threlfaal 2005).
The European Union gave the country a ‘greater political visibility of the gender issue’
both formally through the transposition of European directives (which help to
‘legitimize the actions and demands of the Women’s Institute’) and informally by
bringing back ideas from the European Institutions (León 2011).
Spain’s integration to the EU can explain the momentum the country witnessed in the
1990´s and 2000’s, but the European transnational organisation has also been a key
actor in the maintenance of the Spanish state feminism up to today. The three decades
following Franco’s dictatorship have shaped Spain from being a ‘latecomer’ to a
pioneer’ in achieving gender equality, making the country one of the European member
states with the most pro-gender equality legislations (León 2011; Lombardo 2009;
Valiente 2013).

23
III. The case of Italy
Despite relevant progress accomplished in the increasing of women’s political
representation these last years, Italy is still far from reaching satisfactory results.
According to the Gender Equality Index, it counts among the European member states
with the lowest levels of women in political positions (EIGE 2013). In 2012, women
represented 21% of parliamentary deputies. Several factors can explain the fact that
Italy is dropping behind the European Union average.
III.1. Women in Politics: a review of the European Database, Women in Decision-
making, report from Italy by Maria Grazia Ruggerini.
Benito Mussolini’s dictatorship (1992-1943) prevented all feminist movements from
existing with his anti-feminist and fascist politics towards women. He condemned all
social practises connected with the emancipation of the women (De Grazia, 1992).
Women’s right to vote was established in 1945, brought up by the first feminist
movement’s association after Mussolini’s death in 1945. Two years later followed the
enactment of the Constitution of unified Italy in 1947. The article 3 of the Constitution
sets the fundamental principle of equality and non-discrimination claiming for equality
of all citizens in front of the law. Women first entered Parliament in 1948 occupying a
7.8% of the seats18
.
Regarding other progress, very little has been done during the following two decades.
Italian policy-makers suffered from the lack of resources and founding allocated to
them. Left and right parties shared a culture of ‘familism’. According to Lombardo and
del Giorgio (2013), ‘traditional family was the foundation of social order and the main
provider of social protection’.
The Christian Democratic Party (DC) was the main political power during the period
1948-1994 and was under the guiding principles of the Catholic Church. The other main
party, the Communist Party (PCI), was afraid to lose ground by challenging traditional
gender roles.
18
European Database, Women in Decision-making, report from Italy by Maria Grazia Ruggerini.
Available at: http://www.db-decision.de/CoRe/Italy.htm Visited on the 27th of March.

24
After WW2, Italy was deeply affected by socio-economic changes. The income per
capita collapsed and the migration of the baby boom generation (1958-1963), from
southern regions to the northern and central cities, questioned traditional gender roles
and family organisation.
The momentum of the 1970s under the pressure of the second wave of feminism
Following the strong call for change from civil society and women’s movements at the
end of the 1960s, the 1970s underwent many socio-cultural changes marked by the
unexpected victory of the pro-divorce. Indeed, in 1974 was created the reform of the
family law which aim was to mark the end of the hierarchical structure of the Italian
family. The high point of the movement can perhaps be dated at April 3rd 1976, when
50,000 women from all over Italy marched through the streets of Rome demanding the
right to abortion on demand but the Christian Democrats, with the Communist Party,
proposed a compromise Bill, giving ultimate decision-making power to the doctor, not
to the woman 19
. Progress was made this year with the appointment of the first women
in the government, Tina Anselmi (Minister of Labour). Finally, another success was the
approval of the abortion law in 1978.
The women’s movement crisis of the 1980s
During the 1980s, the women’s movement disappeared from the public scene. Despite
the progress made in the 1970s, the policy-making process was slow in catching-up
with these changes and political parties in power were slow with answering to the
growing demand of civil society and women’s movements. Therefore, a wide gap was
created between the changes in society and their transformation into legislation.
The 1990s: a decade of a strong opposition
A strong movement advocating traditional gender roles arose from the mid-1990s. This
movement was opposed to any progress in civil rights such as the recognition of
homosexual marriage or the anti-homophobia law proposal. However, the
representation of women in decision-making positions remained ridiculously low.
It is only in 1996 that sexual violence was considered by law as a ‘crime against the
person’ which seems outrageously late while abortion was regulated by the law since
19
The Women's Movement in Italy, Libcom.org published on August 14, 2009. Available at:
https://libcom.org/library/19-womens-movement-italy Visited on the 14th of August 2015.

