This blog draws on discussions held at the Women and Constitutional
Futures Seminar: Gender Equality Matters in a New Scotland held on
14/15 February 2013 at the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the STUC
Women's Conversations event held on 18 February 2013.
On 11 September 2012, almost 2 million people – a quarter of
Catalonia's population – rallied in the streets of Barcelona in
support of independence. Early elections were immediately called to
give the new Catalan parliament a clear mandate to negotiate with the
central Spanish state over the right to self-determination and the
governing Catalan parties set a time limit for calling a referendum in
2014, the same year that Scots will be asked if they want
independence. In this blog, we explore the parallels between the
Catalan and Scottish experiences of constitutional change and evaluate
the implications of these processes for women and for gender equality,
focusing particularly on women's political representation.
Why is Catalonia pushing for independence? This is largely to do with
Catalan dissatisfaction with the territorial accommodation within the
Spanish state, which does not recognise national differences, is
reluctant to concede additional powers to the autonomous communities,
and which has begun to recentralize its political authority. There are
also concerns over the erosion of protections for the Catalan
language. Finally, economic arguments for independence have contended
that Catalonia is financially discriminated against by the Spanish
state and argued for the need for full fiscal capacity, particularly
in light of the economic recession.
The Spanish government's initial reaction was dismissive, accusing
nationalist parties in Catalonia of attempting to divert attention
from their own economic policies. But consistent support for
independence – with public opinion polls indicating that 57% of the
Catalan population supports secession – has subsequently prompted more
aggressive public rhetoric and legal action by the Spanish government,
including lodging an unconstitutionality appeal against the Catalan
parliament's declaration of sovereignty. While referendums can be
called by the central government, there is no scope for secession, as
the Spanish constitution establishes a single, indivisible sovereign
unit, the Spanish people.
In Scotland, processes of constitutional change have also been
dominated by debates over legality, with initial questions raised as
to whether Scotland had the power to enact a referendum bill, given
that the Union is a matter reserved to the UK Parliament. These issues
were resolved by an executive pact between the Scottish and UK
governments, in the form of the Edinburgh Agreement, which allows the
Scottish Parliament to stage a vote on independence in 2014. The price
paid for this agreement has been the decision to hold a
single-question yes/no referendum on independence, rather than include
an additional option in the form of 'devo-max' – a potentially more
popular option which would have transferred additional powers from
Westminster to the Scottish Parliament.
How women are (not) mobilizing
Where are women in these debates? Constitutional change offers
'windows of opportunity' for equality agendas, offering traditionally
marginalized actors and groups a chance to stake their claims at the
beginning of the process. Yet, in Catalonia and Scotland, women's
voices and debates over gender equality have been largely missing from
wider discussions over independence and constitutional change. As
Christine Bell and Fiona Mackay argue, this can be explained in part
by the focus thus far on issues of legality and process, an emphasis
which has the potential to exclude women and women's issues from the
debate.
Additionally, in both cases, divisions on the left, prevailing
adversarial politics and strong party discipline have made cross-party
or cross-sectional alliances difficult to form, making it hard to put
women's policy concerns on the agenda. In Catalonia, feminist
activists are divided on independence, reflecting the division among
left-wing political parties. While one party is clearly supportive of
independence (ERC, Republican Left of Catalonia, the equivalent to the
SNP with less parliamentary support), two-thirds of green voters (ICV,
Initiative for Catalonia Greens) support independence and the Catalan
social-democrats (the PSC, Party of the Catalan Socialists) are highly
fragmented – one-third of their voters support independence, one-third
oppose it, and one-third are undecided. As a result, the PSC party
leadership, without allowing for debates among the party membership,
has decided to advocate a third option – the federalization of Spain
(a rough equivalent to 'devo-max') – but this option is not supported
by most unionist supporters and is completely rejected by
secessionists. The overall focus on process has also not provided much
room for substantive debates thus far, including gender equality
issues.
In Scotland, the relative absence of women and debates around gender
equality in the run-up to the 2014 referendum – with the exception of
some women's groups and grassroots networks like Women for
Independence – stands in contrast to how involved women were with
processes of constitutional change in the 1990s. As Professor James
Mitchell noted in last week's Women and Constitutional Futures
Seminar, the debate in Scotland has been both 'arid and adversarial.'
While in Catalonia, there is a cross-sectional party coalition behind
independence – incorporating not only the left-wing ERC, but also the
centre-right CiU – in Scotland, the debate has been more polarized.
And, while a majority of both men and women in Catalonia support
independence, in Scotland, support is lower, with recent polls
indicating that 34% of likely voters back independence, making it more
difficult to form broader coalitions & alliances. Notably, there has
been a persistent gender gap in support for independence, with 41% of
men planning to vote Yes in 2014, but only 28% of women (with 11% of
both sexes undecided). While some mainstream commentators have
attributed this gap to women being 'less political' and 'more
hesitant', others point out that this is arguably a rational response
to the lack of information from both camps about what the everyday
implications of the different constitutional options might be and what
they might mean in terms of women's lives and gender equality more
broadly.
What does constitutional change mean for women and for gender equality?
What issues might bring women into the debate? In the run-up to
Scottish devolution in the 1990s, the key issue that served to rally
women activists from all walks of life was the call for 50:50
representation. There was a broad political consensus over the need
for equal representation in the new Scottish Parliament, and,
following a sustained and strategic campaign both within and outwith
the main Scottish political parties, substantial proportions of women
MSPs were elected in the first elections to the Scottish Parliament in
1999. The current constitutional 'moments' in Catalonia and Scotland
provide a key opportunity to revisit these wider debates.
