Political Participation of Women in Brazil: From the Application of Quotas to Effective Parity in Representation

This article proposes that gender equality and, therefore, the presence of women in politics are necessary conditions for contemporary democracies. It does not suffice that women, who represent more than half of the Brazilian electorate, are entitled to vote if they do not participate in the decisio...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Quintela, Débora Françolin, Dias, Joelson Costa
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2016
Country:Brasil
Institution:Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Pós-graduação em Direito (CONPEDI)
Repository:Revista de Teorias da Democracia e Direitos Políticos
Language:Portuguese
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.indexlaw.org:article/1105
Online Access:http://www.indexlaw.org/index.php/revistateoriasdemocracia/article/view/1105
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Gender equality
Democracy
Women's political participation
Quota law for candidacies
Political parity
Igualdade de gênero
Democracia
Participação das mulheres na política
Lei de cotas de candidaturas
Paridade política
Description
Summary:This article proposes that gender equality and, therefore, the presence of women in politics are necessary conditions for contemporary democracies. It does not suffice that women, who represent more than half of the Brazilian electorate, are entitled to vote if they do not participate in the decision-making arenas equally to men. Based on an analysis of the effectiveness of the quota law in Brazil, this paper proposes the implementation of gender parity in the composition of the legislature, an issue which is under widespread discussion across Latin America but which is not yet being addressed in Brazilian politics.