Women’s representation in subnational governments: Replicating national institutions or forging a unique path?

Maria C. Escobar-Lemmon, Kendall D. Funk

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

Despite national gains, women’s representation at the subnational level has not increased much over time. In this chapter, Maria C. Escobar-Lemmon and Kendall D. Funk present and analyze original data on subnational legislatures and executives in Latin America. They examine the determinants of women’s representation in legislative and executive office and show that institutions and cross-arena diffusion are key explanations. Escobar-Lemmon and Funk show that women in local executive and legislative offices have worked to promote gender equality and women’s issues and worked to transform political arenas in ways that make them less biased toward women. They do, however, point out some significant challenges for gender equality in subnational politics-women are not getting into local executive offices to the same extent as they are legislative offices, subnational party politics has not been friendly to women, and gender balance is far from assured in local judiciaries and bureaucracies.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationGender and Representation in Latin America
PublisherOxford University Press
Pages99-118
Number of pages20
ISBN (Electronic)9780190851224
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2018

Keywords

  • Decentralization
  • Gender equality
  • Latin American politics
  • Local government
  • Subnational party politics
  • Women’s issues

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Social Sciences

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