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Party Quotas and Rising Women Politicians in Singapore

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2015

Netina Tan
Netina Tan*
Affiliation:
McMaster University
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Extract

Women were severely underrepresented in Singapore's early politics. From 1970 to 1984, not a single female member was found in the Parliament. Unlike the experiences of Taiwan and South Korea in this issue, the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) of Singapore faced no similar pressure from the opposition parties or feminist groups to adopt gender quotas to “fast track” women into politics (Dahlerup and Freidenvall 2005). Yet, the total number of women candidates increased from 0 in 1980 to 32 by 2011. And women's legislative representation reached a high of 23% after the 2011 general election.

Type
Critical Perspectives on Gender and Politics
Information
Politics & Gender , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , March 2015 , pp. 196 - 207
Copyright
Copyright © The Women and Politics Research Section of the American Political Science Association 2015 

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