Gender Quotas the New International Norm?

The European Union is known as one of the most powerful international institutions in the world. It is commonly viewed as granting the most progressive rights to its citizens, yet it seems to have fallen behind several developing states in adopting affirmative action style policies like gender quotas. Gender quotas are not a new concept within the European Union (EU). However, it has not been till recently that a growing number of EU member states are taking action and adopting legal gender quotas. Gender quotas can be a great way to quickly diversify the legislative bodies of states and they could cast states as allies to women and democracy. But why are member states adopting legal gender quotas now? Why would they want to adopt such policies? And what does their adoption mean for the existing values and fundamental norms of the EU? Using a constructivist and transnational feminist lens, I hypothesize that gender quotas have had a significant influence on the constructed social and political culture of the EU, and with their growing approval, it is only a matter of time till legal gender quotas are adopted by a majority of member states and becomes an accepted norm within the union.