Women in Politics in Post-Transitional Democracies: the chilean case

Abstract

Abstr actThis article looks at women's participation in formal political institutions in posttransition politics. Employing the case of post-dictatorship Chile, it outlines the barriers to women's participation in the formal political arena; discusses the various strategies that Chilean women are currently employing to overcome their exclusion; and nally, examines the challenges that political women confront in promoting 'women's interests' in political institutions. Throughout the article two main arguments are advanced. First, where women's movements do not demand institutional reforms during the transition period -a time when movements enjoy in uence and parties are in ux -then the barriers to women in political institutions re-emerge. In Chile, the fact that women did not demand institutional reforms, such as quotas for women in decision-making positions, is linked to the broader strategy of the movement to make citizenship demands based on women's 'difference'. This strategy inhibited women from demanding power (i.e. access to institutions as individuals) because this conformed to a masculine-de ned notion of politics inconsistent with women's 'different' style of practising politics. A second, related argument is that a strategy based on women's 'difference' hinders women in politics from promoting feminist goals, especially in the climate of social conservatism that characterizes post-transition Chilean politics. Despite these constraints and the many challenges Chilean women in politics confront, gains are being made, as women recognize the need for, and begin to demand, institutional reforms to expand their presence in formal politics.

The Penguin Revolution in Chile: Exploring Intergenerational Learning in Social Movements

“…Similar to earlier analyses (see for example, Alvarez, 1999;Franceschet, 2001;Schild, 1998), Chovanec's research documents multiple reasons for the depoliticization and demobilization of the women's movement in the post-dictatorship, neo-liberal period in Chile. However, a distinctive factor that emerged in her analysis was the differential impact of activism on three generations of women.…”

Gender and Political Recruitment

“…Miki Caul Kittilson's (2006) comparative study of women's political presence in Western Europe focuses exclusively on demand-side factors, starting from the point that the key mechanism for increases in women's parliamentary presence is the political party. Meanwhile, Susan Franceschet (2001) finds that women are marginalized in Chilean political parties by a number of gendered factors, including a lack of access to the informal party networks that male politicians enjoy, which are crucial for campaign financing and for obtaining winnable seats. Similarly, Rainbow Murray's (2010) study of French political parties concludes that the privileging of male attributes by party selectors and the prioritization of men for key positions in local and national offices are key factors in explaining women's descriptive under-representation in the French National Assembly.…”

Invigorating Democracy in Turkey: The Agency of Organized Islamist Women

“…Women who have been active in women's movements enter governmental institutions that are formed to contend with gender issues (Franceschet 2001;Waylen 2007). Accordingly, scholars pay more attention to the role of women in formal politics (i.e., women's legislative representation) and question if and how women in formal politics put gender issues on the political agenda and shape policies beneficial to women in the posttransitional period.…”