Kerryn Baker

Explaining the outcome of gender quota campaigns in Samoa and Papua New Guinea

This article explores the factors that contribute to the success or failure of gender quota campaigns through an analysis of two case studies from the Pacific Islands region: Samoa and Papua New Guinea. While Samoa became the first Pacific independent state to implement a parliamentary gender quota in 2013, a campaign for 22 reserved seats in the Papua New Guinea Parliament before the 2012 general election was unsuccessful. Drawing on media analysis and interviews with key players in the gender quota debates in both countries, this article examines why the push for a quota succeeded in Samoa and not in Papua New Guinea. The local, external and structural factors commonly found in gender quota literature can help to explain the divergent outcomes of the gender quota campaigns in these two countries. In particular, I highlight one structural factor – political stability – as fundamental to our understanding of the different outcomes in the two cases.

Gender and candidate selection in a weakly institutionalised party system: the case of Samoa

ABSTRACT Women’s political representation has historically been low in Samoa, as in much of the Pacific region. Candidate selection is viewed as a crucial factor in women’s under-representation globally. This article contends that the lack of formalised party selection processes sets Samoa apart from most other countries studied as part of the literature on gender and candidate selection. Yet, as this article shows, pre-selection processes exist at the village level, where a weak level of institutionalisation in the party system gives an inordinate amount of influence to local male gatekeepers. These processes are gendered, but can advantage female candidates that successfully navigate them. The extent to which these pre-election processes affect results depends largely on informal norms of group consensus within communities. This article looks at these processes in the context of the 2016 Samoan election, the first since a constitutional amendment mandating a minimum level of women’s representation in Parliament.

Introduction: New Norms, New Knowledge

Feminist research in the field of political science has made many contributions, both to the discipline and to women’s movements. In political science and international relations, research on gender from a feminist perspective has contributed new knowledge to the discipline as well as new ways of thinking. This volume seeks to introduce readers to the positive contribution of gender innovation in the study of politics and power. While contributors to this volume profile the potentially transformative insights provided by feminist political science, we acknowledge too the distance needed to travel before mainstream political science fully accepts the value of gender innovation in the discipline.

‘What did the winning candidate have that I don’t have?’: gender, politics and elections in Solomon Islands

ABSTRACT Women’s political under-representation is a concern for both emerging and established democracies. In Solomon Islands, only four women were elected to Parliament in the 40 years from independence in 1978 to 2018. This article analyses the barriers to success for female candidates in Solomon Islands elections, focusing on the impact of informal institutions related to kinship, clientelism and leadership. It argues that in a context such as Solomon Islands, an emerging democracy with a weakly institutionalised party system, informal institutions play a highly influential, and highly gendered, role.

Quota adoption and the exogenous track model: The parity laws in the french pacific collectivities

Drawing on the work of Dahlerup and Freidenvall (2005), this article considers how the implementation of the French parity laws in the Pacific collectivities fits in with established discourses of quota adoption. It proposes that there is another axis of quota adoption—the ‘exogenous’ and ‘endogenous’ track models. In France, the parity laws, introduced in 1999, have had mixed results, with a large increase of women councillors at municipal level, significant changes at regional and European levels, but a disappointing impact on the gender make-up of the National Assembly. The impact of the parity laws, however, stretches well beyond the borders of mainland France. While the Pacific region has one of the lowest levels of womens representation in the world, the parity laws have dramatically increased the number of female legislators in the French territories. The introduction of the parity laws in the French Pacific territories constitutes an example of ‘exogenous’ track quota adoption, in which quotas can truly be defined as exogenous shocks to the local political systems.