Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-sxzjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T04:27:00.664Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Effects of Institutional Reforms on Women's Representation in Colombia, 1960–2014

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Mónica Pachón Buitrago
Affiliation:
Universidad del Rosario. monica.pachonb@urosario.edu
María Paula Aroca
Affiliation:
Rice University. maria.p.aroca@rice.edu
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Starting in the 1990s, reforms aimed at addressing the underrepresentation of women have been implemented in Colombia. However, research on the consequences of these reforms has been inconclusive. This article analyzes the influence of institutional variables on the proportion of nominated and elected women in Colombia between 1962 and 2014, at both the national and local levels of government, in three different institutional environments. Results confirm the influence of institutional change, indicating that decentralizing reforms and the introduction of the gender quota have had a positive impact on the proportion of women's candidacies and elections, but that the adoption of the open list negatively affected the percentage of elected women.

Type
Research
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 2017

References

Bernal Olarte, Angelica. 2006a. ¿Qué es ganar y qué es perder en política? Los retos en la participación electoral. Análisis Político 19 56: 7292.Google Scholar
Bernal Olarte, Angelica. 2006b. Colombia: balance crítico de la participación política de las mujeres en la elección para el congreso 2006–2010. Campaña Más Mujeres Más Política. Bogotá: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.Google Scholar
Bernal Olarte, Angelica. 2008. Paridad política en los cargos de representación. Ier Congreso de Ciencia Política, línea 1, mesa 10, 1–16. Bogotá: Uniandes. http://congresocienciapolitica.uniandes.edu.co. Accessed December 18, 2011.Google Scholar
Bhavnani, Rikhil R. 2009. Do Electoral Quotas Work after They Are Withdrawn? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in India. American Political Science Review 103 1: 2335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carey, John M., and Shugart, Matthew Soberg. 1995. Incentives to Cultivate a Personal Vote: a Rank Ordering of Electoral Formulas. Electoral Studies 14 4: 417–39.Google Scholar
Visible, Congreso. 2014. ¿Requisito o compromiso? Partidos políticos y mujeres en las elecciones al congreso de 2014. February 28. http://congresovisible.org/agora/post/requisito-o-compromiso-partidos-politicos-y-mujeres-en-las-elecciones-al-congreso-de-2014/6246. Accessed April 20, 2015.Google Scholar
Cox, Gary W., and Shugart, Matthew Soberg. 1995. In the Absence of Vote Pooling: Nomination and Vote Allocation Errors in Colombia. Electoral Studies 14 4: 441–60.Google Scholar
Dahlerup, Drude. 2006. What Are the Effects of Electoral Gender Quotas? from Studies of Quota Discourses to Research on Quota Effects. Paper presented at the International Political Science Association World Congress, Fukuoka, Japan, July 9–14.Google Scholar
Duverger, Maurice. 1955. The Political Role of Women. Paris: UNESCO.Google Scholar
Gutiérrez, Francisco. 2007. ¿Lo que el viento se llevó? Los partidos políticos y la democracia en Colombia, 1958–2002. Bogotá: Norma.Google Scholar
Hickman, Jhon C. 1997. The Candidacy and Election of Women in Japanese Sntv Electoral Systems. Women and Politics 18 2: 126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Htun, Mala N. 2002. Puzzles of Women's Rights in Brazil. Social Research: An International Quarterly 69 3: 733–51.Google Scholar
Htun, Mala N., and Jones, Mark P.. 2002. Engendering the Right to Participate in Decision-making: Electoral Quotas and Women's Leadership in Latin America. In Gender and the Politics of Rights and Democracy in Latin America, ed. Craske, Nikki and Molyneux, Maxine. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 3256.Google Scholar
Hughes, Melanie M., and Paxton, Pamela. 2007. Familiar Theories from a New Perspective: the Implications of a Longitudinal Approach to Women in Politics Research. Politics and Gender 3 3: 370–78.Google Scholar
Jones, Kathleen B. 1993. Compassionate Authority: Democracy and the Representation of Women. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Jones, Mark P. 2004. Quota Legislation and the Election of Women: Learning from the Costa Rican Experience. Journal of Politics 66 4: 1203–23.Google Scholar
Jones, Mark P. 2009. Gender Quotas, Electoral Laws, and the Election of Women: Evidence from the Latin American Vanguard. Comparative Political Studies 42 1: 5681.Google Scholar
Krook, Mona L. 2005. Politicizing Representation: Campaigns for Candidate Gender Quotas Worldwide. Ph.D. diss., Columbia University.Google Scholar
Larserud, Stina, and Taphorn, Rita. 2007. Designing for Equality: Women's Quotas and Women's Political Participation. Development 50 1: 3642.Google Scholar
Lijphart, Arend. 1994. Democracies: Forms, Performance, and Constitutional Engineering. European Journal of Political Research 25 1: 117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matland, Richard E. 1993. Institutional Variables Affecting Female Representation in National Legislatures: the Case of Norway. Journal of Politics 55 3: 737–55.Google Scholar
