This paper investigates the role of gender quotas in developing democracies. Drawing empirical material from Egypt (which had gender quotas in 1979 and 1984 and re-instituted them in 2010) and Jordan (which has had them since 2003), it explains variation in the design of gender quota mechanisms, as well as the ways in which these formal institutions interact with underlying social structures to produce outcomes that can either empower or disempower women. In both cases, it finds that the particular quota system the country adopted was designed to advantage the most powerful political actors. However, though in Jordan the system elects female parliamentarians who do not pursue women's liberation, in Egypt quotas have been somewhat successful in this regard. This variation is less a function of institutions than of the different beliefs of the ruling establishment over the proper role of women in society.