Belgium was the second country world-wide to impose gender quotas by law to parties for all electoral levels, from the European elections down to the local level. The initial minimum 25% of members of the under-represented sex quotas, evolved over time into a 50% gender quotas, accompanied by a form of placement mandate, and by relatively efficient sanctions. Lists of candidates not respecting the gender quotas would simply be rejected and could thus not participate in the elections. This sanction, being put into operation, turned the gender quotas into a practice overnight. Nonetheless, it took a while before the number of women representatives increased, and even more before elected political bodies reflected a certain gender balance. Part of the course of this evolution can be ascribed to particular features of the electoral system (especially party magnitude and multiple preferential voting), but not all of it. Therefore, this paper digs deeper into the implementation of the Belgian gender quotas. Based on interviews with party officials from all major Belgian parties, it will assess to what extent and how gender quotas became integrated in the routines and practices with respect to candidate recruitment and selection. As the Belgian gender quotas are formulated in such a way that they have to applied, leaving no leeway to bypass them, the question is to what extent the implementation of these gender quotas is something considered to be important, reflected upon, and eventually connected to and put in relation with other initiatives, measures or policies. In short, are gender quotas just one of the conditions to fulfil, or do they generate reflection and activity in relation to matters such as gender equality, diversity more broadly speaking, or other issues linked to representativeness and its relation to democracy. Particular attention will be paid to the extent to which gender quotas triggered a more intersectional approach to candidate selection.
