Abstract
In recent years, Mexico and some other Latin American countries experienced a revolution of presence. After years of institutional efforts, the country achieved parity in integrating federal and state legislatures and recognized parity as the constitutional principle. The strengthening of the gender electoral regimes at the federal and state level allowed for increasing women’s descriptive representation. This new situation—a strong female presence in representative bodies—is supposed to positively impact women’s capacity to access and exercise leadership positions and articulate and materialize the interests of the represented. However, little is known about the true impact of the increase in women legislators on other dimensions of political representation. This research pretends to fill the gaps in our knowledge on how political representation works, who is represented, and how women exercise representation functions. Mexican subnational legislatures are the perfect object of study, providing for quasi-natural experiment scenarios and allowing to observe how the changes in numbers of female representatives impact symbolic and substantive dimensions of political representation.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The idea of “critical actors” committed to the women’s agenda is not a minor issue (Dahlerup 1988). This concept resolves the role of men as drivers of this agenda, which is by no means exclusive to women. Critical actors are, according to Celis et al. (2008, 102–3), “individuals who initiate policy proposals on their own or who embolden others to take steps to promote policies for women.”
- 2.
Feminizing politics is understood as the process by which “the insertion and integration of women, both in terms of numbers and ideas, into a process that is important but widely regarded as unattractive” (Lovenduski 2005, 12–13). Politics “is defined as the personnel, processes, relationships, institutions and procedures that make authoritative public decisions” (Lovenduski 2005, 13). For feminists, “the political encompasses personal and private (domestic) life, which is based on unequal power relations in which men have more power than women and also have power over women. In gendered terms, political institutions mirror private institutions” (Lovenduski 2005, 13).
References
Alanis Figueroa, María del Carmen. 2014. El reto de la paridad en las candidaturas. Revista Mexicana de Derecho Electoral 6: 171–187.
Aparicio Castillo, Javier. 2011. Cuotas de género en México: candidaturas y resultados electorales para diputados federales 2009. Serie Temas selectos de derecho electoral, vol. 18. México, Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación.
Archenti, Nélida, and María Inés Tula. 2017. Critical challenges of quotas and parity in Latin America. In Women, politics and democracy in Latin America, ed. Tomáš Došek, Flavia Freidenberg, Mariana Caminotti, and Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian, 29–44. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bareiro, Line, and Lilian Soto. 2015. La Hora de la Igualdad Sustantiva. New York: ONU Mujeres.
Birch, Anthony. 1971. Representation. London: Macmillan.
Caminotti, Mariana. 2016. Cuotas de Género y Paridad en América Latina: Mujeres, Partidos Políticos y Estado. In Reformas a las Organizaciones de Partidos Políticos en América Latina (1978–2015), ed. Flavia Freidenberg and Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian, 183–103. Lima: PUCP, OEA, SAAP e IIJ-UNAM.
Caminotti, Mariana, and Flavia Freidenberg. 2016. Federalismo Electoral, Fortaleza de las Cuotas de Género y Representación Política de las Mujeres en los Ámbitos Subnacionales de Argentina y México. Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales 61 (228): 121–141.
Celis, Karen, Sarah Childs, Johanna Kantola, and Mona Lena Krook. 2008. Rethinking women’s substantive representation. Representations 44 (2): 99–10.
Cerna Villagra, Sarah Patricia. 2019. La distribución del poder por género después de la reforma político-electoral de 2014. Una comparación de los Congresos de Chihuahua, Jalisco y San Luís Potosí. Espacios Públicos 22 (54): 47–66.
Cotta, Maurizio, and Heinrich Best, eds. 2007. Democratic representation in Europe: Diversity, change and convergence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Crenshaw, Kimberlé. 1991. Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review 43 (6): 1241–1299.
Dahlerup, Drude. 1988. From a small to a large minority: Women in Scandinavian politics. Scandinavian Political Studies 11 (4): 275–297.
Dahlerup, Drude, and Leni Freidenvall. 2005. Quotas as a ‘fast track’ to equal representation for women: Why scandinavia is no longer the model. International Feminist Journal of Politics 7 (1): 26–48.