25
1978 (Rosselli 2014). Meanwhile, Italy had to comply with the EU’s directives such as
the law on discrimination (1997) and the low for equality in employment (2002).
The opposition remained active during the 2000s while media continued to spread
gender stereotypes and represented women exclusively as a desirable sexual object. In
2004, Italy was sanctioned by the European Court of Human Rights for its law on
Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART, law 40/2004) guaranteeing the protection of
the embryo as a priority and putting the health of women on the second plan.
It is in the years 2010s that Italy saw a change with regards to women’s political
representation when in the 2013 elections, the percentage of women elected to
parliament jumped from 21 to 31%. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi who was
elected in 2014 pushed the gender parity issue on the political agenda by appointing a
Council of Ministers with as many men as women ministers. However, hopes to see
Renzi’s government commit to gender parity soon ‘disappeared’ when the initiative to
introduce gender quotas to increase women MPs was rejected by the Parliament20
.
III.2. Figures of women in Parliament in Italy
Italy’s proportion of seats held by women in the national Parliament remained quite
constant and obviously very low compared to other European states. This could be
explain by its inefficient policy implementation process weaken by its feeble
institutional machinery as well as the traditional lack of interest for a more gender equal
society.
In 1990, the percentage of seats held by women in the national parliament was of a
13%. By 1997, it first fell to an 11% share which kept stable until 2000 and fell again to
10% during the years 2001-2002. The figure slightly grew the three following years
(12%) and the year 2006 was marked by a little impulse, reaching a 17%. From 2008 to
2012, the percentage increase from 21 to 22% and its finally in the year 2013 that Italy
witnessed a relatively significant step forwards in women’s political representation
attaining a proportion of 31% of women in national Parliament21
.
20
Italy rejects quotas for women politicians, March 11, 2014. The Local. Available at:
http://www.thelocal.it Visited on the 24th
of July 2015.
21
Proportion of seats held by women in a single or lower chamber in national parliaments (%), The
World Bank (2015) http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SG.GEN.PARL.ZS/countries/1W-ES-IT-
EU?page=2&display=default Visited on the 24th
of July 2015.

26
Today, on May 1, 2015, out of the 630 seats in the Lower House of the Italian
Parliament, 195 are held by women, or 31% of the seat. As for the Upper House of the
Parliament (or Senate), 91 out of the 321 seats are held by women, or 28.3, making Italy
the 32nd
country in the world with the best women’s representation in national
Parliament and the 11th
European member state (IPU, 2015), an unprecedented record.
III.3. Gender equality policy and institutional regulation in Italy
In Italy, policies to readdress gender-balance are to take with caution. The main actor in
the progress of the Italian legal framework as regards to gender policy is the European
Union.
Italy’s current legal framework on gender equality is provided by the National Code of
Equal Opportunity between Women and Men (2006) and by the implementation of EU
directives on equal opportunities and treatment in all areas of society including
measures for reconciliation of family and professional life and the family law.
However, initiative to increase the presence of women in political life are still very
limited or rejected by the Parliament.
The Italian Institutional machinery for gender equality policies has always remained
weak. The Department for Equal Opportunity was created in 1997. Since then, no
notable institutional progress has been observed. In addition, some gender equal policy
initiatives have been created such as the National Plan against Gender Based Violence
and Stalking. However, the challenge remains in the implementation of such policies
and the conclusions drawn from this initiative are the lack of adequate training of
police, of support centre and shelter for victims.
III.4. Actors in the policy implementation process
As seen previously, the actor which has had the most significant impact in the
implementation of gender equal policies in Italy up to now has been the European
Union which has been putting pressure on its member state to follow its directive in
order to reach the goals set by the United Nations and their Millennium Development
Goals by 2015. For example, the Directive 2006/54/EC of the European Parliament and
of the Council of July 5, 2006 on the implementation of the principle of equal
opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matter of employment which
aim is ‘to simplify, modernise and improve Community legislation in the area of equal
treatment for men and women in employment’ by promoting equal treatment in

