Gender quotas, electoral laws, and the election of female legislators in Latin America

Mark P. Jones, Santiago Alles, Carolina Tchintian

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch Articlepeer-review

29 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study employs district-level data from national legislative elections in 19 Latin American countries to evaluate the effect of gender quota legislation, in concert with other electoral rules, on the election of women legislators. It updates and extends a previous study on the same topic using data from more recent elections in the same 19 countries. Well designed quota legislation has a profound positive impact on the election of women. Where well designed quota legislation is in force, the use of closed lists on average results in a greater percentage of women legislators elected to office than does the use of open lists, primarily due to the marked superiority of the closed list systems when the number of seats a party wins in a district is two.

Translated title of the contributionCuotas de género, leyes electorales y elección de legisladoras en América Latina
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)331-357
Number of pages27
JournalRevista de Ciencia Politica
Volume32
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2012
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Political Science and International Relations

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