ECLAC, Comisión Económica para América Latina. 2021. Observatorio de Igualdad de Género en América Latina. Santiago, ca: ECLAC. Disponible en: https://oig.cepal.org/es/autonomias/autonomia-la-toma-decisiones.
Flores-Ivich, Georgina, and Flavia Freidenberg. 2017. ¿Por qué las mujeres ganan en unas legislaturas y no en otras? Una evaluación de los factores que inciden en la representación política de las mujeres en las entidades federativas mexicanas. In La representación política de las mujeres en México, ed. Flavia Freidenberg, 101–152. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional Electoral, and Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
Franceschet, Susan. 2008. ¿ Promueven las cuotas de género los intereses de las mujeres? El impacto de las cuotas en la representación sustantiva de las mujeres. In Mujer y política. El impacto de las cuotas de género en América Latina, ed. Marcela Ríos Tobar, 61–96. Santiago, Catalonia.
Franceschet, Susan, Mona Lena Krook, and Jennifer Piscopo, eds. 2012. The impact of gender quotas. New York: Oxford University Press.
Freidenberg, Flavia. 2020. Electoral reform and political representation of women in Latin America. In Oxford research encyclopedia of politics. Retrieved 24 Nov, from https://oxfordre.com/politics/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228637-e-1676
Freidenberg, Flavia, and Raymundo Alva Huitrón. 2017. ¡Las reglas importan! Impulsando la representación política de las mujeres desde las leyes electorales en perspectiva multinivel. In La representación política de las mujeres en México, ed. Flavia Freidenberg, 16–52. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional Electoral, and Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
Freidenberg, Flavia, and Sebastián Garrido de Sierra. 2021. Régimen electoral de género y representación política de las mujeres a nivel subnacional en México. Revista de Ciencia Política (Santiago) 41 (1): 67–01.
Freidenberg, Flavia, and Karolina M. Gilas. 2020. ¡Ellas tienen los escaños, ellos el poder! Representación legislativa de las mujeres en el Estado de Morelos. Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales Año LXV 240: 327–358.
Freidenberg, Flavia, and Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian. 2019. Democratic innovation mechanisms and women’s political participation in Latin America and the Caribbean. In Encyclopedia of educational innovation: Section on political innovation, ed. M.A. Peters and R. Heraud, 1–9. Singapore: Springer Nature.
García Méndez, Erika. 2019. Representación política de las mujeres en los Congresos subnacionales en México. Un modelo de evaluación. Estudios Políticos 46: 73–98.
Gilas, Karolina. 2018. Violencia política contra las mujeres. Un problema viejo en nuevos tiempos. In Los estados en 2016. Nuevos equilibrios regionales, ed. Rosa María Mirón Lince, 241–259. Tomo 2. Mexico City: FCPyS-UNAM, DGAPA-UNAM, IECM, and TECM.
Giraudy, Agustina, Eduardo Moncada, and Richard Snyder. 2019. Subnational research in comparative politics substantive, theoretical, and methodological contributions. In Inside countries: Subnational research in comparative politics, ed. Agustina Giraudy, Eduardo Moncada, and Richard Snyder, 3–52. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
González Schont, Céline. 2016. De la representación descriptiva a la representación sustantiva: análisis de las cuotas de género en los congresos estatales en México. Working Paper. Mexico, CIDE. Retrieved 24 Nov, from http://cide.repositorioinstitucional.mx/jspui/handle/1011/578.
Hernández García, María Aidé, and Jesús Alberto Rodríguez Alonso. 2019. ¿Es la paridad una realidad en los Congresos estatales? Mexico City: Universidad de Guanajuato, and Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez.
Hevia-Rocha, Teresa. 2020. El impacto de las medidas de acción afirmativa de género en el registro de las candidaturas en el proceso de 2017/2018. Mexico City: Instituto Nacional Electoral.
