Increasing women’s political representation in post-communism: party nudges and financial corrections in Romania

ABSTRACT

The article investigates some of the potential factors leading to increased gender balance in post-communist societies. Focusing on Romania, the study shows that, at the party level, the centralisation of the candidate selection processes, the pre-existence of women as party leaders, or the articulation of women organisations within parties did not bring about a long-term change in the recruitment routines. Conversely, the article points to the fact that minor changes in the party finance regulations succeeded to nudge parties towards gender diversity. This research is based on qualitative content analysis of electoral and party legislation and party statutes.

KEYWORDS:

• Women’s representation
• party organisations
• party finance
• gender
• Romania

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alexandra Iancu

Alexandra Iancu is a Senior Lecturer with the Department of Political Science, University of Bucharest, teaching Comparative Politics, European Political Parties, Democratic Transitions. She holds a joint PhD in political science from the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the University of Bucharest.