This is the first world-wide, comparative study of the controversial new trends of gender quotas now emerging in global politics, presenting a comprehensive overview of changes in women s parliamentary representation across the world.

This is important reading for all those working to increase women s influence in politics, because it scrutinizes under what circumstances gender quotas do increase women s representation and why they sometimes fail.

These distinguished international scholars also show how gender balance in politics has become important to a nation s...

Has male dominance in political life been broken? Will gender balance in elected assemblies soon be reached? Around 100 years after women's suffrage was gained, and in spite of much effort, most countries are still at some distance from this goal. In 2012, the average representation of women in the world's parliaments was around 20 per cent. This book analyses the longitudinal development of women's political representation in eight old democracies, where women were enfranchised before and around World War I: Denmark, Iceland, Germany, The Netherlands, New Jersey (USA), New South Wales...