Heywood, Andrew. 2004. Political theory: An introduction. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Krook, Mona Lena. 2010. Women’s representation in parliament: A qualitative comparative analysis. Political Studies 58 (5): 886–808.
Lovenduski, Joni. 2005. Feminizing politics. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Martínez, María Antonia, and Antonio Garrido. 2013. Representación de Género y Calidad de la Democracia: la doble brecha en América Latina. Revista Debates 7 (1): 151–173.
Matland, Richard E. 1998. Women’s representation in national legislatures: Developed and developing countries. Legislative Studies Quarterly 23 (1): 109–125.
O’Donnell, Guillermo. 1999. Counterpoints: Selected ESSAYS ON AUTHORITARIANISM AND DEMOCRATIZATION. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
Pacheco Ladrón de Guevara, Lourdes C. 2007. Cuando la democracia nos alcance. Sistemas de cuotas y agenda de género en Baja California Sur, Coahuila, Colima, Durango, Guerrero, Jalisco y Nayarit. Mexico City: Juan Pablos.
Paxton, Pamela. 2008. Gendering democracy. In Politics, gender and concepts: Theory and methodology, ed. Gary Goertz and Amy G. Mazur, 47–70. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Peña Molina, Blanca Olivia. 2009. Paridad y disparidad de género. Legislación electoral, masa crítica y sistema de cuotas en los Congresos estatales de México. Paper presented at the 3rd International Congress of the SOMEE, Salamanca, Spain, 28–30 October 2009.
Peña Molina, Blanca Olivia. 2014. La paridad de género: eje de la reforma político-electoral en México. Revista Mexicana de Estudios Electorales 14: 31–74.
Pitkin, Hanna. 1967. The concept of representation. Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Reynoso, Diego, and Natalia D’Angelo. 2006. Las leyes de cuota y su impacto en la elección de mujeres en México. Política y gobierno 13 (2): 279–213.
Richards, Christina, Walter Pierre Bouman, and Meg-John Barker. 2017. Genderqueer and non-binary genders. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Saba, Roberto. 2016. Más allá de la igualdad formal ante la ley. Qué le debe el Estado a los grupos desaventajados. Buenos Aires: Editorial Siglo XXI.
Schnapper, Dominique. 2004. La democracia providencial. Ensayo sobre la igualdad contemporánea. Santa Fe: Homo Sapiens.
Schwindt-Bayer, Leslie A. 2018. An introduction to gender and representation in Latin America. In Gender and representation in Latin America, ed. Leslie Schwindt-Bayer, 1–16. Oxford: Oxford Scholarship.
Stevenson, Linda. 1999. Gender politics in the Mexican democratization process. Electing women and legislating sex crimes and affirmative action, 1988–97. In Towards Mexico’s democratization: Parties, campaigns, elections and public opinion, ed. Jorge I. Domínguez and Alejandro Poiré, 57–87. London: Routledge.
Tripp, Aili Mari. 2013. Political system and gender. In The Oxford handbook of gender and politics, ed. Georgina Waylen, Karen Celis, Johanna Kantola, and Laurel S. Weldon, 1–23. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199751457.013.0020.
Vidal Correa, Fernanda. 2014. Federalism and gender quotas in Mexico: Analysing propietario and suplente nominations. Representations 50 (3): 321–335. https://doi.org/10.1080/00344893.2014.951182.
———. 2016. Women in Mexican politics: A study of representation in a renewed federal and democratic state. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Viveros Vigoya, Mara. 2016. La interseccionalidad: una aproximación situada a la dominación. Debate Feminista 52: 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.df.2016.09.005.
Young, Iris Marion. 2000. Inclusion and democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Zetterberg, Pär. 2007. Gender quotas and political effectiveness women’s experiences in mexican state legislatures. Paper presented at the European Consortium for Political Research Joint Sessions of Workshop, Helsinki, May 7–12.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Freidenberg, F., Gilas, K., Garrido de Sierra, S., Saavedra Herrera, C. (2022). Introduction. In: Women in Mexican Subnational Legislatures. Latin American Societies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94078-2_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94078-2_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-94077-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-94078-2
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)