相關(guān)背景：

目前饲鄙，世界上促進(jìn)婦女參政使用最廣泛的機(jī)制是配額制凄诞。所謂的配額(quota)是指選舉中為某一類或幾類候選人設(shè)定的比例要求。

在各國(guó)實(shí)踐中忍级，30% 的女性配額被大多數(shù)國(guó)家認(rèn)可為促進(jìn)改變的最低比例帆谍，或者說臨界比例， 至少達(dá)到或超過這一比例轴咱，女性才能在決策機(jī)構(gòu)中形成力量汛蝙，把相關(guān)利益和需求表達(dá)出來烈涮，進(jìn)而產(chǎn)生影響、提高意見和建議被采納的可能窖剑。因此坚洽，聯(lián)合國(guó)提倡立法和決策機(jī)構(gòu)中女性的比例應(yīng)至少達(dá)到 30%。

從上圖中西土，我們可以發(fā)現(xiàn)世界范圍內(nèi)讶舰，女性在議會(huì)席位所占比例平均只有 25% 左右（藍(lán)色虛線）。此外需了，紅色實(shí)線表示這幾個(gè)國(guó)家設(shè)定的女性候選人在選舉中的配額跳昼。

Latin America has embraced quotas[0] for female political candidates

[0]全文都在圍繞著quota這個(gè)詞講 /'kw??t?,ˋkwot?/

1) an official limit on the number or amount of something that is allowed in a particular period 定額；限額肋乍；配額

2) 還有一個(gè)意思是：a particular number of votes that someone needs to get to be elected in an election 〔候選人當(dāng)選所需的〕規(guī)定票數(shù)庐舟，最低票數(shù)

Each person was given a quota of tickets to sell.

每個(gè)人都被分派了售票的指標(biāo)。

Whether that leads to more female-friendly laws remains unclear

“WHEN a woman enters politics, it changes her. When many women do, it is politics that changes.” So said Florentina Gómez Miranda, a former Argentine congresswoman. Despite its macho[1] reputation, or perhaps because of it, Latin America is unusually keen on quotas for female political candidates. In 1991 Argentina became the world's first country to require parties to nominate women in a minimum fraction[2] of races.* Today, of the 18 Spanish- or Portuguese-speaking countries in the Americas, 17 have a version of this policy. Elsewhere, around a third do. Five of the world's nine most female lower houses are Latin American. One of them is in Mexico, which on July 1st elected a near-even split of the sexes in both chambers.

*1991年住拭，阿根廷國(guó)會(huì)為女議員設(shè)定了至少30%的配額。在1983年的選舉中历帚，只有3.6%的議員是女性滔岳。1995年，這一比例上升到27.7%挽牢。2005年谱煤，阿根廷35%的眾議員和41.7%的參議員是女性。

[1]macho: /?m?t???/ You use?macho?to describe men who are very conscious and proud of their masculinity. 大男子氣的

...displays of macho bravado.?

…大男子氣概的展現(xiàn)禽拔。

[2]fraction: A?fraction?of?something is a tiny amount or proportion of it. 少量

Here's how to eat like the stars, at a fraction of the cost.?

這就是如何花少量錢卻能像明星一樣吃喝的方法刘离。

Many Latin countries got rid of[3] dictatorships in the 1980s, creating a group of young democracies unbound by[釋放] precedent. Yet just 5% of elected legislators that decade were female. Feminists, many of whom had campaigned for[為...而發(fā)起活動(dòng)] democracy, began painting political parties as sexist relics for failing to run female candidates. Argentina responded by imposing quotas on parties, and fellow Latin American states followed suit[效仿].

[3]get rid of: When you?get rid of?something that you do not want or do not like, you take action so that you no longer have it or suffer from it. 處理掉某物; 擺脫掉某物

The owner needs to get rid of the car for financial reasons.?

出于經(jīng)濟(jì)原因，車主需要處理掉這輛車睹栖。

If you?get rid of?someone who is causing problems for you or who you do not like, you do something to prevent them from affecting you anymore, for example by making them leave. 擺脫掉某人; 攆走某人

He believed that his manager wanted to get rid of him for personal reasons.?

