Women’s under-representation, particularly in political leadership, remains an important issue globally. Tunisia’s 2018 municipal elections included the adoption of strict gender quotas that resulted in near-parity of male and female elected councilors. Despite this achievement for descriptive representation, fewer than 20% of mayors—selected from among elected list-heads—were women. We argue that this gender gap in council leadership is the result of parties’ strategic engagement with the quota laws. Using election data, an original survey of candidates, and interviews, we demonstrate that parties systematically placed female-headed lists in their weakest districts, placing female candidates at a disadvantage during the mayoral selection process. We provide evidence that these behaviors were motivated by a strategy to avoid “displacing” men in established political networks. This research highlights the role that party elites play in maintaining the existing political bargain at the expense of underrepresented groups, even where strict quotas are adopted.
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