Contrary to the early, rather incremental increase of women’s representation in some democracies, particularly in Northern Europe, some countries like “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” (1994: 3.3%, 2008: 31.7%), Belgium (1995: 12.7%, 2007: 35.3%) and Spain (1996: 26.7%, 2008: 36.3%), have witnessed a sharp rise in female representation in recent years, partly due to electoral gender quotas. Spain has successfully overcome the legacy of dictatorship that suppressed women’s rights until the 1970s, and has experienced a 10% rise in each decade since the 1980s. Germany’s dynamic increase of women’s representation occurred already in the 1980s and the 1990s (1970: 6.6%, 1980: 8.5%, 1983: 10% , 1987: 15%, 1990: 20.5%, 1994: 26%, 1998: 30.9%, 2002: 32.3%, 2005: 32.2%).