27
employment and working conditions, equality in social protection and parental leave22
.
However, no law was established to cope with the demand for increasing women’s
political representation.
The women’s movement has had periods of highlight and success but it has also known
struggles and been many times excluded from the political life.
Concerning the role of the government in the promotion of gender equal policies, the
2013 elections showed the fragility of Italy’s political system which is not favourable to
progress in the issue. Indeed, none of the traditional party won the elections with the
majority of the votes. Moreover, since the Second World War, Italy has had more than
fifty different governments23
. In this context, the commitment of political parties to put
gender equal policies on the political agenda has remained hopeless with the exception
of the Democratic Party (PD) which adopted a gender quota in 2008.
III.5. Positive action
As mentioned previously, the article 3 of the Italian Constitution (1947) sets the
fundamental principle of equality and non-discrimination. It also lays the juridical basis
for the implementation of positive actions by claiming that:
‘It is the duty of the Republic to eliminate economic and social obstacles, that limit the
citizens' freedom and equality, prevent the full development of the individual and the
real participation of all workers to the political, economic and social organisation of
the country’ (Art. 3/2 of the Italian Constitution in the report from Italy by Maria
Grazier Ruggerini, European Database, Women in Decision-making).
Despite such legal framework, women’s political representation remains limited. In the
mid-1990s, a law readjusting the number of men and women in elective committees at
different level passed (Law 27793 for elections at the House of Representatives, law
8193 for local elections, law 4395 regional elections) establishing a not less than 30%
representation of both sexes on electoral lists was adopted. This law brought hope
regarding the growth in women’s presence in politics. However, it was abolished in
22
Gender equality in the labour market, EUR-Lex Access to European Union Law. Last updated:
24.05.2011. Available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:c10940 Visited on
the 28th
of July 2015.
23
The rise of women in Italian politics, Simona AIMAR 20 August 2013, Available at:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/simona-aimar/rise-of-women-in-italian-politics

28
1995 by the Constitutional Court for being in conflict with the equality principles of the
Constitution.24
Since then, Italy exposed dramatically low levels of women’s representation and no
mandatory gender quotas were implemented in the Italian parliament.
However, disparities exist at the different levels. Legislated quotas have been adopted at
the subnational level. The Constitution claims that ‘‘Regional laws have to remove all
obstacles which prevent the full equality of men and women in social, cultural, and
economic life, and promote equal access for men and women to elective offices’ (Article
117, paragraph 7, Federal Constitution of Italy in QuotaProject Global Database25
).
Following the constitutional reform in 2003, 12 of Italy’s 20 regions have adopted
gender quotas in their regional laws governing electoral processes. Regional quotas are
provided for in the following regions: Abruzzo, Calabria, Campania, Friuli VG, Lazio,
Marche, Puglia, Sicily, Trento, Tuscany, Umbria and Val d’aoste’. Some of these
regions (Calabria, Friuli V.G., Marche, Trento, and Tuscany) provide sanctions such as
non-admissibility of lists for non-compliance with the respective of quota regulations
set out in their laws while other regional laws (those of Lazio, Umbria and Puglia)
provide financial sanctions26
.
Moreover, at the local level, the law 215 issued in 2012 forbids a representation of more
than 2/3 of candidates of the same sex in elections for municipalities of more than 5,000
inhabitants. Municipalities of more than 15,000 run the risk to be excluded from the
lists if they don’t respect the quota. In addition, voters have to choose for two
candidates of preferences of different sex or else the vote is estimated invalid.
The Local Administrative Court (TAR) stresses that the representation of both sexes
should not overpass a 40%. Nevertheless, there still remains a significant contrast
between national and subnational governments where quotas are in force. In addition,
women ministers made a proposal of a 50% quota of all list of party as a required
condition for admissibility. However, the proposal was rejected by the Parliament.
Therefore and for all this reasons, Italy shows very poor results in women’s political
representation. Despite the progress made in gender equality in recent years, the
question of reproductive health and women’s political representation remain
24
European Database, Women in Decision-making, report from Italy by Maria Grazia Ruggerini.
Available at: http://www.db-decision.de/CoRe/Italy.htm Visited on the 27th of March.
25
and Inter-Parliamentary Union. Available at: http://www.quotaproject.org/ Visited on the 4th
of August
2015.
26
Ibid.

