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

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.