INTRODUCTION: GENDER QUOTAS AND WOMEN'S REPRESENTATION—NEW DIRECTIONS IN RESEARCH

Abstract

This article introduces the special issue and places the contributions in context. It begins with a brief discussion of main trends in quota research to date, focusing on major findings in relation to gender quotas and women's political representation. It then presents an overview of the articles in the special issue, detailing their research strategies and theoretical and empirical findings. The final part of the section addresses the implications of these studies – and work on gender quotas more generally – for forging new research agendas on political representation.