It is noteworthy that in some countries which apply only voluntary party quotas, women’s parliamentary representation is relatively high. In Europe, cases in point are Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Iceland and Germany. Against the general assumption that high levels of representation in Scandinavian states, like Sweden and Norway, have resulted mainly from party quotas, however, it is important to note that in both countries such quotas were established only after women had gained significant representation. In both Sweden and Norway, the introduction of party quotas constituted an incremental step in a long process of women gaining representation. Nevertheless, even in those countries, the implementation of party quotas had a positive impact on women’s representation.