What are the similarities and differences between minority representation and womens representation?
There are similarities in how women and minorities gain representation in both the hurdles placed in front of them and the options to overcome those hurdles and promote their inclusion in parliament. Most election systems advantage the “lowest common denominator” candidate which in almost all societies is a male from the dominant communal group. e.g., white men in the UK or Tswana males in Botswana. Both women and minorities can be helped by special mechanisms which encourage parties to make them candidates in winnable seats or reserve seats which guarantee that some proportion of the parliament breaks free from the dominant male majority group norm. The difference between the two groups are that women are often not a numerical minority in society, are not geographically concentrated, and do not by and large vote as a block. Outside of some notable exceptions “womens parties” are taken less seriously than parties designed to promote and protect the interests of a distinct ethnic minori