他認(rèn)為他的經(jīng)理出于個(gè)人原因想要攆走他硫惕。

Quotas did not always achieve the intended result. In Brazil, where just 11% of lower-house members are women despite a 30% quota*, parties can run[競(jìng)選] multiple candidates for the same seat. They nominate the required share of women, but give more support to men. In some countries the old guard resorted to[4] tricks. In Bolivia, male candidates registered for elections in 1999 with female variants of their names, like “María” for “Mario”. When Mexico introduced a 30% quota in 2002*, its parties ran women in unwinnable districts, and put them at the bottom of party lists. In 2009, after the rules were tightened, eight female lawmakers quit within a week of being sworn in[宣誓就職]. Men took their places.

*1995年，巴西通過了性別配額規(guī)定法案野来，按照相關(guān)規(guī)定恼除，各政黨必須保證百分之三十空缺職位的候選人為女性。2002年墨西哥選舉法規(guī)定候選人中女性至少須占30%曼氛，2014年又把比例提升至50%豁辉。

[4]resort to: to do something bad, extreme, or difficult because you cannot think of any other way to deal with a problem 采取，訴諸〔不好的事物〕

Officials fear that extremists may?resort to violence?.

官員們擔(dān)心極端主義者會(huì)訴諸暴力舀患。

Only on the third try did Mexican quotas work as planned. In 2014, a constitutional amendment[修正案] raised the minimum to 50%, and required understudies[替角] to be the same sex as the people they would replace. The new rules were applied to both houses for the first time this month.

Critics of quotas contend that they deprive voters of a free choice of candidates, though under the proportional representation (PR) rules that govern many Latin elections they never had that in the first place. Other critics fret[5] that women elected under quotas are likely to be less qualified, or puppets of male relatives. Jennifer Piscopo of Occidental College in Los Angeles says that most studies show the women are as accomplished as men. (In some places, that is a low bar[低標(biāo)準(zhǔn)].) Only one country in the Americas, Haiti, reserves[6] seats for women. In the rest of Latin America, women must either win an election to hold office or, under PR, appear high enough on a party list.

[5]fret:to worry about something, especially when there is no need?〔尤指不必要地〕煩惱徽级，發(fā)愁

Don’t fret – everything will be all right.

別擔(dān)心——一切都會(huì)好的。

[+ about/over ]

She's always fretting about the children.

她老是為孩子發(fā)愁聊浅。

fret that

men of fifty, fretting that they're no longer young

因不再年輕而煩惱的50歲男人

[6]reserve: to keep something so that it can be used by a particular person or for a particular purpose?〔為某個(gè)人或某種用途〕保留餐抢，留出

reserved parking spaces

預(yù)留的停車位

reserve sth for sb/sth

A separate room is reserved for smokers.

另有一個(gè)房間留給吸煙者用现使。

Despite the quotas, women still hold a small share of the most important legislative jobs. And the region's number of female presidents has fallen from four in 2014 to zero today. Unsurprisingly, quotas have increased the number of female lawmakers—especially since those lawmakers tend to vote to raise the quotas still further.

Whether quotas yield laws that improve women's lives is harder to answer. In the 12 years to 2009, female lawmakers in Mexico were six times more likely than males were to introduce bills invoking[7]women's rights or children's well-being. But a study of Argentina found that although the number of female-friendly bills rose as more women entered Congress, the share that became law fell. More female legislators do not necessarily boost women's voices in civil society or the press, which help to get bills over the line.

[7]invoke

1) to mention or use a law, rule, etc. as a reason for doing sth援引，援用（法律弹澎、規(guī)則等作為行動(dòng)理由）

2) to mention a person, a theory, an example, etc. to support your opinions or ideas, or as a reason for sth提及朴下，援引（某人、某理論苦蒿、實(shí)例等作為支持）

The judge invoked an international law that protects refugees.

法官援用了一項(xiàng)保護(hù)難民的國(guó)際法律殴胧。

Nonetheless, female lawmakers and academics insist that quotas have borne legislative fruit[8]. Argentina's recent reform to increase access to contraception[9] needed a critical mass of women in Congress to pass, says Ms Piscopo. Similarly, Mexico is on the verge of[接近于;瀕于] approving a law aimed at curbing political violence against women. “If women don't promote it,” says Cristina Díaz Salazar, a senator, “it doesn't pass.”

[8]borne是bear的過去分詞，bear fruit意思是“結(jié)果實(shí)佩迟；奏效团滥；取得成果”

[9]contraception: the practice of preventing a woman from becoming pregnant when she has sex, or the methods for doing this 避孕，節(jié)（制生）育

This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline "Se?ora senadora" (Jul 26th 2018)