Mattson 1 Do Electoral Systems Affect Female Representation? Comparing the Proportion of Women in Rwandan and Tanzanian Legislatures

With increased calls for equal representation of the sexes in government throughout the world, various countries have employed gender-quota systems in their national legislatures. One such country, Rwanda, has achieved the number one rank of proportion of women in its national parliament, with 56.3 percent being women. However other countries, despite making similar attempts through enacting gender quota systems, have not been as successful as Rwanda. For example, Tanzania is tied for rank number twenty on the global scale with 36 percent of its national parliament being women (Women in Parliaments). As both similar countries took measures to increase female representation in national parliament by implementing gender quota systems, why has one been more successful than the other? Pippa Norris' theory that electoral systems affect the proportion of women in government best answers this question. In my paper, I will first present why Rwanda and Tanzania are comparable countries. As the two are similar to each other in many regards, including type of government and economy, one would expect them to have equal levels of female representation. However, in Tanzania, the female members of parliament almost exclusively hold the seats reserved for them, whereas in Rwanda women are running for and winning open seats in parliament. I will address a solution that other scholars have put forth to answer this puzzle, that Rwanda's genocide accounts for this difference, and explain why it is incorrect. As the notable difference between the two countries is in their electoral systems, with Rwanda having a proportional representation system and Tanzania having a single member district plurality system, I will argue that Pippa Norris' theory,