Endogenous Affirmative Action: Gender Bias Leads to Gender Quotas∗

The adoption of gender quotas in electoral lists, like the recent “parity law” in France, can be fully rationalized on the basis of the self interest of male incumbent politicians. This paper explains why the parity law was approved in its form and, at the same time, why it has not been very effective. The existence of a voters’ bias in favor of male candidates is sufficient to convince the incumbents to advocate for equal gender representation in party lists, because it raises the incumbents’ chances of being reelected. The existence of male bias in the French electorate is empirically confirmed in this paper. We also show that parity law may have assembly composition effects and policy effects that vary with the electoral system.