29
controversial leaving Italy lagging behind other EU member states in the field of policy.
The increase in gender equality policies depend on the possibility of women to get
adequate political representation (Rosselli 2014).
As far as parties voluntary quotas are concerned, they are not widespread. Indeed only
the Democratic Party (Partito Democratico, PD) has adopted a 50 percent quota for
women, placed with strict alternation on electoral lists (Party statutes 2008, article 19)27
.
In order to promote party voluntary quotas, the Law on Public Financing for Political
Parties stresses that every party is allotted a quota equal to at least 5 per cent of electoral
reimbursements received for initiatives oriented to such an objective. The aim of this
law is to increase women’s representation in politics by offering ‘economic bonus’ to
the parties committed to it.
III.6. Monitoring Gender Equality in Italy
Italy has no proper structure at the central level to promote and monitor equality
initiatives.
Moreover, historical disparities between the industrial north and the south as well as
important socio-economic differences between regions have been obstacles hard to
overpass in the convergence under a same gender equal paradigm at the national level.
The weakness of the Italian gender institutional machinery explains the lack of effective
strategies to include women in politics
However, these recent years, incentives – such as the establishment of mandatory quotas
in boards of companies listed in the stock exchange have been made and give hope for
further progress in the combat for equal opportunity between men and women.
27
and Inter-Parliamentary Union. Available at: http://www.quotaproject.org/ Visited on the 4th
of August
2015.

30
Explaining divergence
The aim of this section, is to understand why Italy and Spain have been achieving
significant differences in their level of women’s political representation these two last
decades (Graph 3) focusing on the possible variables selected: the policy
implementation process, the introduction of positive action and the actors involved in
the promotion of women’s political representation.
Graph 3. Evolution of women’s representation in national Parliaments
Source: Made by the author from the figures of the World Bank, Proportion of seats held by women in
national parliaments (%) (2015). Available at:
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SG.GEN.PARL.ZS/countries/1W?display=default Visited on the 14th
of July 2015.
First of all, Italy’s lower level in women’s political representation is characterized by
the history of the Italian Republic. Indeed, despite momenta of women’s movements,
women were always ignored of the political sphere. Founded in 1946 after the collapse
of the authoritarian regime, The Italian Republic had to wait until 1975 (3 decades later)
to see the first women appointed at the head of a Minister (Tina Anselmi, Minster of
Labour). In addition, legal framework on the issue was set very late (2006). Therefore, it
is only in the 2000’s that Italy considered modernising its gender role tradition and
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
%ofwomeninParliament
Italy
Spain

