Not just a numbers game

Gender quotas in Pacific islands’ legislatures aren’t so much about numbers as they are about shifting entrenched attitudes towards women. In cases where they are just a temporary measure, they are only applied until such time as perceptions shift in favor of women. Where they aren’t a temporary measure, they invoke gender parity when it wouldn’t have happened naturally. The quotas debate is at most a human rights issue, steeped in its varied outcomes on democracy and equality. Quotas is one most effective way to fast track women numbers in parliament, however attempts to implement quotas in pacific island states are being met with uptight reluctance across the board. The main argument against quotas is they distort the democratic process, tokenise women and potentially limit the representation of women. However, on the other hand, quotas widen the pool of participants and level unfair psychological grounds by effectively enforcing the belief that all people are to be treated as equals.