Supplementary Memorandum from the Equal opportunities Commission
The EOC welcomes the opportunity to contribute to respond to the Richard Commission Inquiry into the Electoral Arrangements for the National Assembly for Wales. This response focuses on the questions for consultation concerned with experience of the present electoral system.
a. What is your experience of the operation of the present electoral system - what are its advantages and disadvantages and what changes would you like to see?
Background
The EOC's vision for society is one where women and men in all their diversity have equal opportunity to fulfil their potential. In public life, we want to see all of the UK's political parties as well as local and central government, departmental agencies and non-departmental public bodies aiming both for gender balance and diversity in the way they recruit and promote within their organisation. In order for the electorate to feel that political parties are truly representative it is important that their politicians should be drawn from a wide cross-section of society. The EOC has been working with each of the main political parties to make the case for balanced representation, and to suggest ways in which their selection procedures might be revised in order to achieve it. A core part of that case is the fact that women candidates are successful candidates. If politics looks old, white and male there is a very real danger that it will lead to lower participation rates and a reduction in democracy. "Women have a unique contribution to make to political life. They have a different contribution and perspective than men, and democracy requires that all perspectives are represented ... We must put mechanisms in place to allow this to be realised."1 The Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act 2002 was a major step forward as this legislation now permits political parties to take positive action in order to achieve a gender balance. But the action taken depends upon the stage at which the internal debate is taking place within each party. The EOC's priority has been to engage with those debates because it is via the parties' own selection procedures that more women, black and minority ethnic and disabled candidates will be selected.
The Electoral System
It has been well documented that using the Additional Member System (AMS), the 2003 National Assembly Election achieved a perfect gender balance with 30 men and 30 women elected. This is clearly an achievement that has been rightly welcomed and celebrated both in terms of its UK and international significance. Breaking this down, we can see that of Labour's 30 constituency representatives, 19 of them are women; while 5 of the 7 Plaid Cymru list seats have women representatives; two of the Liberal Democrat's constituency seats have gone to women while the two female Conservative representatives were elected from the list. Altogether, 22 women were elected in the constituency section and the remaining 8 via the list. When considering the achievement of gender balance in the context of the electoral system, this break down is significant in two respects:
  		• Because of the way the AMS works, Labour's success at a constituency level means it has no list seats, yet well over half of Labour Assembly Members are now women. This confirms the EOC's strategy because it indicates the importance of influencing party selection procedures to persuade parties to select women candidates at constituency level, and also is an indication of the progress that has been made within the Labour Party as far as gender balance is concerned.
  		• Individual parties are at very different stages in terms of their approach to the question of balanced representation. Where parties are less likely to choose a woman to represent them at constituency level, it is significant that the electoral system itself increases the opportunity for women to be elected via the top-up list. However this depends on where women are placed on the list, as it is only those candidates at or very near the top of the list who are likely to be elected.
    As this achievement has been so significant, any change to the Assembly should not go ahead unless an impact assessment has been undertaken to establish that this will not reduce the number of female Assembly Members.
    Gender balance and proportional representation
    When considering the question of balanced representation, separating the influence of the political parties from that of the electoral system is complex. However research shows that women are twice as likely to be elected via a system of proportional representation than first past the post2. For this reason,the Fawcett Society has campaigned for PR for a number of years. Fawcett also argue that women are more likely to be selected as candidates under a PR system, and that the outcome of an election under PR is more likely to require parties to work together which in turn is more likely to appeal to women who may be "put off politics by the confrontational nature of the current political debate3 . Anecdotal evidence from the Welsh Assembly suggests that the quality and nature of the debate in a legislature that has a significant proportion of women is markedly different to that found in Westminster. The Commons' aggressive, confrontational style seen at its worst during Prime Ministers Question Time, is thought to be a deterrent to potential women candidates and also intimidating to those women already elected. EOC research, Man Enough for the Job? A study of parliamentary candidates, found that the culture of the House of Commons puts women off standing.4 It is thought that a critical mass of approximately 30% women is enough to noticeably change the tone of the chamber. A further factor determining whether women put themselves forward for election and whether once there, they stay in politics, is the working hours themselves. The Assembly's 9-5pm working day is relatively attractive to women, particularly those with children or other caring responsibilities. The anti-social hours of the House of Commons, even in its recently modernised state, with business finishing early three days per week (7pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and 6pm on Thursdays) have long been a deterrent to women who might otherwise consider a political career.5 Women in Parliament: A Comparative Analysis, a study commissioned by the EOC and carried out in 2001, compared the different levels of women's representation across Europe and industrial countries; identified the facts that have contributed to achieving a higher gender representation; and further identified the difference that gender balance makes to policy making and decision making. The report concluded: "Of particular importance in determining the level of female representation is the electoral system. The use of proportional representation, multi-member constituencies and party lists were found to be more conductive to higher levels of female representation than majoritarian electoral systems."6 There are many different types of PR systems, and clearly, when selecting a system there are many considerations including which one is more likely to achieve balanced representation. In Wales, the AMS was adopted because it combined the advantages of the constituency link with the greater legitimacy that the proportionality of the top up list can provide, not because it was considered to be the system most likely to achieve a perfectly gender balanced Assembly. Although that has clearly been a welcome development, as we have already indicated, this was largely due to the electoral success of the party that had also made the most progress in selecting women candidates. For the purposes responding to this consultation, this paper will consider the narrow question of which PR system is more likely to achieve balanced representation and restrict our comments accordingly. Research published in Women in Politics: Beyond Numbers suggested three factors that facilitate women's representation in PR systems. This research also argues that, under PR, parties are encouraged to balance their "ticket" by including women. The three factors are:
  		• Higher District Magnitude - parties can compete for and win several seats allowing them to go further down the party lists where women are more likely to be listed.