31
catch up with the rest of the EU. As for Spain, the end of the authoritarian regime in
1975 marked the beginning of a fast development in gender equal policies and
institutional structures Therefore, the difference with the Italian post-dictatorship is the
shifting balance of power among political institutions which accompanied the
consolidation of democracy in Spain coupled with a consensus among female leaders in
the support of gender quotas (Baldez 2003).
The political parties’ commitment to gender equal policies at the time of political shift
is primordial in explaining divergence. In Spain, the Socialist party which took the lead
of the first democratic government after Franco’s dictatorship in 1983 clearly exposed
its commitment to gender equality and to answer to the women’s movements demand.
On the contrary, political parties in Italy were afraid to lose ground by positioning
themselves as regards to the evolution of women in the society and break with the
traditional gender roles developed through Italian history, shutting down all the
feminists movement’s hopes of progress (Rosselli 2014).
According to Thelfall (2005), ‘parties are the crucial vehicle for delivering the
empowerment of women in representative politics at all level of legislature and their
internal structure are the route to implementation of any gender parity policy’. In Spain,
the internal structure of the PSOE and its decision-making process has shown that the
gender parity concept was implemented effectively. PSOE differ from Italian parties as
it acted as a facilitator rather than barriers to the inclusion of women in politics.
In addition, research demonstrates that there is a growing network of international
organizations which diffuse global norms and produces consensus, conformity, and
structural similarity in the international system (e.g., Frank, Hironaka, and Schofer
2000; Schofer 2003 in Hughes and Green 2006) and that the international women’s
movement has actively promoted a discourse of gender inclusion, ensuring that norms
about female rights, equality, and participation in economics and politics are transmitted
to nation-states (Hughes and Green 2006). Moreover, previous studies have established
that strong women’s mobilizations are central for creating state-level changes in gender
equal policies but that these changes can only happen if the state’s transition to
democracy has led to the acceptance of and the commitment to women’s participation in
the society. Viterna and Fallon (2008) argued that ‘women’s movements most
effectively target new democracies when transitions are complete, when women’s
movements develop cohesive coalitions, when the ideology behind the transition […]
aligns easily with feminist frames, and when women’s past activism legitimates present-

32
day feminist demands’. This argument could explain the efficient impact of the strong
feminist movement in Spain and the difficulty women’s movements face to be heard
and include in Italy’s policy process. Moreover, Spain had a rapid feminisation which
favoured the entry of women in politics and allow the increase in women’s political
representation whereas in Italy doors were less opened to women’s participation
because of ‘the deeply embedded culture of masculinity (Levenduski 2005:48 in
Threlfall 2005)
Spain overcame a shift during the three past decades, transforming the country from a
latecomer to a pioneer in gender equality policy, by consolidating its institutional
machinery, promoting gender equality through the implementation of positive actions,
by proposing plans and laws as policy instruments and by expanding the gender equality
approach across many fields – from paternity leave to gender-balanced political
representation (Lombardo 2009). While the country succeeded in increasing women’s
political representation through the appointment of a parity government and the
implementation of gender quotas at all levels, the Italian Gender Equal institutional
machinery has never turned out to be efficient. This can be explained by the fact that
ministers appointed to the task of managing the head of the Department are not trained
consequently and the whole issue suffers such lack of experience from the executives.
In addition, they are in the meantime in charge of other important offices such as those
of Labour and Welfare. The lack of resources allocated to the Ministers, the short period
they remain in office (there were 9 Ministers in 18 years) and there different points of
view regarding the interpretation of gender issues explain the limits encountered by the
institutional machinery in Italy (Ruggerini, 2014).
Italian decision-makers have tried to implement positive action under the pressure of
women representatives and the feminist movement. However, without any sanctions
regulating the compliance and establishment of effective positive action, along with the
negative attitude of the national Parliament which shuts down every proposal leading to
the improvement of women’s political representation, Italy is stagnating at the bottom
of the list of European gender equal countries.
Moreover, Baldez (2003) underlines the crucial role of non-electoral branches of
government in the support for the adoption of legislative quotas. In the case of Italy, the
Court decided to obviate the decision to adopt gender quotas judging that they violated
constitutional guarantees of equal protection. Therefore, it is important not to overlook
the role of the Court in explaining policy outcomes in women’s political representation.

