New Delhi, March 14: Gender quotas in legislatures do not increase women’s political engagement, a study has shown, challenging assumptions that quotas foster advancement of women across all levels in society.

The study covering Latin American countries where gender quotas have been in place for the longest periods has failed to detect any evidence for positive impacts of the quotas on women’s political engagement.

However, US research suggests that women legislators are more likely than men to heed the concerns of their constituents and may turn legislatures more sympathetic towards disadvantaged groups in society.

Social science researchers have contended in the past that gender quotas increase self-esteem, confidence and motivation of women and strengthen women’s contacts with their political representatives, increasing their political empowerment. Some of these ideas have emerged over the past decade from studies of gender quotas implemented in panchayats across India.

But Par Zetterberg from Sweden’s Uppsala University, studying Latin America, observed no positive effects of quotas on women’s political knowledge, political interest, political contacts, or party activities — factors linked to empowerment.

“The analysis suggests that some scholars have perhaps been too quick in drawing conclusions about attitudinal and behavioural effects of gender quotas,” Zetterberg said in a paper in the journal Political Research Quarterly.

Several factors — with parallels in India — may explain the findings. In Argentina, the first country to introduce gender quotas in 1991, the quota movement was promoted by elite women from different political parties.

In this backdrop, according to Zetterberg, sections of women may question their governments’ true commitment to gender equality and may not perceive quotas as genuinely empowering.

“Second, gender quotas have not interfered with the centralised and informal nomination procedures in Latin America in which party leaders often handpick candidates,” Zetterberg said in his paper.

In such situations, “women with close ties with particular leaders” are more likely to be selected than women with strong popular support, he wrote. This might send a signal to women that little has changed -- only new faces in an unfair system.

Zetterberg cautioned that the explanations assume a high level of knowledge among women about quotas and the political systems in the countries. The study was based on responses from 10,000 women from 17 countries, 10 with gender quotas.

A social science researcher in India has said available evidence suggests women’s engagement is more likely to occur if quotas are provided in all three tiers of Indian democracy from panchayat-level quotas up to state legislatures and Parliament.

“This will provide a greater opportunity for women with popular support to contest at all the levels,” said Sai Thakur, assistant professor at the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

“Under the proposed format, women from marginalised groups are unlikely to be put up as candidates. Empowerment of women can happen through quotas only if there are separate quotas for OBC, Muslim, Dalit and Adivasi women within it,” she said.

But social science research also points to positive spinoffs from gender quotas.

Women legislators appear somewhat more likely than men “to rely on and value the input of their constituents,” according to a 2001 survey by the Centre for American Women in Politics (CAWP) at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

The CAWP survey of American legislators found that women were more likely than men to report that the views of their constituents would be the most important factor influencing their votes on a controversial bill -- 42% women versus 33% men.

An increased presence of women legislators in the US has also improved access that economically disadvantaged groups have to legislatures, according to the survey. It also observed that a greater number of women legislators made a difference to the extent to which legislatures are sympathetic to the concerns of racial and ethnic minority groups in the US.

A US study of legislative trends between 1969 and 1986 had observed that while women legislators propose proportionately more legislation in traditional women’s interest areas than male legislators, they also contribute to legislation in other areas.

The study focused on Arizona state found women proposing bills in commerce, state and local government and transportation.