Women, Politics, and Democracy in Latin America

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xix

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2. Women, Politics, and Democracy in Latin America: An Introduction

   • Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian, Flavia Freidenberg, Mariana Caminotti, Tomáš Došek

   Pages 1-11

3. Women’s Descriptive Representation: From Quotas to Parity

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 13-13

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   2. Electoral Quotas and Beyond: Strategies to Promote Women in Politics

      • Mona Lena Krook

      Pages 15-27

   3. Critical Challenges of Quotas and Parity in Latin America

      • Nélida Archenti, María Inés Tula

      Pages 29-44

   4. The Variation of Quota Designs and Their Origins in Latin America (1991–2015)

      • Malu A. C. Gatto

      Pages 45-65

4. Women’s Substantive Representation and Policymaking

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 67-67

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   2. Challenging Gender Inequality Within the State: Policy Agencies and Quota Laws in Latin America

      • Jennifer M. Piscopo, Gwynn Thomas

      Pages 69-87

   3. Organizational Repertoires for Advancing Women’s Rights: An Analysis of Structures, Groups and Policies in National Legislatures in Latin America and the Caribbean

      • Ana Laura Rodríguez Gustá, Nancy Madera

      Pages 89-106

5. Public Opinion, Social Media and Gender

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 107-107

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   2. Does Gender Make a Difference? The Gender Gap in Latin American Politics

      • Dinorah Azpuru

      Pages 109-130

   3. Presidentas Twitteras: The Social Media Use of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Dilma Rousseff

      • Yanina Welp, Saskia P. Ruth

      Pages 131-149

6. Promoting Women’s Political Participation: The Role of Domestic and International Institutions

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 151-151

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   2. Contributions of Electoral Justice to the Strengthening of Women’s Political Rights: The Case of Mexico in Comparative Perspective

      • María del Carmen Alanís Figueroa

      Pages 153-163

   3. Women in Elections: Identifying Strategies to Promote Greater Electoral Competitiveness

      • Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian, Tyler Finn

      Pages 165-186

   4. Women and Politics in Colombia: Reforms, Advocacy and Other Actions Led by International Development Agencies (2007–2014)

      • José Ricardo Puyana

      Pages 187-212

7. Conclusions

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 213-213

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   2. Breaking Concrete, Glass and Cash Ceilings: Conclusions and Policy Recommendations from Scholars and Practitioners

      • Flavia Freidenberg, Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian, Mariana Caminotti, Tomáš Došek

      Pages 215-232

8. Back Matter

   Pages 233-243

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This book discusses the current tendencies in women’s representation and their role in politics in Latin American countries from three different perspectives. Firstly, the authors examine cultural, political-partisan and organizational obstacles that women face in and outside institutions. Secondly, the book explores barriers in political reality, such as gender legislation implementation, public administration and international cooperation, and proposes solutions, supported by successful experiences, emphasising the nonlinearity of the implementation process. Thirdly, the authors highlight the role of women in politics at the subnational level. The book combines academic expertise in various disciplines with contributions from practitioners within national and international institutions to broaden the reader’s understanding of women in Latin American politics.

• Latin American politics
• Democracy
• Gender quota
• Women's representation
• Latin America
• Parity laws
• Violence against women
• Gender equality
• Women's human rights
• Gender policy network
• Gender political structure
• Public opinion
• Gender gap
• Gender mainstreaming
• control de convencionalidad
• Affirmative action measures
• Advocacy
• Female president

“This book leverages rigorous research to develop a series of policy proposals for expanding and deepening women’s involvement in Latin American democracies. The book is accessible to a broad audience including political science students, activists, and practitioners. … As such, Women, Politics, and Democracy in Latin America will serve as a springboard for future research on women’s political empowerment and a resource for cultivating formal and informal strategies for institutionalising women’s access to political power.” (Tiffany D. Barnes, Gender & Development, Vol. 25 (3), November, 2017)

“Women, Politics and Democracy offers a unique contribution to the fields of comparative politics and gender studies. More importantly, the volume will prove useful for practitioners, politicians and those who influence public policies that seek to promote gender equality. A rights-based approach informs the analysis putting women’s human rights at the heart of the public policy proposals offered in this volume. With both academic rigor and the wisdom of policy practice, the volume illustrates that institutional changes are not sufficient to guarantee the full exercise of women’s political rights, as voters, as party members and as candidates.” (Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization of American States)

“What can explain the fact that in a continent where machismo, social inequality and femicides still exist, there is proportionally the greatest legislative representation of women in the world? This representation is such that the Americas is today the continentthat leads the democratization process of political representation, including that of sexual diversity. A read-through the authors’ analysis and conclusions of “Women, Politics and Democracy” offer a critical and at the same time, coherent review of this reality. The volume puts the different pieces in the right places of an unfinished puzzle. The puzzle is not complete because the analysis does not pretend to give the full picture but trimmings of a regional outlook for women that confuses and fascinates at the same time.” (Line Bareiro, Researcher at the Regional Training Program on Gender and Public Policy – PRIGEPP (FLACSO Argentina) and former member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW))

“The editors have assembled an intellectually and geographically diverse team of stellar scholars who together deepen and extend existing lines of scholarly inquiry on the election, representation and participation of women in Latin America while simultaneously breaking new ground in the study of continuing barriers to, and opportunities for, greater gender equality in Latin America’s democracies.” (Mark P. Jones, Joseph D. Jamail Chair in Latin American Studies, Rice University, USA)

• Institute of Political Science, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, Chile

  Tomáš Došek

• Institute of Legal Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico

  Flavia Freidenberg

• School of Politics and Government, National University of San Martín, Argentina

  Mariana Caminotti

• Organization of American States, USA

  Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian

Tomáš Došek is a Ph.D. student in Political Science at the Institute of Political Science of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. He holds an M.A. in Latin American Studies from the Instituto de Iberoamérica, University of Salamanca, Spain.


Flavia Freidenberg is Principal Researcher at the Institute of Legal Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, and Professor of the Postgraduate Program in Political and Social Science at the same university. She is Associate Editor of Politics and International Relations of Latin American Research Review (LARR).


Mariana Caminotti is Associate Professor of Political Science at the Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Argentina, and Researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), at the Center for Federal and Electoral Studies of the School of Politics and Government of the same University.


Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian is Director of the Department of Social Inclusion of the Organization of American States (OAS), and former Director of the Department of Electoral Cooperation and Observation (2011-2014). Muñoz-Pogossian holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Florida International University of Miami.
 

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