33
Italy suffers from its weak gender equality machinery in the implementation process of
its gender equal policies. In addition to the reasons expressed above, this can also be
explained by the fact that the gender mainstreaming approach is rarely adopted to assess
the impact of new laws and measures on gender equality (compared to Spain for
example).
Italy and Spain’s compliance to EU directives: Krizsan et al. (2014)’s findings
Krizsan et al. (2014)’s study has shown that despite the efforts the EU has put in
converging its member states under a same policy paradigm in the European
transnational framing of equality, there still remain divergence on the structuring of the
member states’ national equality institutions.
The authors’ classification of patterns of change in European equality regimes (Table 1)
shows that while in some countries such as France and Germany there is an intense
social debate about the configuration of equality institutions, the Southern European
countries have been gathered under 3 patterns of equality regimes defined by a ‘strong
anti-gender legacy’.
Table 1. Patterns of equality institutionalization
Source: from Krizsan, Andrea, Hege Skjeie, and Judith Squires. 2014. 'The Changing Nature of European
Equality Regimes: Explaining Convergence and Variation'. Journal of International and Comparative
Social Policy 30(1): 53–68. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21699763.2014.886612.

34
Spain illustrates the hierarchical pattern, pathway of Finland and Belgium (two
countries which expose high levels of equality in Europe according to the Gender
Equality Index) which is ‘characterized by a strong affirmation of the specificity and
distinctiveness of gender inequality and the need to create special protection for it in all
the institutional pillars’. Therefore, gender equality, as seen in the case study, benefits
from a particular institution and has a special protection through the anti-discrimination
legislation and positive action. As for Italy, it assembles both dual and unconsolidated
features of equality regimes. The country stands as an outlier and is classified as ‘anti-
equality’, which can be explained by its hostile political context changes driven by an
anti-equality agenda, its loss in momentum in any policy progress and its refusal to
commit to any institutionalisation pattern.
As far as transnational actors are concerned, a study carried out by Pristen Nielsen &
Rolandsen Agustin (2013) has shown that women’s transnational organisations such as
the European Parliament (EP) and its Committee on Women’s rights and Gender
Equality (FEMM) have played a key role in the interactions between the EU institutions
and the European civil society in the promotion of gender equality policies at the
transnational level.
Graph 4. Women in EP and EU national Parliaments
Source: Women in Parliament at a glance, Infographic January 2015 – European Parliament (2015).
Available at:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/ATAG/2015/545717/EPRS_ATA(2015)545717_REV1_
EN.pdf Visited on the 4th
of August 2015.
The authors’ findings were that women as political actors in the EPS represent about
one-third of the members of national political parties and NGO as well as in
transnational civil organizations, one-third of the members of the EP (rising from 16%

35
in the first EP’s first election in 1979 to 37% in 201428
). Moreover, the FEMM
Committee is working on the implementation of a gender quota in political
representation which is expanding across the EP and the member states. The study
shows that one of the European transnational organisations’ main achievments has been
the growth in women’s political representation. Therefore we can conclude that the
European Union as well as European institutions and women’s organisations are key
actors in the promotion of women’s political representation and women’s interests and
rights in general. Graph 4 above shows the influence of the EP in the EU members
states as regards to women’s political representation.
28
Results of the 2014 European elections, European Parliament (2014). Available on the website of the
European Parliament http://www.europarl.europa.eu/elections2014-results/en/gender-balance.html
Visited on the 4th of August 2015.