Constitutions capture aspirations for the future, setting out broader
principles of fair treatment and representation and offering
possibilities for inclusion and equality, or conversely, exclusion and
inequality. Constitutional change in both cases, then, provides a
crucial opportunity to introduce and enshrine gender parity as a
public good.
Both countries have performed relatively well on women's
representation. In Catalonia, the current parliament has 40% women
deputies, which would place it tenth in world league tables on women's
representation – above countries like Iceland, Norway and Denmark. In
Scotland, just under 35% of MSPs elected in 2011 were women, which
would put the Scottish Parliament at position 22 in the world league
tables (compared to the UK House of Commons, which ranks 57th). In
both cases, gains were achieved through the use of gender quotas. In
Catalonia, the state-wide Spanish statutory quota passed in 2007
establishes that party lists must include a minimum of 40 per cent and
a maximum of 60 per cent of either sex. However, this quota simply
consolidated an 'incremental track' initiated by party quotas decades
earlier. Thanks to parties' voluntary measures, when the statutory
quota was passed in 2007, women's representation already reached 36%.
Women's agency was crucial in persuading left-wing parties to adopt
quotas in the 1980s and to enlarge these initial provisions to parity
levels in the following decades, as well as in ensuring that these
quotas were effectively enforced by party bodies. In Scotland, the
high numbers of women MSPs are largely due to the use of strong gender
quotas by the Labour Party in 1999 – in the form of a mechanisms
called twinning for constituency seats, as well as zipping on the
regional lists – and informal measures adopted by its main electoral
rival the SNP in 1999, including favourable placement for women
candidates on regional lists. As a result of these measures, 50% of
Labour MSPs elected in 1999 were women, as well as 42.9% of SNP MSPs,
numbers which continue to have an impact on headline figures
post-1999.
However, even if levels of women's political participation are
(relatively) high in both Catalonia and Scotland, it is important to
avoid complacency. Indeed, in both cases, issues in the short-term
political agenda point to the need for vigilance to ensure that women
and their perspectives are represented in debates over constitutional
change. In Catalonia, for example, the government's recent
establishment of a Council for the National Transition raises
potential issues with regards to women's representation. While
commissioners have not yet been appointed, feminists have reasons to
worry about its gender composition: this very same government only
included three women ministers in the so-called 'government of the
best' selected to manage the economic crisis. The Council will be a
consultative body that will act as an international ambassador of the
Catalan cause, therefore, its gender composition will have strong
symbolic and substantive effects for women's representation. Meanwhile
in Scotland, despite the high levels of female politicians and the
prominent role of Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in the Yes
campaign, the face of Scottish politics remains relatively 'male, pale
and stale'. While some women's voices have been heard, the majority of
platforms and panels launched by the SNP or the Yes campaign, as well
as the resulting media commentary, have been largely male-dominated.
Indeed, as others have noted, the Scottish Government's Expert Working
Group on Welfare, unveiled by Nicola Sturgeon in early 2013 to
evaluate the potential structure of the welfare system in an
independent Scotland, was initially men-only.
Questions in both cases have also been raised as to the sustainability
of current levels of women's representation. In both contexts, gender
quotas are not yet taken for granted, and vigilance is required to
ensure that quota measures are effectively implemented and enforced,
and that women are selected for winnable positions. In Catalonia, new
electoral legislation is due to be passed in the next few months which
could diminish the effectiveness of the state-wide Equality Law. A
long-standing debate on political disaffection among citizens and
current corruption scandals by political parties has prompted calls to
shift towards a candidate-oriented system with smaller districts and
open lists. The parliament will resume the discussions that were
started several years ago when an expert commission issued a report on
the reform of the electoral system – a commission which included 7
experts, all men, and whose 150 page report included only one page
devoted to gender equality in representation. While these experts were
happy to keep the current statutory quota, they also suggested
changing district magnitudes, the electoral formula and the type of
lists – changes that would render the application of the Equality Law
completely ineffective.
In Scotland, there are clear signs that gender parity is slipping down
the political agenda. There is little evidence that gender quotas have
'caught on' since 1999, either across political parties or different
political levels. Any progress since the first elections has been
brought about more by accident than design, and gender quotas and
gender balance remain poorly institutionalized within Scottish
parties, with a detrimental impact on the recruitment and election of
female candidates over time. It seems unlikely at this point that the
other Scottish parties (with the exception of the Greens) will follow
Labour's lead and adopt strong gender quotas. This raises the question
as to whether the time has come to consider statutory quotas in
Scotland, following the examples of Spain, Belgium, France, and also
the Republic of Ireland, where 30% candidate gender quotas are now
law. Regardless, lessons from Catalonia and Scotland point to the need
to keep gender parity on the agenda, and to ensure that quota measures
are well-designed and well-implemented, with effective supervision
mechanisms and sanctions for non-compliance.
As we discussed in last week's Women and Constitutional Futures
Seminar, women's issues are constitutional issues. Thus, regardless of
the results of the respective national transitions, it is vital that
women's voices and perspectives be included in wider debates over
institutional and constitutional restructuring. In both Catalonia and
Scotland, women must seek to engender both sides of the debate and
hold them to account. Women's political inclusion – in both the short
and the long-term – can be one key issue around which women can gather
and build broad consensus around different groups.
http://genderpoliticsatedinburgh.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/women-gender-equality-and-constitutional-change-lessons-from-catalonia-and-scotland/
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