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Abstract
In 1993, the Social Democratic Party in Sweden adopted the zipper system, a gender quota system whereby women and men are placed alternately on all party lists. The National Federation of Social Democratic Women had, however, as early as in 1928 proposed that the Social Democratic Party introduce gender quotas so that women would be placed in safe positions on the party lists. In this article, the struggle of The National Federation of Social Democratic Women for an increased parliamentary representation of women and its demand for gender quotas during the period 1970–1993 is analysed. Its strategies to put the issue of women's under‐representation on the political agenda are outlined as well as the major discursive frames that the debate was embedded within. The article suggests that the discursive controversies over gender quotas can best be understood in the context of competing conceptions regarding historical development, equal opportunity, local autonomy and cooperation between women and men. One main point is that the zipper system, despite its radical institutional effect, can be seen as a discursive solution to the norm of cooperation.
Notes
1. The National Federation of Social Democratic Women was founded in 1920 by representatives from 120 women's clubs from all over Sweden. The women's clubs are affiliated to the local party organization and all club members are automatically party members.
2. See Karlsson (Citation1996) on the National Federation of Social Democratic Women and the struggle for women's political representation during the period 1920–1978.
3. For the elections in 1970, the party list was alternated between women and men from the eleventh seat forward; for the elections in 1973, the list was alternated from the fifth seat forward; and for the elections in 1976, the entire list was alternated.