36
Conclusion
Women’s political representation has been a major achievement of these three last
decades in the pursuit of reaching gender equality in our societies.
This research, by comparing two cases with similar paths of development but different
outcomes in the level of women in political decision-making positions, offers several
explanations as regards to this divergence. Indeed, by going through the history of our
two cases both exploring the legal framework and the actors taking part in the policy
implementation process, the study enables to draw conclusions which can be useful for
further researches on the political representation of women.
The first, is that transnational organisations have played a key role in the increasing of
women’s political representation throughout the European members states, on the one
hand by putting pressure on the states to converge under a same paradigm of gender
equal regimes, and on the other hand by standing as an example to follow as regards to
the adoption of gender quotas. But more importantly, the progress made regarding the
inclusion of women in the political sphere depends on the presence of strong women’s
movements and women networks within political parties and the commitment of male
representatives to work side by side with their female counterparts.
The second, is that positive action that is to say legislative quotas and/or voluntary party
quotas do affect women’s political representation when their implementation is coupled
with a strong support of the actors involved in the process.
Finally, a strong institutional machinery is required to put the issue of women’s political
representation on the political agenda. Countries with a proper institution devoted to
gender equality are more likely to achieve higher levels in women’s political
representation.
Alternative explanations could have included the electoral system. Indeed, according to
Paxton, Hughes, & Painter (2010), the impact of the electoral system on women’s
political representation over time shows that compared to plurality-majority system,
countries with proportional representation (PR) or mixed-PR system have significant
higher levels of women in politics and that the effects is stable over time.

37
The three variables this study puts the emphasis on are mutually interdependent. Levels
of women’s political representation can therefore be explained by the interdependent
effects of 1) gender quotas adopted through 2) an efficient implementation process
within a strong gender institutional machinery created and support by 3) political
structures committed to answer to women’s movement demands.

38
Bibliography
Abels, Gabriele, and Joyce Marie Mushaben. 2012. 'Gendering the European Union:
New Approaches to Old Democratic Deficits'. Palgrave Macmillan.
Aimer, Simona. 2013. 'The rise of women in Italian politics', published on August 12,
2013. Available at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/simona-
aimar/rise-of-women-in-italian-politics
Baldez, Lisa. 2003. 'Elected Bodies: The Gender Quota Law for Legislatives
Candidates in Mexico.' Paper presented at the 2003 Meeting of the American
Political Science Association, Philadelphia, August 28-31.
De Grazia, V. 1992. 'How fascism ruled women: Italy, 1922-1945'. Univ of California
Press p11.
EIGE. 2013. 'Gender Equality Index Report'. European Institute for Gender Equality:
182. http://eige.europa.eu/apps/gei/content/Gender-Equality-Index-Report.pdf.
European Commission. 2015. 'Gender balance in decision-making positions'. Available
at: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/gender-decision-
making/index_en.htm
European Database. 'Women in Decision-making' Report from Spain by Carlota Bustelo
und Ana Chillida. Available online at: http://www.db-decision.de/CoRe/Spain.htm
Visited on the 25th of May 2015.
European Parliament. 2008. 'Electoral Gender Quota Systems and their implementation
in Europe'. Available at:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/document/activities/cont/200903/20090310ATT513
90/20090310ATT51390EN.pdf p11. Visited on the 4th of August 2015.
European Parliament. 2014. 'Results of the 2014 European elections'. Available on the
website of the European Parliament http://www.europarl.europa.eu/elections2014-
results/en/gender-balance.html Visited on the 4th of August 2015.

