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Intersectionality, Quotas, and Minority Women's Political Representation Worldwide

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2011

MELANIE M. HUGHES
MELANIE M. HUGHES*
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
*
Melanie M. Hughes is Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh, 2611 Wesley W. Posvar Hall, 230 S. Bouquet Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 (hughesm@pitt.edu).
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Abstract

The majority of the world's countries have implemented policies designed to advance the political representation of women and/or minority groups. Yet we do not yet understand how these disparate policies affect the election of minority women. In this article, I draw on theories of intersectionality to conduct the first worldwide analysis of the effects of gender and minority quotas on minority women's representation in national legislatures. Using hierarchical linear modeling, I analyze how quotas influence the election of women from more than 300 racial, ethnic, and religious groups across 81 countries. I find that policies designed to promote the political representation of women and minority groups interact to produce diverse but predictable outcomes for minority women. Although quotas are ostensibly designed to promote diversity and inclusiveness, the quota policies in effect today rarely challenge majority men's dominance of national legislatures.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 105 , Issue 3 , August 2011 , pp. 604 - 620
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2011

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