Gender Parity in Latin American Political Parties
Progress and Challenges in Internal Statutes
By Karla Estrada, Master's student in Government and Public Affairs at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, Mexico; Research Assistant at the Observatory of Political Reforms in Latin America.
Political parties are key spaces for political representation in democracies. Within them, ideas converge and move into spaces of public discussion, functioning not only as platforms for exchange but also as instruments for accessing the public agenda (Freidenberg, 2021). Therefore, it is essential that women participate in them as much as men do.
Women's participation in political life is relatively recent. Political parties reflect the characteristics of the societies in which they emerge, replicating behavioral patterns typical of the groups they represent (Weber, 1944). This demonstrates that, until recently, women did not have significant access to public life.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, Latin American countries have undertaken a series of reforms in their national legislation to incorporate gender quota measures and, more recently, parity principles in their state bodies. These changes have generated positive results, mainly in increasing female presence in the region's legislatures. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (2024), women's representation has increased by approximately 5% between 2019 and 2024.
In response to these legislative reforms, numerous influential political parties in Latin America have updated their internal statutes to incorporate gender parity principles. This institutional transformation falls within the concept of gender regime in the bureaucratic sphere, which interacts with the four fundamental dimensions of party organization: electoral, membership, legislative space, and governmental sphere (Molina, 2024).
This analysis is based on the comparative table "Statutory Rules on Parity and Gender Quotas in National Leadership Bodies of Latin American Political Parties," prepared by the Observatory of Political Reforms in Latin America. The table collects information from 61 parties, selected using the methodology of Alcántara Sáez and Freidenberg (2001), which considers these parties' representation in legislative assemblies and their relevance in each country's political system. Of the 61 parties analyzed, only 23 have incorporated gender parity in their statutes, while 17 include gender quotas, with percentages varying between 30% and 60%.
On the other hand, 21 parties do not contemplate any of these measures, distributed across Argentina (1), Brazil (3), Colombia (1), Ecuador (2), El Salvador (4), Guatemala (1), Mexico (1), Panama (1), Uruguay (3), and Venezuela (4). In countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, Uruguay, and Venezuela, there are no parity or quota measures in the selected parties. In the cases of Guatemala and Venezuela, this could be explained by the lack of legislative progress in promoting female political participation (Freidenberg et al., 2018).
While establishing rules for leadership selection (including affirmative actions) strengthens the democratic life of parties, this does not always reflect reality in practice. For example, the graph shows that 100% of Guatemalan parties in the table lack measures to guarantee women's access to these positions in their statutes; this 100% equals one party (UNE), and although the only party considered has no gender quotas, its national leader since 2022 is a woman.
This may be a reference far from the trend in other countries; however, in contrast, Mexico has more parties in the analysis (6) and shows that 80% of parties implement parity in their statutes; nevertheless, most of these parties have not been led by women in the last two periods, with exceptions such as PRI (2016-2019) and recently in 2024, MORENA. It's worth noting that these reforms are recent and could respond to changes in national legislation. Therefore, it is important to maintain observation in these countries. However, some countries have achieved significant progress. In Chile and Costa Rica, statutory reforms have been applied in parties that implement parity and quotas, and that have been led by women in at least one of the last two periods.
The data also allows the identification of which internal bodies apply these principles. Although internal organization varies among parties, they generally include a National Assembly, a National Political Council, and a National Executive Committee.
In 30 parties, parity or quota rules apply to all internal bodies. In 9 parties, rules are specified for some bodies. Of the parties that do not unify rules, in 6 women can lead National Assemblies, in 5 the National Executive Committees, and in 1 the National Political Councils.
Although Latin America has made significant progress in creating legislation that promotes gender equality through quotas and parity, this progress has not been homogeneous. Some countries have adopted these measures more effectively than others, reflecting differences in national political contexts.
When discussing these statutory reforms, we refer to formal representation, understood as the establishment of rules that facilitate women's access to leadership positions. This has had, in some cases, a positive effect by allowing the effective entry of women as party leaders (descriptive representation). However, evaluating substantive representation, in which women leading parties effectively represent the interests of women members, is more complex because few parties have even achieved descriptive representation, which constitutes a significant challenge for democracy (Gilas, 2023).
Although reforms to statutes are not always immediately reflected in facts, they represent a necessary step toward achieving greater equity in women's political participation. These reforms are fundamental in a democratic system to ensure that women have access to leadership positions in political parties. Without such actions, women's political representation could not continue to rise as it has in recent years.
How to cite:
Estrada, Karla (11 de noviembre de 2024). Gender Parity in Latin American Political Parties: Progress and Challenges in Internal Statutes. Blog #LABdata, Observatorio de Reformas Políticas en América Latina. Link: https://observatorioreformas.substack.com/p/7486bf1d-4e61-49dd-abf4-3591c89619d4
Download the dataset Gender Parity and Quota Regulations in Latin American Political Parties' National Governing Bodies