39
Gobierno de España, Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. 2015. 'Documento
consolidado BOE-A-1985-11672'. Available at:
http://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-1985-11672 Visited on the 4th
of
August 2015.
Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). 2015. 'Women in national parliaments'. Available
online at: www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm#1 Visited on the 28th
of May 2015.
International IDEA, Stockholm University and Inter-Parliamentary Union. 2015.
'QuotaProject Global Database of quotas for women'. Available at:
http://www.quotaproject.org Visited on the 4th
of August 2015.
Kabeer, Naila. 2010. 'Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: A Critical Analysis
of the Third Millennium Development Goal 1'. Gender & Development (February
2015): 37–41.
Kennett, Patricia, and Noemi Lendvai. 2014. 'Policy Paradigms, Gender Equality and
Translation: Scales and Disjuncture'. Journal of International and Comparative
Social Policy 30(1): 6–16.
Krizsan, Andrea, Hege Skjeie, and Judith Squires. 2014. 'The Changing Nature of
European Equality Regimes: Explaining Convergence and Variation'. Journal of
International and Comparative Social Policy 30(1): 53–68.
León, Margarita. 2011. 'The quest for gender equality'. 'The Spanish Welfare State in
European Context'. Chapter 4 : 59.
León, Margarita, and Emmanuele Pavolini. 2014. '‘Social Investment’ or Back to
‘Familism’: The Impact of the Economic Crisis on Family and Care Policies in
Italy and Spain'. South European Society and Politics 19(September): 353–69.
Lombardo, Emanuela. 2009. 'Spanish Policy on Gender Equality: Relevant Current
Legislation and Policies'. Briefing Note for the European Parliament, Directorate-
General for Internal Policies, Policy Department C-Citizens’s Rights and
Constitutional Affairs.

40
Lombardo E. del Giorgio E. 2013. ‘EU antidiscrimination policy and its unintended
domestic consequences: the institutionalization of multiple equalities in Italy’,
Women’s Studies International Forum 39: 12-21
Marí-Klose, Pau, and Francisco Javier Moreno-Fuentes. 2013. 'The Southern European
Welfare Model in the Post-Industrial Order'. European Societies 15(4): 475–92.
Martínez, LÁT. 2015. 'Gender Equality in the European Union. Comparative Study of
Spain and Italy', Por Rosa Quesada Segura Et. Al. Una Reseña. Relaciones
Laborales y Derecho del Empleo.
Paxton, Pamela, Melanie M. Hughes, and Matthew A. Painter. 2010. 'Growth in
Women’s Political Representation: A Longitudinal Exploration of Democracy,
Electoral System and Gender Quotas'. European Journal of Political Research
49(1): 25–52.
Rosselli, Annalisa. 2014. 'The Policy on Gender Equality in Italy'. For the Committee
on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality.
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/note/join/2014/493052/IPOL-
FEMM_NT%282014%29493052_EN.pdf.
Selanec G. & Senden L. 2012. 'Positive Action Measures to Ensure Full Equality in
Practice between Men and Women, including on Company Boards'. European
Commission. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-
equality/files/gender_balance_decision_making/report_gender-
balance_2012_en.pdf Visited on the 4th of August 2015.
Siim, Birte. 2014. 'Conflicts and Negotiations about Framings of Gender Equality and
Diversity by Political Actors within the European Public Sphere'. Journal of
International and Comparative Social Policy 30(1): 17–27.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21699763.2014.886613.
The Local. 2014. 'Italy rejects quotas for women politicians', published on March 11,
2014. The Local. Available at: http://www.thelocal.it Visited on the 24th
of July
2015.

41
The World Bank. 2015. 'Proportion of seats held by women in a single or lower
chamber in national parliaments (%)'. Available at:
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SG.GEN.PARL.ZS/countries/1W-ES-IT-
EU?page=2&display=default Visited on the 25th
of May 2015.
Threlfall, Monica. 2007. 'Explaining Gender Parity Representation in Spain, the
Internal Dynamics of Parties'. West European Politics 30.5: 8–10.
Valiente, Celia. 2013. 'Gender Equality Policymaking in Spain (2008–11): Losing
Momentum'. : 179–95.
Viterna, J. and Fallon, K. M. 2008. ‘Democratization, women’s movements and gender-
equitable states: A framework for comparison’. American Sociological Review
668-689.
United Nations. 2015. ‘Millennium Development Goals’. Available at:
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

MT

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (16)

Similar to MT

Similar to MT (20)

MT