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Gender quotas are intended to ensure that a certain number of women are represented in legislature.

Increasing women's representation
more needs to be added to consequences section of the gender quota article, such as a chart showing each country year of quota implementation, starting representation of women, current representation of women

Placement mandates
Women's placement on party lists and electoral districts can impact how effective a quota is. In order for quotas to increase women's representation, women must be appointed to 'winnable' constituencies or seats on party ballots, where they have a plausible chance of being elected.

In proportional systems, the type of candidate list used by parties in elections can affect the number of women who are elected, whether or not there is a legislated candidate quota. Closed lists tend to yield more effective results than open lists. This is because systems with closed lists can implement placement mandates, which require parties to place women in electable positions on the list. In open list elections, voters select individual candidates based on their preferences, so placement mandates aren't a possibility.

There are several types of vertical placement mechanisms:


 * A zipper system requires party lists to alternate candidates between men and women.
 * Some countries such as Belgium stipulate that the top two candidates cannot be of the same gender, requiring a woman in the top two positions on the list.
 * One out of a group of a certain number of candidates (e.g. 1 woman for every 3 candidates) must be a woman, such as in Argentina.

In majoritarian systems, quotas are effective if women are placed in winnable constituencies. For this to occur, proper horizontal placement mechanisms must be instituted based on previous party success or failure in those constituencies.

Voluntary Party Quotas
Voluntary party quotas leave it up to individual parties to implement guidelines regarding how many women are included on party lists. Predominantly found in Europe, these quotas are applied in systems with liberal political culture and left-leaning parties. Voluntary party quotas, like legislated candidate quotas, are most compatible with proportional representation systems. Since the policies are not legally enforced, so their effectiveness varies greatly depending on party success and commitment to the policy. One example of a successful voluntary party quota is South Africa, in which the African National Congress committed to a quota and maintains high representation in the South African parliament.

New Longer Lead
A gender quota is a tool used by countries and parties to increase women's representation in legislature. Women are largely underrepresented in parliaments and account for a 25.8% average in parliaments globally. As of November 2021, gender quotas have been adopted in 132 countries. Around the world, quotas vary greatly in their enforcement and the stage of electoral process targeted, creating three main types of quotas: legislated candidate quotas, voluntary party quotas, and reserved seats. Regardless of their prevalence, they are a controversial measure, creating debates concerning their impacts, both negative and positive.

Argentina
Prior to the establishment of a candidate quota in 1991, Argentina's Peronist party used internal party quotas to increase the number of women holding congressional seats. Because the party was so dominant, Argentina had one of the highest proportions of women in legislature in the world at the time.

In 1991, Argentina passed Law 24.012, the first national gender quota law in the world. The Ley de Cupos ("Law of Quotas") stipulates that the closed lists of candidates that parties present must be have at least 30% women. It also requires that female candidates are placed in winnable spots on the list, which depended on the number of seats a party is renewing from the previous election. In most contexts, this meant at least one woman candidate for every two men. To ensure compliance, parties that do not present lists meeting these requirements are rejected.

In November of 2017, Argentina made changes to its Electoral Code of 2012. By Law No. 27,412 Article 60, party lists were required to follow a zipper system, in which men and women alternated spots on the list. Because of this mechanism, party lists are required to have parity (50% women) in their composition.

As of November 1, 2021, there are 42.6% women in the Chamber of Deputies and 40.3% women in the Senate.