  		• High Electoral Thresholds - discourages very small parties which only have one or two candidates, who are usually male.
  		• Closed Party Lists - the Party rather than the electorate controls the rank ordering of candidates and so women's names cannot be struck off or demoted.
    "As the number of seats per district increases, parties will go further down their lists (ie win more seats) and more parties will have multi-member delegations.7"
    Single Transferable Vote (STV)
    As STV is a system that allows the voter to choose between candidates of the same or different parties, it gives the electorate a greater degree of discretion when considering the particular characteristics of the candidates themselves. When surveyed black and minority ethnic voters said they would be more likely to use their vote in a PR system. According to an Electoral Commission survey of black and minority ethnic voters, nearly half said that "...better representation of black people within politics would be the most important factor in encouraging them to vote.8 According to the Electoral Reform Society, STV would give parties "a powerful electoral incentive to present a balanced team of candidates". "All the major parties have expressed increasing concern at the desperately low representation of women and of ethnic minorities in Parliament. With STV and multi-member constituencies, parties would have a powerful electoral incentive to present a balanced team of candidates in order to maximise the number of higher preferences that would go to their sponsored candidates. It seems unlikely that single-member constituencies will ever depart significantly from adopting the traditional "safe" candidate, thus denying the electors the change to redress the present parliamentary imbalance."9 STV is the most common form of election used in Northern Ireland where it is used for local government, Northern Ireland Assembly and European elections. In 2000, the Kerley Commission set up to look at Scottish local government recommended STV for Scottish Council elections, although its remit did not include balanced representation, other than a geographical balance.
    b. Should more be done through the electoral system to influence the characteristics of the candidates put forward by the political parties and if so, what measures would you recommend?
    Quotas
    An obvious method of influencing the characteristics of candidates is to set quotas. Quotas can either be legally-binding, requiring that certain groups make up a particular share of the legislature; or partly-based with a target set internally by a political party which will determine its own selection procedures. There is research to indicate the positive impact that quotas have on the numbers of women represented: "In general ...the higher the level of the specified quota, the closer the quota is applied to the final states of election, and the more biding the formal regulation, the more effective its impact."10 However, quotas are still regarded as controversial and there have been cases where they have been challenged in court. For example, in the UK in 1996 Labour's all women shortlists were ruled to be in breach of fair employment practices. Additionally, "Quotas have been challenged in supreme courts as a breach of the principle of universality and of equality of citizenship (for example in France and Italy)."11 The Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act 2002 was introduced in order to make such positive action lawful and thereby reduce the risk of challenge, although it is thought that the law may be tested in the courts within the next few years.
    In Summary
    The achievement of perfect gender balance in the Welsh Assembly has been justifiably celebrated. However, on this occasion, evidence suggests that this is more likely to be due to the positive action adopted by political parties in their selection procedures rather than the Additional Member System. Nevertheless, there is a considerable body of evidence to support the assertion that PR is better for balanced representation, particularly gender balance, and that the system of STV is the one most likely to encourage parties to present balanced "tickets" to the electorate. Studies suggest that whichever system of PR that is being used, in terms of gender balance, the outcome is better that First Past the Post. The EOC believes that the most effective way to achieve balanced representation is to work with the individual parties themselves, persuading them to reform their selection procedures and to see women as winning candidates. This is required whatever the electoral system, as women have to get over the selection hurdle before they get the chance to fact the electorate. Any change to the Assembly should not go ahead unless an impact assessment has been undertaken to establish that this will not reduce the number of female Assembly Members.
    References
    1 Plaid Cymru candidate quoted in Choose a Winner, EOC Wales 2003
    2 Women in Parliament: A Comparative Analysis 2001 p.8-10
    3 The F-Word, Fawcett briefing on women and voting reform, 2001
    4 Man Enough for the Job, A study of Parliamentary Candidates, EOC 2002
    5 Man Enough for the Job, A study of Parliamentary Candidates, EOC 2002
    6 Women in Parliament, Executive Summary p.iv
    7 The Effect of Electoral Systems on Women's Representation ww.idea.int/women/parl/ch3c.htm#figure2
    8 Electoral Commission & Operation Black Vote Survey Oct 2002www.electoralcommission.org.uk/media-centre/newsreleasecampaigns.cfm/news/138
    9 ERS The Single Transferable Vote, based on an extract from "The Politics of Electoral Reform", Michael Meadowcroft www.electoral-reform.org.uk/votingsystems/stvi.htm
    10 Pippa Norris Women's Representation and Electoral Systems in R.Rose (ed) The International Encyclopedia of Elections. pp348-351
    11 Gender Quotas, A Comparative Perspective,www.essex.ac.uk/ecpr/standinggroups/women/workingPapers/Geneva report ecpr oct 2002.pdf