Abstract

As a strategy to improve women’s share in Indonesian parliament, gender quotas were introduced in 2002 and first implemented in the 2004 elections. Despite vast research on the influence of gender quotas in nominating women into parliament, little is known about male and female politicians’ acceptance and perception of gender quotas. This paper seeks to explore how distinct are male and female MPs in perceiving gender quotas and in explaining the roots of women’s political under-representation. Using a questionnaire involving 104 representatives (54 male and 50 female), the study suggests a significant gender gap occurs not only in perceptions related to quotas’ positive-discrimination legitimacy and efficiency but also in explanations that hinder women’s electoral success and which strategies might work best in overcoming the disparity. These distinctions matter because they offer insights as to the dynamics explaining why gender quotas are not resulting in a notable increase in women’ parliamentary representation.

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