Politika ravnopravnosti spolova: kako do “kritične mase” žena u parlamentima?
Policy of Gender Equality: How To Achieve The “Critical Mass” of Women in Parliaments?

Summary/Abstract: Each election year in Croatia is an occasion for comparing the social guidelines and the practice. To what extent is the policy of gender equality applied to the participation of women in political decision-making at the parliamentary level in Croatia? Modest results are not an exception: almost in all countries there is the gap between the two. Nevertheless, the extent of the participation in older democratic countries is on the average somewhat higher, which can be attributed to the influence of the egalitarian concept of gender roles and the proportional electoral system. In younger democratic countries, including Croatia, the average is somewhat lower due to the significance of socio-economic factors. In some countries a higher level of participation can for the time being be achieved only via the mechanisms of affirmative action i.e. quotas. Therefore, for Croatia it is essential to achieve the “critical mass” of women in its parliament, which can be brought about by introducing quotas at the party level, by democratic selective procedures of nominating candidates, and by putting up candidates of both genders on the party lists, which means that the highest percentages of women in the parliament can be expected from modern parties promoting the deliberate regulation of the above processes.

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