A new vision of Ukrainian politics or another political trick: reflections on the role of the electoral quota for women in Ukraine and its results

Abstract:

The goal of this paper is to analyse the state of women representation in the political environment in Ukraine before and after the adoption of the obligatory 30% quota, as well as to consider the attitude of the society regarding the introduction of such electoral quotas for women in general.

The issue of electoral quotas for women is not new for the international community and especially for Europe. However, in Ukraine it has never had due attention: it was ignored both by the legislator and civil society. The year 2015 brought about significant changes in the country and this question was included on the agenda of the Parliament. As a result, the law Ukraine “On Local Elections” of 14.07.2015 has established an obligatory 30% quota for the representatives of one gender to be in stock in the party list.

Nevertheless, one can still question whether the legislator has done everything to provide the real gender equality or this has been nothing more than another PR action. Based on the course of the local elections in 2015 and its results, I argue that this time such electoral quota is only political fiction and it is not aimed at achieving fundamental changes in the structure of the political system of the country.

This article appears in Thematic issue of the Eastern journal of European studies: Ukrainian crisis. Rethinking geopolitics in Europe