Gender quotas to reach equality : a qualitative study about the Swedish parliamentary parties’ stance on gender quotas in the Swedish parliament

The representation of women in parliament is a subject that has been up for debate since the beginning of the 20th century and the beginning of women’s suffrage. Gender quotas is a way to increase the representation of women in modern parliaments, even in the Swedish riksdag. This qualitative, comparative study shows that out of the eight Swedish parties of parliament, six is implementing gender quotas but in different ways and for different reasons. These reasons get brought into light in official party documents where the parties discuss their stance on gender equality politics and gender quotas. The parties’ opinion on gender quota is defined by three different kind of arguments: the argument of equal representation, the argument of resources and the argument of interest. The left-wing parties tend to use all three of the arguments, while the right-wing parties tend to be more sceptical of the use of gender quotas and therefore use two or less arguments. The parties’ stance on gender quotas are furthermore analysed from the perspective of the theory of feminist institutionalism. Parties who use all three of the arguments, or all the argument except the argument of resources, tend to have a feminist approach to their politics. These parties use gender quota as a way of reforming the parliament’s structure. Other parties who focus on justice and resource as arguments of gender quotas is often more conservative or focused on preserving the structure on which the riksdag is built upon