Mujeres en el Congreso colombiano: un análisis a partir de la primera implementación de la Ley de cuota de género en las elecciones de 2014

Abstract

With the objective of analyzing the success of women candidates in the legislative elections of 2014, this article inquires, first, into the characteristics of the constant increase in the number of women elected to the Colombian Congress and, second, into the elements that could be affecting theelectoral success of women running for a seat in the House of Representatives. Different elements of the electoral system are taken into account, such as ballot structure and district size, the specific characteristics of the Gender Quota Law in Colombia, and other aspects such as the role of political parties in promoting the inclusion of women in their electoral lists. The analysis shows that implementation of the gender quota for this House of Representatives election had different results from those of the subnational election of 2011, with differences among the departments. Moreover, the behavior of the variables considered contribute to create an environment that does not favor the growing electoral success of women in Congress.

Keywords

• Women
• Congress
• Colombia
• elections (Thesaurus)
• gender quota (author’s keywords)