Complying with Second-Generation Quotas: Evidence From Finland

In 1995, Finland adopted a quota statute that set a gender-neutral numerical quota of at least 40 percent of women and men in non-elected bodies wielding public power. These bodies include, firstly, politico-administrative policy preparatory bodies, such as commissions of inquiry and various advisory bodies, and secondly, indirectly elected political structures such as the executive bodies of local and provincial government. This study analyses compliance with the quota law in the 2010s in Finland, by drawing from statistical data on these structures. On the basis of earlier research results concerning which factors make first generation, e.g. electoral quotas effective, it considers their applicability to this form of quota and points out the factors that explain variations in compliance in the Finnish case.