Matland, Richard E. 1998. Women's Representation in National Legislatures: Developed and Developing Countries. Legislative Studies Quarterly 23 1: 109–25.Google Scholar
Matland, Richard E. 2005. Enhancing Women's Political Participation: Legislative Recruitment and Electoral Systems. In Women in Parliament: Beyond Numbers, rev. ed., ed. Ballington, Julie and Karam, Azza. Stockholm: International IDEA. 93111.Google Scholar
Matland, Richard E. 2006. Electoral Quotas: Frequency and Effectiveness. In Women, Quotas and Politics, ed. Dahlerup, Drude. New York: Routledge. 275–92.Google Scholar
Norris, Pippa. 2004. Electoral Engineering: Voting Rules and Political Behavior. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Observatorio de Igualdad de Género de América Latina y el Caribe. 2012. Los bonos en la mira: aporte y carga para las mujeres. Santiago: Naciones Unidas. http://www.cepal.org/publicaciones/xml/7/49307/2012-1042_OIG-ISSN_WEB.pdf. Accessed April 20, 2015.Google Scholar
Pachón, Mónica. 2002. Partido Conservador y sus dinámicas políticas. In Degradación o cambio: evolución del sistema político colombiano, ed. Gutiérrez Sanín, Francisco. Bogotá: Norma. 79130.Google Scholar
Pachón, Mónica, and Sánchez, Fabio. 2014. Base de datos sobre resultados electorales CEDE, 1958–2011: Colombia. Bogotá: Centro de Estudios sobre Desarrollo Económico (CEDE), Universidad de los Andes. https://economia.uniandes.edu.co/components/com_booklibrary/ebooks/dcede2014-29.pdf. Accessed February 1, 2015.Google Scholar
Pachón, Mónica, and Shugart, Matthew Soberg. 2010. Electoral Reform and the Mirror Image of Inter-Party and Intra-Party Competition: the Adoption of Party Lists in Colombia. Electoral Studies 29 4: 648–60.Google Scholar
El País (Bogotá). 2011. Cuota femenina tiene en afugias a los partidos políticos. August 1. http://www.elpais.com.co/elpais/colombia/cuota-genero-tiene-en-afugias-partidos. Accessed April 20, 2015.Google Scholar
Pini, Barbara, and McDonald, Paula, eds. 2011. Women and Representation in Local Government. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Pizarro, Eduardo. 1995. La Comisión para la Reforma de los Partidos. Análisis Político 26, 7287.Google Scholar
Programa de Naciones Unidas Para el Desarrollo (PNUD). 2013. ¿Cuánto hemos avanzado? Un análisis de la participación política de las mujeres en los gobiernos subnacionales en América Latina y el Caribe. Panamá. http://www.cr.undp.org/content/costarica/es/home/library/womens_empowerment/analisis_participacion_politica_mujeres_gobiernos_subnacionales_america_latina_caribe.html. Accessed April 20, 2015.Google Scholar
Reynolds, Andrew. 1999. Women in the Legislatures and Executives of the World: Knocking at the Highest Glass Ceiling. World Politics 51 4: 547–72.Google Scholar
Roberts, Andrew, Seawright, Jason, and Cyr, Jennifer. 2013. Do Electoral Laws Affect Women's Representation? Comparative Political Studies 46 12: 1555–81.Google Scholar
Rule, Wilma. 1987. Electoral Systems, Contextual Factors and Women's Opportunity for Election to Parliament in Twenty-Three Democracies. Western Political Quarterly 40 3:477–98.Google Scholar
Rule, Wilma. 1994. Women's Underrepresentation and Electoral Systems. PS: Political Science and Politics 27 4: 689–92.Google Scholar
Rule, Wilma, and Shugart, Matthew Soberg. 1995. The Preference Vote and the Election of Women: Women Win More Votes in Open List Pr. In Voting and Democracy Report 1995. Washington, DC: Center for Voting and Democracy.Google Scholar
Schmidt, Gregory D. 2009. The Election of Women in List Pr Systems: Testing the Conventional Wisdom. Electoral Studies 28 2: 190203.Google Scholar
Schmidt, Gregory D., and Saunders, Kyle L.. 2004. Effective Quotas, Relative Party Magnitude, and the Success of Female Candidates: Peruvian Municipal Elections in Comparative Perspective. Comparative Political Studies 37 6: 704–34.Google Scholar
Schwindt-Bayer, Leslie. 2009. Making Quotas Work: the Effect of Gender Quota Laws on the Election of Women. Legislative Studies Quarterly 34 1: 528.Google Scholar
Schwindt-Bayer, Leslie. 2011. Political Power and Women's Representation in Latin America. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Soberg, Shugart, Matthew. 1994. Minorities Represented and Unrepresented. In Electoral Systems in Comparative Perspective: Their Impact on Women and Minorities, ed. Rule, Wilma and Zimmerman, Joseph F.. Westport: Greenwood Press. 3141.Google Scholar
Shugart, Matthew S., Moreno, Erika, and Fajardo, Luis. 2007. Deepening Democracy by Renovating Political Practices: The Struggle for Electoral Reform in Colombia. In Peace, Democracy, and Human Rights in Colombia, ed. Welna, Christpoher and Gallón, Gustavo. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. 202–66.Google Scholar
Tripp, Aili M., and Kang, Alice. 2008. The Global Impact of Quotas on the Fast Track to Increased Female Legislative Representation. Comparative Political Studies 41 3: 338–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valdini, Melody E. 2013. Electoral Institutions and the Manifestation of Bias: the Effect of the Personal Vote on the Representation of Women. Politics and Gender 9 1: 7692.Google Scholar
Wills, María E. 2007. Inclusión sin representación: la irrupción política de las mujeres en Colombia, 1970–2000. Bogotá: Norma.Google Scholar
Yoon, Mi Y. 2004. Explaining Women's Legislative Representation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Legislative Studies Quarterly 29 3: 447–68.Google Scholar