Author

Lexi Hanks

Date of Completion

2015

Thesis Type

College of Arts and Science Honors

Department

Political Science

First Advisor

Caroline Beer

Keywords

gender quotas, Latin America, women, gender violence

Abstract

During Latin America’s transition to democracy in the 1990s, women (and other traditionally marginalized groups) made new demands on their political system for better representation. To resolve issues of representation, legislative gender quotas were implemented across the region. Although twenty years have since passed, the impact of gender quotas is still under question. The current literature on gender quotas measures their impact on women’s political participation, descriptive representation, and symbolic representation. The current literature is inconclusive on what real impact gender quotas have on female citizens. I review how gender quotas impact gender violence legislation and conclude that there is a positive relationship between the strength of gender quotas and the strength of gender violence legislation. While the relationship is not especially strong, the relationship shows that gender quotas do make an impact in regard to gender violence legislation.

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