Article 4 of the CEDAW convention calls for temporary special measures to fasten the process of gaining equality, and article 7 for state parties to make sure that women and men can take part in politics on equal terms. No specific aims with timelines are stipulated in the convention. Since the writing of CEDAW, the UN has set an aim of raising the level of female politicians to 30 %, in the so called Beijing Platform for Action (1995). In March 2019 the UN CEDAW committee and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) gave a joint statement, calling for 50 % balance in women’s leadership by 2030.[i]

It is clear that this goal cannot be reached without special measures. To speed up the process, many countries have adopted quotas for women’s attendance in politics, as a temporary special measure called for in the CEDAW convention. There are three main types of quotas:

1. Quotas stipulated in legislation: a certain amount of parliamentary seats are reserved for women only.
2.  Legislated candidate quotas: political parties have to nominate a certain amount of female candidates in elections.
3. Voluntary party quotas: parties nominate on a voluntary bases a certain amount of women as candidates in parliamentary elections on their lists.

These all have their pros and cons, but they have made parliaments in many countries much more inclusive. Voluntary party quotas have the benefit of changing both parties and parliaments to make space for women. In a first-past-the-post electoral system it is really important that parties nominate women in the winnable constituencies, as otherwise nominating women will not change anything.

International IDEA provides an online database on quotas adapted in different countries around the world: Gender Quotas Database[ii].

Quotas for women would not be needed if equality of opportunity was realised. Then women could compete on equal terms with men to be nominated as candidates, as chairpersons of committees and political parties, as ministers of government and leaders of their countries. But as we all suffer of a gender bias (remember the Indian village people, the anonymous CVs, the scientists in Yale University?), women’s playing field is not the same as that of men. And this is why temporary special measures are needed: As “equal opportunity” is, for the time being, an illusion, the quotas can strive to grant “equality of result”.

A very good overview of the situation and gaps in equality of women and men in Myanmar can be found in the 2014 census report “Thematic Report on Gender Dimensions”:[iii]