Political and operational gender quotas — an eternal debate with Sophie Wotschke
“We need proactive policies promoting equal opportunities rather than quotas aiming for equality of results.” — Sophie Wotschke
Just over a week ago Junos, the young liberals in Austria, elected Sophie Wotschke as their new federal chairperson. Both her deputies are also women, and the executive committee they now chair is as gender balanced as it gets: four women, four men, perfect quota. So perfect one cannot but ask right away: Is this the result of deliberate intervention in the electoral process?
The quick and easy answer: No, it has been the outcome of an entirely free vote. According to Wotschke, Junos never adopted any kind of mandatory quota. PartyParty asked the 24-year-old lawyer-to-be to share her views on the ongoing debate over gender quotas with us.
How long have you been politically active? What motivated you to go into politics?
I’ve been active for around six years. However, I’ve always been interested in political debates and excited by the possibilities of improving people’s lives in Austria. There is much that needs to be changed, starting with our educational system, our pension system and the way we think about entrepreneurship. We must arrive at a place where it doesn’t matter who you know but rather what you can do, and where innovation and effort are promoted instead of hindered.
After being blocked for a decade, the European Parliament reached an agreement with the Council over a new directive on improving the gender balance last June. It sets a mandatory share of 40% of the under-represented sex among non-executive directors and 33% among all directors of companies listed on European stock exchanges. Globally, over 100 countries have so far adopted quotas to address the systematic under-representation of women.
How do you assess this eternal debate over gender quotas? Where are we missing the point and what should be discussed instead?
Mandatory quotas are meant to achieve equality of result, which isn’t what we should aim for, in my opinion. The goal must be that every person, regardless of their gender, can live the life they want, pursue the career they want and not be hindered from that due to their gender. We thus need to ensure women have the same opportunities as men. In other words, we need proactive policies promoting equal opportunities rather than quotas aiming for equality of results.
In order to achieve this equality of opportunity, in my view, there are three major objectives we should strive for. First, it’s essential to build a comprehensive and easily accessible structure for childcare. Second, parental leave should be split equally between both parents by law. Third, while men have established networks and social clubs at basically every level of society, similar institutions aimed at connecting women are still rare. Such collectives, however, are critical for professional development, since personal connections too often outweigh actual competencies.
Do you have any quotas in place in your organisation?
No. We don’t have any quotas and also don’t see any need for them. Not only are both of my vice presidents female, but half of our board is female. And this not only holds true for our national board: All of our sub-organisations are under strong female influence, too — and that without any quotas in place.
In your opinion as a lawyer-to-be, what would it mean for voters rights if mandatory quotas are applied on official election lists?
Mandatory quotas would infringe voters’ rights to choose the representatives who reflect their views and interests most. There are 183 seats in the Austrian parliament which are allocated to the different parties and politicians due to their results in certain regional constituencies, in the different states and on a national level. It would therefore not only be senseless but impossible to implement mandatory quotas on parliamentary seats without fundamentally changing our voting rights.
Quotas in businesses, on the other hand, don’t carry the risk of infringing voters rights. What do you think about the recent EU agreement on mandatory shares among directors in publicly listed companies?
Given that the new EU directive doesn’t provide for mandatory quotas but rather imposes mandatory reporting duties for listed companies on the share of women in their boards and the measures they take to achieve greater gender balance, I fully agree with this step. I think the EU should certainly set a goal of greater gender equality. However, it’s for the companies to decide how to best achieve those goals and this process shouldn’t be forced upon them via quotas.
Author: Florian Peschl
Interviewee: Sophie Wotschke, Federal Chairperson of the Young Liberals NEOS (Junos)
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