This report examines women's political representation in Europe. Although the overall representation of women in European Parliaments (including the Commonwealth of Independent States' nations) stands at approximately 18 percent, the differences among the many countries are staggering; from a low of three percent in Kyrgyzstan to a high of 45 percent in Sweden. In all of Europe, only eight countries have legislated quotas at the national or sub-national level. In 27 countries, political parties have voluntarily adopted some form of quotas. Gender quotas are increasingly viewed as an important policy measure for boosting women's access to decision-making bodies throughout the world. The proponents of quotas in many European countries face an unusual dilemma compared to other regions -- rejection and scepticism based on previous experience with quotas. In many communist states of the 20th Century, quotas were employed as a way of paying lip-service to equality declarations made by state-sponsored socialism. Thus in several, modern European democracies of the 21st Century, quotas are not regarded as positive measures but rather negative reminders of non-democratic practices.
This report looks in depth at this particular impediment and compares strategies and ways of overcoming the stereotypes. There are 11 country case studies included in the report: Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Serbia and Montenegro and Slovenia.