Parties regulating Descriptive Representation at the Intersection of Gender and Ethnicity

Political parties all over Europe have paid considerable attention to issues relating to the political underrepresentation of historically disadvantaged groups. Claims for descriptive representation were initially directed towards the integration of women and the introduction of gender quota is one of the most widespread electoral reforms around the world. But parties are facing increasingly more demands for diversification of their political personnel, in the first place ethnic minorities (but also senior citizens, LGBT, etc). This contribution aims to study how parties regulate increased demands for descriptive representation by a growing number of social groups. More precisely, the paper asks how the demand for descriptive representation of women and ethnic minorities interact and results in representation of candidates at the intersection of gender and ethnicity, and the role of gender quotas in this. It tests the institutionalist hypothesis that institutions tend to maintain the power position of the dominant group -i.c. (ethnic majority) men. Indeed, the ethnicization of electoral lists can come at the expense of women’s representation when no quota are in place (the Netherlands) or, on the contrary, can be realized entirely by including ethnic minority women thereby respecting gender quota law (Belgium).