Who supports gender quotas in Ireland?

Abstract

Candidate gender quotas were passed into law in the Republic of Ireland in 2012. This paper examines support for this quota amongst three different groups: local election candidates, a sample of professionals and the general public. Using responses from three different datasets, we identify the key ideological, partisan and demographic predictors of support for the quota. We find that the best predictors of support for the quota are, not surprisingly, the gender of the respondent and being a feminist. There is a weak effect for left-wing ideology and partisanship and for beliefs regarding the causes of women’s absence from political life. Overall, the results suggest that resistance to the quota is still relatively strong amongst both potential candidates for Dáil Éireann and the Irish electorate.